I want my Rhapsody TV !

Fred is right. Rhapsody rules. Unlimited music for a flat fee. Beautiful.

But I want Rhapsody on my TV and connected to my home av system.

I've tried so many devices to get whole home audio working. It's almost embarrassing.

I've tried the Audiotron, the Roku Photobridge, I've connected a PC to my av system, I've connected ipods to my av system and these days I use a mac mini running FrontRow. They all present tons of headaches and challenges (ie content management, networking, drm, etc).

I have heard from many friends that Sonos is the answer. Full support for Rhaposdy on your existing av system in a slick device and great user experience.

But after troubleshooting my existing home network and computer infrastructure last night I am convinced that I don't want more hardware in my house. I want less hardware....Really.

What I want is Rhapsody delivered to my existing digital cable set top box over VOD. I'll pay the cable company $20/month and they can split it any way they want with Real Networks. That way it will be on every tv in my house on existing hardware. And I can get optical output and use my existing remote control as well.

The storage requirements for the cable co is nothing. Few terabytes, no sweat. I know that it's less of a storage problem than a bandwidth problem but audio is a piece of cake vs fat HD streams. Plus MSO's aren't making any real money from VOD today. It's a retention service. Rhapsody VOD/TV would be killer.

So call your cable company. And tell them you want your Rhapsody TV too.

Comments

[fred]

getting rhapsody over cable is possible, but i am not sure about your mso.

the thing about sonos is it allows me to play rhapsody anywhere i have speakers.

not sure that's going to work if you are getting rhapsody via your set top box.

fred

[bijan]

for multiroom audio requirements, my av system pumps audio out to multiple rooms in my house with controls in each room with speakers so the set top box thing would work for me.

for others that may have a simpler set up and audio needs in <2 rooms this may still work out even better.

i do think that sonos is great and has lots of benefits than rhapsodytv. i'm just allergic to adding yet more hardware and new things to manage on the home network as you can tell :-)

[Nabeel Hyatt]

I am not a believer in convergence (considering Ambient Devices, that shouldn't be a surprise).

For the things you -really- care about, divergence is the way. There is no way you can have a movie, music, IP phone, video game machine in your living room that does all of those optimally.

if music is that important, Sonos is the way. Full Rhapsody support (including browsing), in any room you want - without the need to turn on your TV to browse music.

[bijan]

generally i agree with you about convergence and I love my ambient orbs by the way !

I don't want my set top to do telephony, dvd playback or game console etc. But I do think rhapsody on my set top is a natural. It's just streamed content from the MSO like other stuff. And it's already connected to my network inside and outside of the house.

Displaying the UI on TV can give cool benefits like album cover art or screen saver stuff. I'm hoping that Apple will show even a better TV user interface with iTV.

[Mike]

I'm assuming you saw this announement?
http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/rhapsody-and-tivo-team-up-for-good-times-in-the-home-theater/

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[Philndeb]

Today any iPhone or iPod Touch owner can (with a $50 component cord set) play Rhapsody over their AV system (in stereo).

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