Music from Best Buy/Rhapsody

[cephaloPod]

I bought my Pilot last month from Best Buy and received a free month of downloads from BB/Rhapsody. I've been able to get music onto the Pilot, but I can't transfer any of it onto my computer (to burn CDs with or just to have there). I know they want me to get an actual subscription now and pay for these things so I have "the right" to them.

Questions
- If I were to get a subscription/actually buy each song at $0.89 or so, would I be able to put them on my computer? Right now if I try to do that, the albums/songs only come up as ALB files...which seem to only be the album art, not the actual music files.
- Is there a way to change these ALB's into mp3s? Or some way to get the music I already have on the Pilot onto my computer without having to buy anything?
- If all else fails, will I get to keep what music I have on the Pilot even when my free trial subscription to BB/Rhapsody runs out (in maybe 2 days)?

Hopefully that made sense. Please help if you can!

[CrowdAds]

[nobs]

Q - If I were to get a subscription/actually buy each song at $0.89 or so, would I be able to put them on my computer? Right now if I try to do that, the albums/songs only come up as ALB files...which seem to only be the album art, not the actual music files.

A: Yes, but limited on what and where, read the draconian consumer sell-out contract

Q - Is there a way to change these ALB's into mp3s? Or some way to get the music I already have on the Pilot onto my computer without having to buy anything?
A: Not legally, read the draconian consumer sell-out contract. Then search the net...

Q - If all else fails, will I get to keep what music I have on the Pilot even when my free trial subscription to BB/Rhapsody runs out (in maybe 2 days)?

A: No. The business of unlimited music for a (sic) small monthly fee is a great marketing model were the big recording companies charge you to sample what was free with the original napster.

humor/sarcasm mode/on/
Maybe you could rent the disk space that the rented files are removing for your "real" collection
Never mind, forgot about the legal mombo jumbo sell-out contract...
humor/sarcasm mode/off/
The sad fact is, this works. P.T. Barnum would be proud!

[Garbageman]

answer to Q3 - i believe if you look in the rhapsody folder in the player (DO NOT OPEN RHAPSODY ON THE COMPUTER) there is and xml file that you can edit the expiration date.

[digitalq]

Originally Posted by cephaloPod

I bought my Pilot last month from Best Buy and received a free month of downloads from BB/Rhapsody. I've been able to get music onto the Pilot, but I can't transfer any of it onto my computer (to burn CDs with or just to have there). I know they want me to get an actual subscription now and pay for these things so I have "the right" to them.

Questions
- If I were to get a subscription/actually buy each song at $0.89 or so, would I be able to put them on my computer? Right now if I try to do that, the albums/songs only come up as ALB files...which seem to only be the album art, not the actual music files.
- Is there a way to change these ALB's into mp3s? Or some way to get the music I already have on the Pilot onto my computer without having to buy anything?
- If all else fails, will I get to keep what music I have on the Pilot even when my free trial subscription to BB/Rhapsody runs out (in maybe 2 days)?

Hopefully that made sense. Please help if you can!

Once again, nobs is not answering questions, but simply using them as a launching pad for an off topic anti-DRM campaign. (Word of the day seems to be draconian)

First Question: If you subscribe and buy songs, the first place they go is on your computer. You download the songs there and COPY them to the player. They are still there and are 1. Licensed to you forever through WMDRM players with your license applied. 2. If you chose the To Go subscription they are licensed to you as long as you continue to pay subscription and renew subscription on your computer and player, or 3. If they are MP3 files (which a good percentage of Rhapsody music is these days) then you can play them on virtually any player and copy/play them to as many computers and players as you want since they are not protected in any way.

Second Question: ALB files are NOT your music, they are simply album art files that the player uses to display when the song is playing. Make sure your computer is set to show all files (In the Tools menu of any window select Folder Options, View tab and check Show All Files) then you should be able to go to a folder called Service/Rhapsody/Audio and in there you will find the WMA files that you have transferred to the player. If the computer is licensed via Rhapsody software, then you can copy and play these with Rhapsody or Windows Media Player software. (For all time if they are purchased, or for the duration of your ToGo subscription if not purchased) If they are MP3 files then you can play them on any computer with most any player for all time. (since by it's nature MP3 does not contain rights management.)

Third Question: if that is a ToGo license subscription, then those songs expire at some time less than one month after your subscription expires. Your ToGo trial or monthly fee includes the entire library of music carried by Rhapsody, but the trade off is that you must maintain your subscription to listen to the music.

Now that I've answered your questions, please permit me a moment on my soapbox.

We need to send the message that we will buy music and we will support the artists if we are allowed to OWN the music and not license it. Amazon MP3 downloads and Rhapsody MP3 downloads are what digital music downloaders want to see. Show your support for downloaded digital music by purchasing MP3s from the smart online retailers that sell them. Support the artists that distribute music via MP3 download. When publishers see Trent Reznor (NIN), Radiohead and others making money they will want some too. When they realize that those artists are making money without all the time and effort to try to lock those files, they will slap themselves in the head for not realizing sooner that FANS WANT TO SUPPORT ARTISTS and record companies are supposed to facilitate that not make it difficult. BUY and download digital music. COMPLAIN to the publishers who refuse to distribute MP3 music and continue to cling to failed DRM schemes.

To sum it up, DRM is on it's deathbed, if we continue to make it known that we are willing to purchase quality music that we can play on any player without concern about license then we can pull the plug on DRM. As always, money talks.