Rhapsody Internet Radio

Deeadra Piper

Hillary Reyna

Liz Perez

Shelby Reilly

     Rhapsody.com is a fairly simple Internet radio webiste to navigate.  Users may select channels or stations according to genre or artist type, create playlists of songs he or she enjoys, and specific artists or songs may be entered into the search engine directly.  The ability to choose songs by title or artist paired with the fact that a person is able to skip songs on any channel playlist lends to the interactivity of the website as a whole.

     The main way that Rhapsody makes their money is with membership costs.  Although the company offers 25 plays (same song, different songs...doesn't matter) at no cost to the listener, that's where the freebies stop.  The fees start at $12.99 per month and increase from there for unlimited access.  There is also the option to purchase individual songs for $.99 each or a whole album, with prices ranging from $5 to $15.  Since there is a lot of advertising from MTV, Vh1, CMT, T-Mobile, Absolut Vodka, etc., a lot of money is made by advertising as well.

     While there are no totally foreign genres of music offered by Rhapsody, the ones that are presented seem to cover everything most people have heard of.  This site offers R&B, Folk, Jazz, Children's, Comedy and everything in between.  Celebrity playlists are also included, with lineups from Kenny Wayne Shephard, Kiera Knightly, and Joaquin Phoenix, just to name a few.

     One unique quality of Rhapsody is the Label Spotlights, which are small compilations of artists who share the same label in one package deal.  Another is the playlists from MTV, Vh1, and CMT that are packed with the music that each station offers.  Rhapsody also offers the option to add selections to a personal Facebook page directly from the website.

     The best features Rhapsody offers are the easy browsing, search engine, free music videos, and the ability to get the lyrics to the music you listen to.