A few weeks ago I wrote about how much I was liking the Sonos digital music system, which plays digital music stored on your computer on different stereo systems throughout your house (you can play different sings in different rooms at the same time). It's an absolutely brilliant system that hasn't given me one minute of the usual frustration I experience whenever I set up some new technology in the house.
Last Thursday Sonos announced a partnership with Rhapsody, the music subscription service from RealNetworks. Now I can play two million songs on any stereo system in my house, using Sonos' portable iPod-like controller. It's an incredible experience being able to call up almost any song you can think of and start playing it. I showed it to my wife, and she immediately began playing all of David Bowie's '70s songs. She's hooked. I've been teaching my 8-year-old about punk by playing Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Ramones, Clash, and Buzzcocks. You get a free 30-day Rhapsody trial with Sonos. After that, you pay $10 a month. It's a bargain.
You don't even need a PC to run Sonos with Rhapsody, because the Sonos hardware plays the Rhapsody streams. Maybe that's why there are so few hiccups or glitches.
My family is now listening to a lot more music than we ever were (my 3-year-old likes the kid's "radio station," which has everything from Burl Ives to Ralph Covert) because we have easy and instant access to music like never before.
