Rhapsody

A leader in the music streaming industry, Rhapsody got its start in 1999 when founder Tim Bratton teamed up with J. P. Lester, Sylvain Rebaud, Alexandre Brouaux, Nick Sincaglia, and Dave Lampton to create an engine that could stream music online. They used this engine in two different radio services called TuneTo.com and Aladdin, both of which were eventually bought out. In 2001 Aladdin became what we now call Rhapsody. Rhapsody was officially launched in December of that year and became the first streaming service to offer unlimited, on-demand listening for a flat rate. They continued to build up their catalog with different music labels as well. Until 2010 RealNetworks was the parent company of Rhapsody until Rhapsody became its own independent business. Within a year of becoming independent, they gained about 100,000 new subscribers. In October 2011 they began to pursue taking control of the famous Napster, a company that many people used to stream music with until other competitors emerged. With headquarters in Seattle, Washington, Rhapsody (and now Napster) also has offices in San Francisco, California; New York, New York; and, oddly enough, Frankfurt, Germany. Interested in streaming with them? Getting started with Rhapsody is simple. Before you create an account, you'd need to decide between two types of accounts:

• unRadio, which costs $4.99 per month and gives you ad-free listening with an unlimited number of skips and streaming on the Web and your phone
• Premier, which costs $9.99 per month and includes ad-free listening; an unlimited number of  skips; the ability to download any song, album, or playlist you want; and streaming on the Web, your phone, and a home device

Once you decide which account you prefer, you sign up by providing your email address, creating a password, and agreeing to their terms of service (such as your billing date and other logistics). If you do choose Rhapsody, here are the pros and cons you'll run into.