Rhapsody Vs Napster Vs Yahoo Music Unlimited

There are so many different music subscription services out there, such as Rhapsody, Napster and Yahoo Music Unlimited, that who really knows which one is best? They all claim to have millions of songs, and all are - in certain respects - very similar. Over the past few weeks, I've tried out the free trial option for all three of the aforementioned services, and have come to the conclusion that there is a very clear "winner" amongst the three. My conclusion may come as a surprise, and I doubt very much that the service I like is the most popular... but it should be.

In comparing services such as these, I think it's important to figure out exactly what I'm looking for before I start comparing. I thought about it, and came up with the "features" I most want in a music subscription service.

1. Lots of Content
2. Fast Downloads
3. Good Quality Music
4. High Quality Music Player
5. Cost

Not all my above criteria are given equal weight. For instance, if a music service is completely free, but has nothing I want, then I won't use it, so having a lot of content is a bit more important to me than cost. I'll discuss the importance of each as I go over how the different services performed in my testing.

1. Lots Of Content - It's actually kind of hard to declare a winner in this category, since every person likes different types of music. I may be thrilled that Rhapsody and Yahoo seem to have a ton of Broadway musicals, but that may not make a difference to someone else. All I can say is that Rhapsody claims to have over 3 million songs, Yahoo Music Unlimited states they have over 2 million songs, and Napster says they have millions of songs (but doesn't put a number on it). In my book, all of those are pretty good, but certainly not record-breaking. The iTunes Store, by way of comparison, has more than all of them. At a recent presentation, Steve Jobs said that the iTunes Store now has more than 6 million songs available. So, the three I'm comparing are good, but could definitely improve. Winner in this category: toss up.