Portable Music Players and Devices

Portable music players and devices are capable of storing many types of music files, and reproducing music at near-CD quality.

The music files that are stored on these players can be deleted and new ones transferred to them in just minutes. Used with Rhapsody, portable devices allow you to take your music with you wherever you go.

Rhapsody can transfer local music files to a variety of compatible portable music players and storage devices.

Tracks that you transfer manually or sync with My Library are transferred as digital music files in a variety of media formats (including MP3, AAC, WMA, and RealAudio).

To install a portable player or device with Rhapsody

  • To install a portable player or device, simply plug your portable device into your computer. Rhapsody should immediately recognize it. If Rhapsody does not immediately recognize it, you will be prompted to download an update that will add the software Rhapsody needs to recognize your device.

  • Once Rhapsody has recognized your device, the Portable Device icon () will appear in the Source List, along with the name of the device. Click the icon or device name to show the contents of your portable device in the Display Area.

The Device View in the Display Area

Click the portable device icon ( ) in the Source List to see the contents of the device in the Display Area.

From the Device View, you can delete tracks from your device, sort the columns, and remove or add columns. The Device View is separate from My Library; changes made in the Device View will not be reflected in My Library.

Note: You cannot play music or Edit Track Info from the Portable Device view of the Display Area. You can, however, delete tracks.

Buttons on the Portable Device View Toolbar

The Portable Device toolbar contains the following buttons:

Button

  

Action

Sync

Synchronizes the music in My Library with your portable device.

Options

Opens the "Preferences: Devices" dialog.

Delete

Deletes selected tracks from the device.

Eject

Safely 'ejects' the device by closing the software connections to your computer so that your computer no longer recognizes it as active.

Device Status

Information about the media files and the file space available in a selected portable device appears at the bottom of the Device View when you click the device name () in the Source List.

Status

  

Description

Tracks

Number of tracks already on the portable device.

Space Used

Total size of all the files stored on the portable device.

Space Available

Amount of file space remaining on the portable device.

Which Portable Players are Supported by Rhapsody?

For a list of supported devices, click the Transfer tab in the Mixer (when no portable device is connected to your computer), and click View list of supported devices, or use the instructions below.

To check or find a device, go to: http://music.guide.real.com/rhapsodydevices. Look next to your device under "Rhapsody Content Ready".

Support

  

Detail

Basic

You can transfer simple MP3, WMA, and AAC files.

You cannot transfer purchased ( ), downloaded subscription ( ), or streamed subscription ( ) tracks to your device.

Download

You can transfer MP3, WMA, and AAC files, plus purchased ( ) tracks.

You cannot transfer downloaded subscription ( ), or streamed subscription ( ) tracks to your device.

Subscription

You can transfer MP3, WMA, and AAC files, plus purchased ( ) and downloaded ( ) subscription tracks, to your device. Streamed subscription tracks ( ) will become downloaded ( ) subscription tracks during transfer.

Any device with the word "subscription" next to it is Janus, or "PlaysForSure" compatible. These are the only portable players to which you can transfer subscription downloads. But keep checking the list; Rhapsody is adding more devices all the time. (See Portable Players: Formats and Transferring for more information.)

Formats and Transferring

You can transfer a mix of file types (for example, MP3, RA, RAX, M4P) and qualities (such as 96 kilobytes per second [Kbps], or 196 Kbps) to your portable device. Rhapsody will automatically try to convert incompatible files into a format that your portable device can use. File conversion preferences are selected with the Configure Device or Change Options commands, depending on the device installed, but will only be used if your device does not support the original file format. (See Portable Players: Formats and Transferring for more information.)

Note: Purchased tracks ( ), non-Rhapsody downloads  imported from your hard drive(s), saved (Imported) CD tracks, and downloaded subscription tracks ( ) can all be transferred to a compatible portable device. However, the rights to play downloaded subscription tracks must be renewed once every 30 days by connecting your portable device to your computer while signed in to your Rhapsody account. (See Track Types for more information.)