Subscription music on Android…soon.

Rhapsody for iPhone is going to remain a big deal until it gets approved or rejected. That’s like half the damn fun with the iTunes App store lately. But nestled in Real’s press release this morning was the mention of a Rhapsody app for Android. I’m sure I won’t be the first person on the Internet to say thank Christ.

The music industry loves subscription services like children love things that scare the shit out of them, and if we can have streaming subscription services to our mobile devices, that’s practically a reinvention of radio, and that’s how the Fuckedcompany that is the music industry will come back.

You can also think of these services as “music utility companies,” which may be upsetting to some of you…but probably not to musicians and record labels. Some people think it’s going to happen to news, too. Shit, News Corp. already said they’re going to start charging for all of their news sites…but I have digressed enough.

I don’t love Rhapsody. In fact, I fucking hate Rhapsody. I went to their download shop launch event in NYC with Ben Gibbard (guy from Death Cab for Cutie/Postal Service) and their people were literally nowhere to be found…presumably they were already drinking and watching the show. I had exactly ONE drink before they ended open bar and I had to listen to shitty acoustic versions of shitty Postal Service songs that I hated eight years ago. Then after the show ended, everyone milled around and socialized and I had no idea who I was supposed to meet with because it was so dark and loud and half the crowd was leaving.

I realize that has nothing to do with the service whatsoever, so I’m going to shift things and say when they release their Android App, I’ll give them a fair shake.

But I subscribe to Napster. I joined up for a Betanews review, figuring it was $5 and not a big deal, and I’ve stayed with it since then. It’s probably been almost five months. It’s not great, but it’s proven useful…and if they released an Android app, I’d be pretty happy.

I talked to them today, and they said that they are “looking into making the service available in as many places as possible, including the iPhone,” but they didn’t mention Android. They said they’d keep me posted. Until then, i’ll just have to completely obliterate my battery listening to StreamFurious and consuming “traditional” radio.