Thanks to modern technology, it's now possible to listen to music using your computer, mobile phone, or portable device without the use of physical media such as CDs, tapes, or records.
There are many legal sites on the Web that allow the user to stream extensive catalogs of music. Streaming is different from sites such as iTunes, which requires the listener to purchase and download music in order to hear it. Streamed music comes directly to your computer from the Internet—you don't purchase the music itself, nor are you required to download a copy to your computer to hear it.
This article will review Spotify, one of the newest legal music streaming websites, and Rhapsody, formerly Napster. Both sites offer multiple subscription options and extensive music catalogs.
For this article I used Windows XP, Internet Explorer 8, and Window-Eyes 7.5.2. The word "click" means use of a screen reader's mouse click hot key and not the physical mouse. There may have been some website and software changes between the time this article was submitted and its publication date.
Spotify
Spotify, which has been available in Europe for several years, was recently made available in the United States. In the December 2011 issue of PC World magazine, Spotify is rated number 15 in the list of the year's top 100 products. There are several different listening plans available. The free plan allows six months of unlimited listening. Every 15 minutes or so, a very brief ad will play. After six months, the user is limited to 10 hours of music per month at no cost. The unlimited plan costs $4.99 per month for unlimited ad-free listening, and the premium plan, $9.99 per month, allows the listener to listen offline and add tracks to a phone or portable device. On the Spotify homepage, there is an instructional video about the service, but unfortunately all instructions are in text on the screen, rendering the video completely inaccessible with a screen reader.
Getting Started
Note: Once registration is complete almost all Spotify's access is through mouse hot keys. There are some keyboard shortcuts and an edit box in which to enter a search query, but most interactions with Spotify, including choosing a selection and making play lists, can be accomplished through mouse hot keys.
Spotify's homepage loads with 67 clearly labeled links. There is an option to login using your Facebook user name and password, but no link to sign up on the home page. To register, activate the "account" link, which will load a new page giving you the option to sign up.
The registration form is straightforward. You can create an account or sign in using your Facebook user name and password. There is a form control that was not clearly labeled, but turning browse mode on to read the control and then turning it off for entering data worked well. The button to register was not labeled, but it's the last form control. When the new page loads, it's easy to determine if the account was created by using the screen reader's headings key to find the heading "Account successfully created."
The next step is to download Spotify's software. Download information appears right below the account information. The download should start automatically when the account is created, but that was not the case for me. I activated the "Restart the Download" link, but that didn't work either. Towards the top of the page was a "Windows" link, which brought up a new page. To start the software download, the website indicated there was a "download now" button, but it was actually a link. Once my software was installed, I was presented with two unlabeled edit boxes. With sighted assistance, I learned that one was for my user name and the other was for my password. The log-in button was located with mouse hot keys. When my log-in was successful, I heard a chord that indicated that I now had access to the Spotify software. From then on, I did not need to go back to the actual website; I created a hot key to launch the Spotify program.
The first time I activated the software, there was text that says "I'm new to Spotify." Clicking on the link brings up some basic information about the program along with Spotify's standard search page. On the page were the names of some of my Facebook friends who also use Spotify, an option for iTunes and one for Windows Media Player. At the top of the page is a menu bar that can be accessed with keyboard Alt and arrow keys, but these menus do not provide all of Spotify's options, including the option to review search results.
To perform a search in Spotify, use Ctrl + L to bring up an edit box. There is no need to take Window-Eyes out of browse mode. Enter the name of the song, album or artist you're looking for and then hit the Enter key (there is no search button or link). If the text is long, type Ctrl + A to highlight the entire edit box. Search results are not accessible through the arrow keys. By using the mouse hot keys and going down line by line, the results are displayed. Depending on what's on the screen, you may hear additional information not related to the actual search result, such as play lists, options for Windows Media Player and iTunes or other Spotify information. The information is usually very similar each time you search for new music. It's possible to navigate Spotify using your mouse move by clip hot key. To play a track, either use the keyboard menu or right-click on the track. The first option is play. The music will begin to play in about one second. Depending on the number of results displayed for a given search, it might be necessary to scroll down a long list to find the requested track or artist. If you have linked your Spotify account with your Facebook account, your Facebook friends who also use Spotify can see what you're playing. To disable this feature by activating a private session, tap Alt, then P.
One of the advantages of Spotify is the ability to integrate files already on your computer with Spotify's music. Clicking the "Local Files" option gives you access to your iTunes or Windows Media Player files through Spotify. The files appear in a list accessible only through mouse hot keys. Spotify will recognize pre-existing play lists. You can add new files to a playlist or create a new list. Spotify files can be added to playlists by right-clicking on a track. The third option after Play is "Add to"; activating this option will bring up a menu. Hit the Enter key on the playlist where you want the files to appear. Unless you subscribe to Spotify's Premium Plan, it's only possible to access Spotify files in the playlist; they will not appear in iTunes or Windows Media Player. In other words, Spotify must be open and running to use their files. By using mouse hot keys, the playlist can be found towards the bottom of the page. You can also create a new playlist by activating the "new playlist" option on the page. Spotify-exclusive playlists can also be created.
Getting Help
At one point I had a problem with Spotify not recognizing my Facebook password. I followed the instructions to change my password, but this did not resolve the problem. I checked Spotify's Help section with no success. I posted my problem to the User's Forum and filled out a contact form but never got a response. I found the address of Spotify's US office but could not locate a phone number. With sighted assistance, I was able to fix my problem. It took one mouse click.
Rhapsody
The Rhapsody homepage loads with 176 links, 13 headings, and 2 forms. Most of the links are labeled and some are listed more than once.
Getting Started
Activating the homepage link "Start a Free 14 day Trial" will play a brief announcement. Edit boxes allow you to create a user name and password. There is an unlabeled submit button. The next page has a form for credit card information. This form must be completed before the free trial can begin. The first form controls are two unlabeled radio buttons. The first is for credit cards: Visa, Master Card or American Express. The second button selects payment through Amazon.com. The rest of the form, including credit card number and address, is accessible with the exception of the unlabeled submit button. Should you choose not to continue with Rhapsody after the trial, you must cancel your subscription through the "My Account" link. If you do nothing, your credit card will be billed $9.99 per month, the cost of Rhapsody's Premier Plan. There is also a Premier Plus Plan for $14.99, which allows you to use Rhapsody on more computers and more devices.
Getting Music
Once your account is created, the next page will ask you to choose where you want to listen to your music: iPhone, Android, or Computer. For each choice, Rhapsody's software or app must be downloaded. For this article, I chose to listen on my computer. There was text that instructed me to click to download software for my computer, but nothing happened when I tried to activate the link. With sighted assistance I learned that there were unlabeled graphics for downloading the software to a computer or device. Once the download starts, be sure to review the options on each screen that appears. By default, Rhapsody is set to be the default player for various file types including MP3 and WMA. This can be changed with check boxes.
Once an account is created it's time to play music. Although you download the Rhapsody software to whatever device you've selected, you might find it easier to go through the actual Rhapsody website. Either way, the software must be on the computer for Rhapsody to work. If using Rhapsody from your computer, you'll need to click on the word "search" in order to bring up the search box on the screen. The website version of Rhapsody is more straightforward and in some ways easier to navigate. This guide focuses on using the service through the website. On the website, the search form, which is accessed through form controls, actually consists of an edit box. There is a Search button above the edit box, but ignore it. Once the text is entered, simply hit the enter key. The search results can be found by using the screen reader's headings hot key. By continuing with the headings hot key there will be headings within the search results for top matching artists, top matching albums and top matching tracks. At the end of each list is a link for additional results within each category.
There is an unlabeled play button, but hitting Enter on it does not accomplish anything. To play the track, hit Enter on the track's link. Once a song has been played, it is automatically added to your playlist. If you play the song two times in a row, it will be added a second time. To clear the playlist, use the screen reader text find command and search for the word "Clear." Then, route the mouse pointer to the word and left-click.
On the Rhapsody home page are links for various genres of music including country, hip hop, classical, and rock/pop. If one of the genre links is activated, a list of songs and artists is displayed. If any artist's link on Rhapsody is activated, Rhapsody will display albums, songs, and a brief biography of the artist.
Rhapsody tracks can be purchased on the Rhapsody mp3 site, which contains a simple search form consisting of an edit box and a Search button that might read as a picture link. Use the headings hot key to find results. Route the mouse pointer to the desired track and left-click on it. The next page will contain a link to add the track to your cart. The cart contents can be found with the screen reader's table hot key. Links to keep shopping and check out are clearly labeled.
Getting Help
Rhapsody's help page has the usual topics, clearly presented as links. In addition, they have e-mail, chat, and phone support. To get to that information, you need to activate one of the help question links. The number for customer support is (866) 597-5505.When I called customer support, my call was answered within a couple of minutes. I needed to remind the tech support person several times that I was blind and couldn't click on unlabeled graphics, but he did find a way for me to accomplish my task.
The Bottom Line
Unfortunately, neither of these websites is totally accessible during the setup process. Spotify is significantly less expensive if you don't want to add songs to a phone or portable device. There is a free six-month trial for Spotify, with occasional brief ads. Spotify does not take your credit card information when setting up the trial. Rhapsody offers a free 14-day trial where they take your credit card information, so you must remember to cancel the account within the trial period to avoid getting billed. Both plans cost about the same to add the service to a device or phone. Rhapsody has an additional subscription option to use the service on more computers and devices.
Not being able to use keyboard navigation for search results is a downside of the Spotify service, but if you are able to use your mouse hot keys and have some patience, Spotify works well and has a very good selection of music. Spotify offers the advantage of being able to import iTunes and Windows Media Player files so playlists can be created with both your own and Spotify's files. Through the Premium plan, Spotify's content can be used off-line and can be transferred to a portable device or phone. Spotify's help system does leave a lot to be desired. In my contact form I did say that I was blind and needed assistance, but I never received a response. My contact form was submitted more than three weeks prior to submitting this article.
Rhapsody's search results can be navigated by keyboard commands and their search results provide more information than Spotify's.
If you want to purchase tracks directly from a streaming service then Rhapsody is a better option.
Rhapsody's help system is significantly better than Spotify's. It's nice to be able to talk to a human. It would be great if Spotify had phone-based tech support.
My recommendation is to check out both sites and then decide. You can have both programs on your computer at the same time. Happy listening!
