Napster Music for Android

Rhapsody's Android app lets you listen to music streamed from Rhapsody's huge online library on your phone or tablet. The app is free, but you'll need a Rhapsody subscription to listen to songs for more than 30 seconds. A pioneer of online music, Rhapsody has responded to growing competition with high-quality mobile streaming and multiple subscription options.

Pros

Large library: Rhapsody was one of the first music streaming services and has tens of millions of songs covering many different genres in its library.

High-quality streaming: A slider in the Settings changes the app's bit rate from Low (64kbps) to High (320kbps) for high-quality (but resource-hungry) playback (when available).

Infinite skips & no ads: The subscription-based service means no ads, and you can skip over any tune you don't want to hear.

Three-tier pricing: Rhapsody offers three subscription options that are generally competitive with similar services. T-Mobile customers can get discount rates.

Cons

PIN pain: Registering or verifying an account via the Android app is more frustrating than it should be. Signing up through the Web portal and Facebook worked much better.

No free radio: You can listen to 30-second clips for free, but a subscription is required to play full songs.

Bottom Line

We liked the sound of the tunes Rhapsody streamed to our headphones, but other music-streaming services beat in user experience. If you already use Rhapsody, the Android app is best for mobile use. But try before you subscribe: Musical tastes and other factors could tip your decision one way or another.