Hey all, question for ya -

I just bought a Nokia N810 because it was listed as a recommended mp3 player on the website for the Rhapsody to Go service. While I've been very impressed by tablet's ability to stream music from the built in Rhapsody port, I've been very dissappointed to find that there's no way to download the tracks to the tablet's memory? I figured that was annoying, but surely I'd be able to download the tracks on my laptop then transfer them over to the N810, just the same way I have done in the past with my little $35 sansa clip, right? Apparantly not.

When I connect the N810 via USB, all Rhapsody registers is two additional memory cards (F: and G, and it won't let me transfer tracks to them. Is there any way to make Rhaposdy recognize the N810 as an mp3 player so I can download tracks to it like normal? After all, who only wants to listen to music when they're around a WIFI signal? WHat about driving in your car, going to the gym, etc? Thaniks in advance for your help!

Regards,
Matt

Let me preface this by saying that I'm SPECULATING here. I've never used Rhapsody, nor do I intend to. However... There are two separate protocols for talking to a USB media player. The first is MSC (Mass Storage device Class), in which the media player just looks like a removable drive to the host computer. This is what the n810 does. The second is MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) in which the media player identifies itself as such rather than just a disk drive. This is somewhat more specialized and abstracts away implementation details like files, folders, etc. This is what I suspect Rhapsody on your host computer is looking for.

As a test, can you use Rhapsody to download music to a generic USB thumb drive? If so, so much for my clever explanation.

The problem may actually be reversed. The Rhapsody application on the n810 may put the device into MTP mode, whereas the host computer is expecting MSC. Either way, are there settings in Rhapsody on either side to change modes? MTP mode may also be called "PlaysForSure" or some other marketing name.

But why not avoid Rhapsody altogether? You can just copy files directly from your PC to your n810 using Windows Explorer. You just have to figure out where your n810 media player app (Rhapsody, Media Player, Canola, whatever) expects to find them. This method may not work for Rhapsody-specific DRM'd files, but it probably will.

Though the Rhapsody web site lists the N810 as a Rhapsody To Go device, the Nokia N8x0s do not support PlaysForSure. You're blocked from transferring Rhapsody tracks to your tablet until Rhapsody begins selling DRM-free music.

You're not the first to be confused by the way Rhapsody lists the N810 on their web site.

Or to be more specific:

It isn't a To Go player.

It's a long-standing mistake that Rhapsody has yet to correct on their website.