Thumbplay Music ( TPM | thumbplay.com ) review

[placebo]

check out the brand-new music subscription service called "TPM" ( Thumbplay Music , thumbplay.com ). It has a FREE 3days trial without credit card registration, and a FREE 14days trial with credit card registration. Here some facts, pro's and con's:

+ you must install Adobe AIR
+ you must install the TPM-sw (Thumbplay Music software)
+ for TPM login, there is no webinterface, embedded player, GUI for the web browser, or alike. clearly, if you want to login to the service to use it (streaming audio listening), you must launch and use the TPM-sw. i think this is similar to MZMP and its ZUNE-sw.
+ the TPM-sw, on the PC, doesnt allow for any "unlimited subscription downloads" (cp. RHDY). it simply isnt possible. TPM is a pure music-on-demand subscription service: all you can do is stream music online; you cannot even buy single MP3 tracks!
+ what is being streamed is AAC (Content-Type: audio/x-m4a), file extension *.m4a, streamed over the http://-protocol. the bitrate is 96kbps.
+ the full streaming url ("http-link") can be captured with our default method and has a typical format/structure of:

http://cdn.thumbplay.com/***/Thumb_Content/Full_AAC/***/Mar23/*****_HD/cat5/XXXXXXXXXXXXX/XXXXXXXXXXXXX_1_5.m4a?nga=20100901234559&track=***&player=***&env=live&sig=***&sid=***
Referer: app:/ThumbplayMusic.swf

in fact, this url (and related info) is saved in a *.XML-file, just check your \Temporary Internet Files-folder
+ this http://*.m4a is protected streaming (authorization required) but the default method works smoothly to download the streams. you could also use Replay Music to record (instead of download) the music, or simply the good ol' Total Recorder tool.
+ TPM has the best connectivity to mobile devices (android, samsung, ipod, iphone, ipad, blackberry, etc.) on the market; this originates from their long experience on the mobile phone market
+ while RHDY and MZMP might well shut down their unprofitable subscription services (~US$9.99/month) in some future, TPM has just launched and is the most well-funded ("sponsored") IT-company of recent years. their website is impressive, all new and modern, and the TPM-sw is lightening fast, simple and convenient. and attractive.
+ although the bitrate is low (96kb/s), the music sounds really good. and i even think that the tracks sound notably better than most of the 160kbps *.WMA's downloaded with RHDY-sw or the 128kbps ITUNES-tracks.
+ the service has more than 10,000,000 tracks .. which is more than NAPS. i didnt find much for my personal musical taste but for mainstream music it has the broadest selection of artists and albums.
+ many/most albums (of my musical taste) i checked had 25-30% "Not Available"-tracks.
+ according to their news/blog site, ~90% of the subscribers (customers) use the service most of the time for/on their mobile devices, and not for online listening to music on the PC (with the TPM-sw).

verdict: i can highly recommend the subscription service, it is cheap, the best funded, and the most modern and impressive development of concept/website/software of its kind. It is not Java, it is not Microsoft Visual Basic, or C++, the whole application (including the installer! ) is based on Adobe AIR technology, the successor of Adobe Flash and Adobe Shockwave. so dont be shocked when you first see it. i've warned you

rather uncool: if you want to cancel your trial (or your subscription), you cant send them an email. You cant simply click on a button. nope. How then? You must call them on the phone!!



TPM-sw = thumbplay music software, Thumplay Music.exe
NAPS = napster.exe , napster.com
MZMP = microsoft zune marketplace, zune pass
ZUNE-sw = microsoft zune software, zune.exe
WMA = microsoft windows media audio (v9.x, v10.x, v11.x)
ITUNES = apple's itunes store
RHDY = real.com
RHDY-sw = rhapsody software , rhapsody.exe
"default method" = *RTFM*

[placebo]

caution:

Originally Posted by SETTINGS: Unlimited streams

Renews: 11/10/2010

this means that the subscription renews on 2010-11-10.
but it's not true.
they bill on 2010-11-09.
If you want to cancel your current subscription *before* they charge your credit card again (for the next subscription period), then you *must* cancel on 2010-11-08. that's exactly 2 days before than what is seen under Settings (menu).

i've warned you.

having experienced the above, i dont like Thumbplay anymore. i herewith withdraw my recommendation. If you want a similar service on your PC and on your mobile device, then my recommendation goes to SIMFY.COM. Way cool.

[placebo]

Bad, Bad Sign: Thumbplay Sold to Clear Channel for Peanuts...
presnikoff
Tuesday, March 01, 2011

This may have been the best exit possible, but everyone is still losing a lot of money. Late Monday, Clear Channel confirmed its purchase of Thumbplay, and insiders are pointing to a pricetag of peanuts. And, that description also fits the Thumbplay subscriber total: according to the Wall Street Journal, Thumbplay Music collected a mere 20,000 subscribers for its cloud-based subscription service. Clear Channel is planning to keep Thumbplay Music running, though there also appear to be technology integration plans with iheartradio.

So what happened? Thumbplay was playing with capital of about $41 million, a chunk of which was probably used to secure major label licenses. Thumbplay Music has a catalog of more than 10 million cloud-based songs from all four majors, and licensing is rarely a cheap endeavor. The fate of the rest of Thumbplay - including its ringtones and wallpapers business - remains unclear.

But what does this say about the subscription space, and what learning is there for over-funded, similarly-positioned startups like Rdio? Perhaps Thumbplay got the marketing wrong, or the timing was off, though this could be a broader reflection of demand for cloud-based (and paid) services. Across the board, subscriber tallies have been tepid, though in fairness, Pandora has managed to crack through the impossibleness of it all.

this was posted lately in the news of digital music news. thumbplay is a dead horse and i would jump off immediately if you're hooked. sell your stocks. now.

[any ANONYMOUS forum user]

How catch i the stream url and how download i it?

[placebo]

Why would you want to download the streams? They are in 96kbps (this is re-confirmed info)!

Try to catch the stream with Replay Media Catcher. in the "HTTP Plug-in Settings" add as "Target Mime Types" the entry "audio/x-m4a" (dont enable webdump plugin -- it is not needed.) - this should work okay.
or in the latest replay media catcher version add the below 2 lines in the "HTTP Download Tweaks" dialogue:


@SR
is this the new webdumper technology (carried over from RMC3)?

Originally Posted by placebo

is this the new webdumper technology (carried over from RMC3)?

Web Stream Dumper does the same thing as Replay Media Catcher 4 when you add an HTTP web-site to the Secure sites list.

[placebo]

wow, this is news:
i've tried to sign up for a 3 days FREE trial and .. it doesnt work out in the end. it appears that they recognize my faked U.S. location (ip, proxy, vpn) no matter which proxy type (or class) i apply.

so maybe they re not as stupid as i thought

meanwhile i've created a wikipedia entry for this great service:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thumbplay

feel free to improve the text!
In any case, this post is to inform you that it has become considerably harder to sign up for Thumbplay trials (without credit card info) if you dont really live in the USA but try the obvious tricks (proxies, vpn)

The tricks dont work anymore.

EDIT: a triple proxy cascade works, though. that would be too difficult to implement in thumpblay