Last month, I tried a trial subscription for AudioGalaxy's Rhapsody service when I got a promo email. I used to like AudioGalaxy, so why not?

With this service — apparently Listen.com's Rhapsody with different branding — subscribers pay $9.95 per month for access to about 18,000 albums by something like 8,000 artists. Musicians and songwriters get paid for each listen.

I will not be continuing the subscription. Here's why.

When I first signed on, I quickly found a CD I wanted to hear. It took me a few moments of searching for the "download" button before I realized there is none. This is a streaming audio service only. So ... there is no way for me to listen to the music on my stereo, in my car, or on a portable player. In short, it's a $10 per month jukebox ... chained to my computer. And I'm just not going to pay for a jukebox unless it comes with the saloon.

The experiment almost ended there, but I quickly found myself wondering, late at night and in the shower, whether Rhapsody had other CDs I've been meaning to try. I started looking forward to getting to work to find out. Thinking maybe I'd been too dismissive, I decided to continue the experiment. (Footnote: when I went back to write this review, I learned that it is possible to buy a subscription that allows you to download 10 tracks a month, at least on the Listen.com version. That's an insult.)

I soon ran into two other problems. First, the software has glitches. Specifically, the buffering system sucks, so songs were continually interrupted while the network caught up. This glitch ruins the experience, and would be reason enough not to subscribe. But presumably it can be fixed.

The second problem is more fundamental. Like all online services I've tried, Rhapsody has some glaring gaps in selection. Most critically, it does not have most of the new releases I looked for. Especially for a service that is listen-only, that's a real downer. If I could be persuaded to pay $10 a month to dial up CD's on demand, it would have to be for new releases.

On September 11, I decided I wanted to start the day with The Rising. It wasn't there, so I listened to Darkness on the Edge of Town instead. (Footnote: that record is every bit as good as I remember it, but it seems younger than it used to.) Rhapsody had back catalog, but not new releases, for many other artists I tried — Spoon, Tom Waits, Warren Zevon, David Bowie.

Other artists were either missing entirely (Aimee Mann), or were represented by only a tiny slice of their music (Brian Eno). Some of the acts missing completely, like Captain Beefheart, probably won't bother much of their audience. But they're also lacking anything by the Beatles.

Annoyingly, a number of the CD's that were available were missing two or three songs. For example, DJ Shadow's latest was available, but with only 3 songs. I dialed up Charles Mingus' record Epitaph, a "unified, 18-movement work" scored for 30-piece jazz orchestra. But it was missing a few key songs — an omission that in context pretty much ruins the point of putting it online at all.