For those who've never heard of , it's Sweden's equivalent to Rhapsody or Napster--a music subscription service that lets subscribers stream anything from Spotify's extensive music library to a computer and, soon, an iPhone or iPod touch for £9.99 a month. The service is currently unavailable in any form in the U.S.

However, Rhapsody--a U.S. based subscription music service--is. And its owners, RealNetworks, to Apple and hope to be greeted with the same open arms as Spotify. Given that Apple has granted Spotify access, it seems it would be difficult for it to then bar Rhapsody, particularly when about why certain apps are being given the stink eye by Apple's app reviewers.

Opinions of music in the Ether find voice at each extreme--from "God intended us to own every smidgeon of music we play!" to "This will totally put iTunes out of business!" And, of course, the truth likely lies somewhere between.

There exists a way to access your iTunes library from your iPhone or iPod touch in the form of the . It's a great $4 solution for streaming the content you own to one of these devices. But the limitation is that you can stream only the unprotected content you own. With Spotify (and, perhaps Rhapsody, if the app is approved) you have access to everything the service offers. In the case of Rhapsody, that's some 8 million tracks available almost whenever you want them.

Nice, but not quite there. The Rhapsody app (should it see the light of day) will require a Rhapsody-To-Go subscription that weighs in at $15 a month. Normally this flavor of subscription lets you download Rhapsody tracks to your computer (a Windows PC) and transfer them to your compatible music player (the iPod and iPhone are not such compatible devices). In the case of version 1.0 of the iPhone application, this kind of transfer is not supported. Rather, the app streams Rhapsody content to the iPhone or iPod touch when you have a Wi-Fi, 3G or EDGE connection (Wi-Fi only in the case of the iPod touch).