RealNetworks' RealOne Music service, the recording industry's first online offering, shows that its creators still don't understand online music or its fans.

The recording industry has spent a lot of time to kill Napster and try to wipe out other online music-sharing sites. It's unfortunate that it apparently didn't put the same effort into creating the first of its own online music services.

RealNetworks' pay-for-play RealOne Music service (www.real.com) cranked up this month, offering the first listen to what America Online, several major record labels and even Napster have in mind. And it's clear its creators still don't understand online music or its fans.

RealOne is one outlet for MusicNet (www.musicnet.com), the umbrella name for a service offering more than 75,000 songs from AOL Time Warner Music, Bertelsmann, EMI Group and Zomba. RealOne missed more than a few beats in the early going when we tried out the new service.

For $9.95 a month, users can:

Download 100 songs a month, provided they have the patience to endure frequent "Download failed" messages. Even if downloads are successful, the songs can be played for only a month. If the user wants to listen longer, it counts against the next month's total.

The songs can't be burned onto a CD or transferred to another device (not even another PC).

Play 100 songs a month from artists ranging from Britney Spears to Eric Clapton to R.E.M., if they can get past maddening "No results found" or "The link you followed may be outdated" messages after clicking on names.

Select from hundreds of artists, if they can wade through a chaotic listing system that has Billie Holiday in the Bs, Garth Brooks in the Gs and the group Fleetwood Mac included in a diva collection.

For about $20 a month, RealOne Music subscribers can also watch online video.

Listen to a wide selection of Internet radio stations, unencumbered by time restrictions or number of songs. It worked fine, though thousands of stations can be accessed for free through their Web sites or free music radio sites such as Spinner (www.spinner.com). The one plus is 48 ad-free stations offered by RealOne, with genres ranging from alternative rock to jazz to classical to blues.

Try to get information about the service, but with almost comical responses. For example, check out this answer from the service's online help pages to a question about connection problems: "Common "cannot connect to server' errors include: 1. Cannot connect to server. 2. Unable to connect to server. 3. Unable to establish connection to server."

What makes the early glitches more glaring is RealNetworks' pitch for RealOne: "The benefit to being a subscriber will be convenience and ease of use," said Mark Hall, vice president of programming for RealNetworks of Seattle.

RealNetworks won't be alone for long in providing a subscription service for music. America Online, one of its partners, will offer the similar MusicNet service soon. And last week, radio giant Clear Channel Communications Inc. said it would use Web sites of its radio stations in five markets (but not initially the Tampa Bay area) to sell online music subscriptions from a service called FullAudio.

And Pressplay (www.pressplay.com) may start up next month, featuring music from Vivendi Universal SA and Sony Corp. It uses Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Media Player, the main rival to RealNetworks. Price has not been disclosed

While Pressplay is based on the same rent-a-song idea as RealOne, it also reportedly will have differences: It will let users keep songs on their hard drives as long as their subscriptions are paid, it will have a library of more than 100,000 songs starting out and it will allow CD burning, possibly with antipiracy technology built in to the software.

Jean-Marie Messier, chairman and chief executive of Vivendi, says it eventually will offer some method for people to burn CDs, possibly with antipiracy technology built in to the software.

"We recognize through Pressplay the importance of burning CDs for consumers," Messier said. "We are definitely working toward having a subscription service that allows for burning what kids want. They want compilations out of albums, and they want their compilations (available) on any device."

Messier also said overall record industry sales fell 5 percent this year, and piracy remains a major concern. "But the advance of the Internet and digital home recording has compounded the problem."

However, it's an open question whether consumers who liked swapping and burning music freely with Napster will be satisfied with music rental services that have so many limitations, including that no single service will have a catalog of music from all five major record labels.

Based on their music industry backers and rivals, don't expect to find Enrique Iglesias or Shania Twain on RealOne, and don't expect to find 'N Sync or Faith Hill on Pressplay. That means paying for a service that might have only half your favorite artists, or paying two or more monthly bills just to have access to the musicians you like.

While glitches in the early going are to be expected, first impressions also will be critical. But even before the services rolled out, some were skeptical.

"Consumers are going to laugh in their face," said Nick Donatiello, president of the market-research company Odyssey LP in San Francisco. The record labels "took so long to get together that a whole new set of expectations has been created. Now they have to climb the wall they allowed to be built."

But RealNetworks says to give it time. "If we spent all our time listening to what people say customers aren't going to buy, the service would never launch," said Scott Ehrlich, vice president of programming and production. "If we don't get something into the hands of consumers, the business won't get started."

With RealOne, users download the latest version of RealNetworks' software (Windows only), previously known as RealPlayer. RealOne includes the software in the subscription, but it will have to be uninstalled if the service is canceled. (A basic version of the software is available for free download to use as a jukebox and media player.)

RealOne has a clean look and is easy to navigate. Ironically, as a jukebox, it includes a button to burn CDs, though it works only with other music sources.

The signup process is simple: Provide an e-mail account, create a password and give a credit card number. A $19.95 plan offers additional music (125 downloads and 125 streaming songs a month) and content, such as news, sports and entertainment from sources such as iFilm, Fox Sports and Allfood.

The big test for the service came when my 16-year-old son, Jeff, got his turn. Jeff has played the guitar for 10 years, was once a Napster aficionado and cranks up the stereo in his room. His reaction spells trouble for the record companies.

The artist selection? A shrug and a lukewarm "It's okay."

But not being able to burn a CD really turned him off. "No one's going to want this."

- Information from Times wires was used in this report. Dave Gussow can be reached at gussow@sptimes.com or (727) 445-4228.

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