Another use for Anonymizer
On a recent trip to Canada, I made sure to stay in a hotel with free in-room WiFi. This meant that, in addition to the obvious things like being able to check email and news from my room, I could also save on the usual extortionate hotel long distance charges by using Skype, and listen to music via Rhapsody. The former worked like a charm. Unfortunately, when I tried logging in to my Rhapsody Unlimited account, I came up against one of the service’s limits: No access outside of the U.S. After some initial frustration, I decided to try the favored solution of government spooks and Chinese dissidents: Anonymizer. After downloading the latest version and signing up for a free seven-day trial, I rebooted, and activated anonymous surfing. I checked my IP address, and sure enough, the hotel’s Canadian address had been replaced with an American one supplied by Anonmyizer. I logged back into Rhapsody, and was streaming my library within minutes. Although Anonymizer slowed down my access slightly, the lag was minimal, and didn’t affect my ability to stream from Rhapsody. Overall, it was a very satisfying experience, and I’d be happy to pay Anonymizer’s annual fee just to avoid similar hassles in the future (though of course, it would be even better if Rhapsody Unlimited really lived up to its name).
