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April 26, 2005
RealNetworks Launches New Portable Subscription Service
As expected, RNWK is launching a new version of its popular Rhapsody music service and a new "Rhapsody To Go" portable subscription service...(The video of the press conference announcing the new version is here...)
Some initial details here...
Update: The service now has three tiers:
-- The free ad-supported version: you can download Rhapsody and play 25 songs for free, along with 25 ad-free radio stations. Also, much/CD management etc...the usual stuff...
-- The Rhapsody Unlimited version: much like it subscription service before...$9.99 with unlimited access to 1 million-plus songs, ad-free radio, playlist sharing, etc.
-- The new Rhapsody To Go service, which is the portable music service working with MSFT's Janus DRM system... priced at $14.99 a month. Right now, only two series of devices are supporting this service: Iriver H10 and the Creative Zen Micro portable music players. As a special promotion, consumers who sign up for one year of the Rhapsody To Go service will receive a $100 mail-in rebate on an iriver H10 portable player.
I've been active user of Rhapsody for almost two years now, and have just downloaded the new version and playing with it for an hour. It is pretty slick..the engine running it is definitely much faster, and some features here and there are nice. I like the personalization features as well...
But nothing "groundbreaking" as they purported it to be...and nothing along the lines Fred Wilson wanted it to be...
Posted by Rafat Ali in RealNetworks | Permalink
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» Rhapsody To Go from GarageSpin
There you have it, my hunch was right. Rhapsody To Go was launched by RealNetworks, along with a few other options: Rhapsody® Unlimited access to over 1,000,000 songs. Get a free 14-day trial now. Rhapsody To Go Take a million... [Read More]
Tracked on Apr 27, 2005 10:02:52 AM
Comments
Okay, if Real is using MS DRM for portables, does that mean that any downloads can be played in MS's Media Player? Have they abandoned Helix? How can it work on the portable using MS DRM and not on the PC where MS's Media Players uses MS DRM. Will they be using the PlaysforSure logo? It sounds like they've leveraged the work that the device manufacturers have already done by MS DRM without having to port Helix DRM to their device. This may be a technical topic but it will have to be translated so that users understand what they are getting from their music and where it can be played and how.
Posted by: Tad Jones | Apr 27, 2005 10:50:46 AM
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