Music service Rhapsody's not afraid to take on iPod
SAN FRANCISCO -- Rhapsody still believes online subscription music has a real shot.
The music service, which offers access to over 5 million songs for a monthly fee, is still plugging away, despite challenges during the last few years.
Unlike online download purchasers, subscribers to online music services don't own the songs they listen to. For about $15 a month, they can play as many as they want — but they no longer have access if they cancel their subscription.
That's a big stumbling block. Despite years of rosy projections from analysts and music executives, many consumers have shunned subscriptions — sometimes called "music rental" — in favor of a la carte downloads.
Yahoo Music gave up the good fight, and will shutter its subscription music service in September. (Yahoo sold its assets to Rhapsody.) Napster, which lost about 75,000 subscribers in the last year, recently introduced an MP3 download store, in addition to its subscription service.
Rhapsody, co-owned by Real Networks and MTV, recently opened an MP3 store as well. It also just began a new alliance with Verizon Wireless that puts its subscription music in front of nearly 70 million Verizon customers.
Verizon customers who subscribe to Rhapsody (they must also have an eligible data plan) get access to the songs in the Rhapsody catalog, and can move them to their phones via a PC — but not through over-the-air access. The dream, Rhapsody general manager Anu Kirk says, is for Rhapsody customers to get the urge to hear a song and pluck it directly into their phone from wherever they are, without a PC.
But that day isn't here yet, due to Verizon's concerns that unlimited over-the-air downloads would slow down its network.
Still, Kirk says Verizon — and a new alliance that promotes the music service on social networks — is Rhapsody's best shot in a long time.
Success without the iPod
In addition to cellphones, songs downloaded on Rhapsody can be listened to on a computer or via certain portable devices — but not on the world's most popular MP3 player, the Apple iPod. Apple chooses not to participate in subscription music, and thus, the Microsoft software that makes subscription music portable isn't compatible with iPods.
