Sandisk, RealNetworks partner on iPod/iTunes rival
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(InfoWorld) - RealNetworks is hoping to make a stronger push into the portable digital music market with the introduction of Sandisk's Sansa music players that come bundled with RealNetworks Rhapsody music service. The new offering, announced on Monday and to be available only in the U.S., means that Real and Sandisk join Apple Computer and Microsoft as providers of music services that are closely tied to specific devices. Just last week Microsoft revealed details of Zune, which will link a new portable player to a Microsoft digital music store. As part of the deal, the Sansa e200 series of portable music players will come preloaded with software supporting the Rhapsody service. Subscribers to the service pay a monthly fee to listen to any song in the Rhapsody database. They can download songs to their PCs and transfer them to the digital music player. If users cancel their subscription, the next time they connect to the Internet they'll synch with Rhapsody, which will delete the songs from the music player and their PCs. Anyone can buy individual tracks from Rhapsody and those songs won't be deleted for customers who cancel their subscriptions. Rhapsody To Go customers can already transfer music onto portable players but this will be the first time that a device will come preloaded with Real software to ease the song transfer. The service on the Sansa device will also include some new capabilities, including automatic downloads of songs based on user preferences. Real is using its own Helix digital rights management rather than Microsoft's PlaysForSure offering, although the devices will support the Microsoft technology. "This shows how the marketplace is slowly adjusting to Microsoft becoming a competitor," said Mark Mulligan, an analyst with Jupiter Research. Many portable music manufacturers and digital music stores have used Microsoft's digital rights management software and the Windows Media platform but their relationships with Microsoft may be tested since the introduction of Zune. "There's going to be significant amounts of shifting of alliances because what Microsoft has done with Zune is become an aggressive competitor with lots of people who were their clients who use Windows Media," he said. The announcement from Real also indicates that although the industry has become increasingly critical of Apple's policy of tying iTunes customers exclusively to its own iPod music players, competitors are emulating the tactic. Still, just because Microsoft and Real have now introduced similar concepts doesn't mean that such close bundles will become the only choice in the future, Mulligan said. That's clear because the Real and Sandisk relationship isn't exclusive, meaning that Sansa users won't be limited to only using Rhapsody while Real said it plans to form similar relationships with other music player makers. Also, if the music stores strike too many relationships with music players makers, the value of the close tie-in drops. "You can only do that so many times before it becomes meaningless," Mulligan said. Real said the Sansa offering will become available later this year. The companies did not reveal pricing for end users.ADVERTISEMENTMAKE SOA REAL WITH IBM WEBSPHERE PODCASTStreamline processes and maximize efficiency within a proven service oriented architecture. Take back control of your business processes with IBM WebSphere.
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RealNetworks announced a new version of its RealPlayer media player software -- the player will support rival formats Flash and QuickTime.
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Microsoft Corp. confirmed Friday it's working on music and entertainment products that are expected to compete with Apple Computer Inc.'s wildly popular iPod and iTunes music service.
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RealNetworks Inc. on Tuesday halved prices for songs downloaded from its online music store to win customers for new technology that has rankled rival Apple Computer Inc.
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RealNetworks Inc. is teaming up with SanDisk Corp. to release a portable music player that more closely links with RealNetworks' Rhapsody online music service, in the latest attempt to take on Apple's iPod and iTunes stronghold.
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Apple&#39;s most recent firmware update for the iPod, released last month, breaks Real Network&#39;s Harmony technology, which enable songs bought from Real&#39;s online store to be played on the device.
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Blog: Real Networks announced today that the new version of their RealPlayer will allow users to download and organize embedded internet video content right from their browser.
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By RACHEL METZ  NEW YORK -- So far, nothing but a new iPod has been able to tear me away from my old iPod. But after spending some time cozying up to SanDisk Corp.'s new Sansa Connect Wi-Fi MP3 player, I'm willing to admit that there are other players I'd use in a pinch.
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Interested in subscribing to music, instead of buying one song at a time? Unfortunately, Real Network's alternative to iTunes -- the Rhapsody subscription service -- is not music to the ears. Commentary by Leander Kahney.
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Several rivals of Apple Computer Inc.   AAPL.O plan digital music devices to work closely with their   own online music services, just as Apple's iPods and iTunes do,   The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
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(InfoWorld) - Best Buy,Â in cooperation with SanDisk and RealNetworks, is the latest company to join the growing list of competitors to Apple Computer's iTunes music service. Best Buy unveiled on Thursday a online music service, called Best Buy Digital Music Store, that allows customers to find, manage and purchase music online. It is powered by RealNetworks' Rhapsody 4.0 music service and lets users purchase and permanently download songs and albums, as well as subscribe monthly to listen to an unlimited number of songs, the company said. As part of the offering, Best Buy also will carry and promote SanDisk Sana e200R Rhapsody MP3 players, which have been optimized to work with its new music service. Both the players and the service will be available starting Oct. 15, the company said. Jennifer Schaidler, vice president of music for Best Buy, said the company is differentiating its service from Rhapsody by offering exclusive artist content and tailoring that to what Best Buy customers are purchasing. "Look at it as Rhapsody 4.0 plus," she said. "You get all the stuff that's there [on Rhapsody], plus more exclusive content." Selling CDs and MP3 players in its stores and online is already a successful part of Best Buy's business, so offering a music service was a logical next step for the company, Schaidler said. "Customers expect Best Buy to provide them with quality entertainment in an easy way," she said. Songs on the Best Buy Digital Music Store will cost $0.99, with monthly subscriptions that allow users to play an unlimited number of songs for $14.99 a month The news comes on the heels of the formal unveiling last week ofÂ the availability and pricing for Microsoft's forthcoming Zune Player and Zune Marketplace service. Microsoft will make the digital media players and service available in the U.S. on Nov. 14. Like Best Buy's new service, songs on the Zune Marketplace will cost about $0.99 each, though the charges will be according to a points system (i.e., 79 points a song) that will allow users to purchase items on other Microsoft properties, such as Xbox Live. Zune Marketplace's unlimited monthly subscription also costs $14.99 a month. Songs on Apple's iTunes service cost $0.99, but there is no monthly subscription available. Pricing for the SanDisk music player that works with the new Best Buy service is higher than that of comparable iPod or Zune devices, however. The Zune digital media player, which has 30G bytes of storage, will cost $249.99, the same as 30G-byte video iPods already available from Apple. SanDisk Sana e200r MP3 players come in two models -- a 2G byte model for $139.99 and an 8G byte model for $249.99. However, while the Zune player and the SanDisk Sana players include an FM radio tuner in addition to the ability to play digital music, videos and photos, the iPod has only the latter features. To promote its new service, Best Buy will launch with an exclusive track from recording artist Diddy from his new CD, "Press Play." The CD will be on sale Oct. 17.ADVERTISEMENTMAKE SOA REAL WITH IBM WEBSPHERE PODCASTStreamline processes and maximize efficiency within a proven service oriented architecture. Take back control of your business processes with IBM WebSphere.
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Several rivals of Apple Computer Inc.  plan digital music devices to work closely with their own  online music services, just as Apple's iPods and iTunes do, The  Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
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RealNetworks says it sold more than three million tracks thanks to an aggressive three-week price promotion in the US. The company halved the cost of tracks to 49 cents in mid-August to try to tempt consumers away from Apple&#39;s iTunes music store.
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Best Buy, in cooperation with SanDisk and RealNetworks, is the latest company to join the growing list of competitors to Apple&#8217;s iTunes music service.
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Apple iPod rival and flash memory maker SanDisk, is "far less dependent" on the United States than it was two years ago when it comes to its sales and, in fact, a the weak U.S. dollar helps the performance of SanDisk, which competes with semiconductor makers Intel and Micron Technology.
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RealNetworks&#39; campaign to grab digital-music market share away from Apple&#39;s iTunes service -- most recently, with cut-rate, 49-cent song downloads -- is raising the ire of Apple loyalists. A petition placed online by Real was swamped with ...
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Apple has updated the software for some of its iPod digital media players so that songs bought from RealNetworks will not play. The change affects Apple&#39;s new iPod Photo, which was introduced in late October