RealNetworks launches 79-cent music download service

Real Networks Wednesday launched a new music service Wednesday that offers downloads at 79 cents a track.

Called RealOne Rhapsody, the service offers access to 330,000 tracks for online listening, and 200,000 for downloading and burning onto to CDs, RealNetworks said in a statement Wednesday.

The RealOne Rhapsody service is based on the established Rhapsody subscription service set up by Listen.com in 2001. RealNetworks last month announced plans to buy Listen.com, and it expects the acquisition to be complete by the second or third quarter of this year, it said.

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Real Networks Wednesday launched a new music service Wednesday that offers downloads at 79 cents a track.

Called RealOne Rhapsody, the service offers access to 330,000 tracks for online listening, and 200,000 for downloading and burning onto to CDs, RealNetworks said in a statement Wednesday.

The RealOne Rhapsody service is based on the established Rhapsody subscription service set up by Listen.com in 2001. RealNetworks last month announced plans to buy Listen.com, and it expects the acquisition to be complete by the second or third quarter of this year, it said.

After a 14-day free trial, customers will pay a monthly fee of $9.95, RealNetworks said. As well as individual tracks they will be able to burn full albums, make custom albums, and listen to Internet radio stations, RealNetworks said.

The service will initially be available only to subscribers in the U.S., RealNetworks U.K. Marketing Manager Sonja Weiss said Wednesday. "We will look at making it available in Europe in the near future but I can't say when," Weiss said. She could not comment on availability in other regions, she said.

Subscribers to Listen.com's current service listen to an average of 250 tracks a month, the statement said.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.