Rhapsody Finally Acknowledges the Existence of iPods

RealNetworks’ digital music service, Rhapsody, has finally acknowledged that the iPod exists. They launched their new MP3 music download service yesterday, and the songs can now be used with iTunes and iPods. Downloads are .99 cents, and many albums are available for $9.99. All downloads are DRM-free, so there are no restrictions on copying the files to a different computer and playing them.

Rhapsody has been a subscription download service up to this point, charging $13 to $15 a month for unlimited song streaming. Under this plan there was no way for users to load music on their iPods.

Apparently, an executive at RealNetworks looked up “iPod” on Wikipedia and discovered that Apple has sold over 140 million of them since their launch in October 2001. The iPod makes up about 70% of the digital player market.

After pondering this data for about 5 minutes, Rhapsody Vice President Neil Smith said, “We’re no longer competing with the iPod; we’re embracing it.”

Uh, yeah. Good call, Neil. Here’s a tip: when you see the graphs curving upward, then you know that there is an increase trend. This iPod chart may have helped you a few years ago:

Better late than never, I suppose.

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