Universal and Rhapsody launch DRM-free partnership "test"

Rhapsody America (the new Real / MTV partnership) wasn't the only thing that Real had up its sleeve today. Hot on the heels of the Universal snubbing of iTunes, and consequent announcement that the company would begin selling music via other outlets, comes today's news that the Rhapsody / Universal Music partnership has officially launched, at least in a limited "test" form, with the aim of selling UMG's catalog of thousands of tracks -- sans DRM -- via the Real Rhapsody service, charging $.89 per song for subscribers and $.99 for non-subscribers. Currently, only a select group of artists are up for grabs, including 50 Cent, Amy Winehouse, The Pussycat Dolls, The Police and Johnny Cash, though the plan is to make Universal's entire catalog available in the future. This announcement makes what we all knew was coming now abundantly clear -- the gloves have come off.

[Randall Bennett @ Aug 21st 2007 12:35PM]

*gasp!*

Wow.

Sure, iTMS wasn't the only game in town, but now it's not even the most desirable game in town. Not by a long shot. Wow.

[ryantrevisol @ Aug 21st 2007 12:44PM]

Hmmmm . . . there goes any hope of easily being able to install RealPlayer without being pestered to register.

[Rob @ Aug 21st 2007 12:45PM]

Real Player, and/or any other incarnations of it, have been the reason for me to click away from websites. I'd rather not watch/hear the content than to install it. The player is probably one of the most intrusive. So no amount of DRM-free content is going to convince me to install this thing.

[pigfister @ Aug 21st 2007 12:46PM]

I'll stick to iTunes and ripping from cd's me thinks!

[Wwhat @ Aug 21st 2007 1:00PM]

WTF does MTV to do with music? is that a misprint?

[Burke Hamblin @ Aug 21st 2007 1:07PM]

This must be why Rhapsody forced all users last week to upgrade to their very buggy 4.xx version of the software or be locked out of the service.

[GunForHire @ Aug 21st 2007 1:12PM]

Crap, I literally just sent my news tip about 3 seconds before I saw this post appear. Oh well!

[Noah Ramon @ Aug 21st 2007 1:12PM]

So... Knowing that it's Real/Rhapsody, I shudder to ask, but what file format is this gonna be? I know all the iTMS-haters were crowing that the UMG plans were for MP3 releases, but I never found any confirmation on that and didn't really believe that they'd go for something other than the wholly-owned WMA.

[Fred @ Aug 21st 2007 1:18PM]

Better yet (IMO), go to the Wal-Mart music store, get the MP3s for $0.94 (cheaper than Rhapsody), and import them into iTunes. No stupid Rhapsody subscription, no buggy Real spyware, and you get to keep using iTunes. If you think Wal-Mart is evil, you won't be interested, but it works for me.

[gregkingston @ Aug 21st 2007 1:33PM]

Wal-Mart store is ok, but they only sell edited versions of albums with explicit lyrics.

[Galley @ Aug 21st 2007 2:41PM]

From what I have read it requires Internet Explorer. Not that I would ever buy anythng from Wal-Mart anyway.

[Silver @ Aug 21st 2007 2:11PM]

What a shock, the Wal-Mart music store doesn't support Macs (Safari nor Firefox). Nor will this Real service, I wager. So while iTunes equalized digital music for Mac users, Universal and their cronies now effectively send us to the back of the bus. Again.

Nice job, losers. Universal needs a nice anti-trust suit smackdown.

[Alber1690 @ Aug 21st 2007 1:36PM]

Ok, who isn't partnered with Real these days? We have MSN Music, MTV, and now Universal? Things don't look too good for Zune [Microsoft] now...

[Silver @ Aug 21st 2007 2:17PM]

Note: Universal's snub of iTunes is reportedly due to Apple's insistence on .99/track pricing. So while Universal and Real put on a disingenuous happy face with their current .99/track, you can bet if this thing gets rolling (it likely won't), you'll be seeing higher per-track pricing for the newest music everyone wants.

Universal's refusal to put DRM-free music on iTunes but offer it elsewhere is nothing more than an underhanded racket that hurts consumers, i.e. me.

[paxwebb @ Aug 21st 2007 4:59PM]

Where are Universal's shareholders? If I owned Universal stock I would be outraged that a huge market such as iTunes was being ignored because the CEO basically has a personal issue with Jobs. That man should be fired!

[Andrew B. @ Aug 22nd 2007 9:12AM]

iTunes sells DRM free tracks for 1.29 Walmart .94 and Real .99 so why is universal snubbing iTunes. Next time you hear Universal ranting about how songs are too cheap telll them they are using the cheaper services. BTW I use spiral frog. the cost of it is legally free music.