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Apple Inc. has approved Real Networks Inc.'s subscription music service Rhapsody for use in iPhones and iPod Touches. The company has allowed on-demand music streaming program on its devices in the United States for the first time.
The music service is available for a free initial download but people who use it for a period of more than 7 days will have to pay at the rate of $14.99 a month.
The service will allow users to stream up to its device any of some 8 million songs, and create custom playlists as long as the user is receiving a cellular signal or is in a WiFi hot spot.
The application is an enhanced version of Rhapsody To Go, which allows subscribers to load songs onto their Windows Media Player-enabled phones and MP3 players when connected to a computer for later playback.
The current subscribers of Rhapsody To Go can use the application free of cost.
Neil Smith, vice president of business management for Rhapsody America said,"This breaks us out of the non-Apple MP3 player segment and now we can reach the iPod Touch and iPhone audience that was unavailable to us before.”
Real Networks at present has around 750,000 subscribers of its unlimited song streaming service. The subscribers need to pay $12.99 a month for computer-only access but will cost them $14.99 if they want to move these songs to mobile devices.
The Rhapsody app users will also get the facility of buying songs from the iTunes store. The revenue from such sales will be shared by Real Networks.
Smith said,"We're giving you the ability to listen to any song you want. The ones you really like, you can plunk down the extra $1.29 and buy.”
