RHAPSODY GROOVES WITH NEW LIFEDRIVE MOBILE MANAGER FROM PALMONE
LifeDrive Users Can Now Manage Personal Music Collections with Rhapsody
New Rhapsody To Go Service Will Be Available To LifeDrive Customers in Coming Months
SEATTLE — May 18, 2005 — RealNetworks® (Nasdaq: RNWK), the leader in music subscription services, today announced that its award-winning Rhapsody® music player is the preferred music manager for the LifeDrive™ mobile manager, the groundbreaking new device from palmOne, Inc. LifeDrive users can use Rhapsody to manage their entire digital music collection on their PC and transfer certain songs to their LifeDrive for on-the-go enjoyment. This follows Real’s launch last month of Rhapsody 25, a pioneering music service that lets consumers listen to and share music online for free. The Rhapsody desktop application is bundled with the LifeDrive device.
The LifeDrive mobile manager, announced today, is a 4-gigabyte hard-drive based device (3.85GB user available) that fuses business productivity tools and entertainment applications, allowing users access to their essential documents; personalized content, such as photos, home movies or their MP3 collection; email; and wireless web access. Real’s alliance with palmOne expands the range of devices that are compatible with Rhapsody and extends Rhapsody’s reach into the converged device market.
"We’ve received an overwhelmingly positive response from our customers about the new Rhapsody music player and its associated Rhapsody 25 service, and we’re excited to make it available to LifeDrive users," said Robert Acker, vice president of music services, RealNetworks. "Working with palmOne will bring our revolutionary music player and music services to a broader range of users, and we are confident they’ll enjoy it as much as our current users."
The LifeDrive mobile manager ships with the Rhapsody desktop application on the install CD. Consumers who purchase the LifeDrive can use Rhapsody to manage their entire digital music collection, from playing and importing CDs to making mix CDs and transferring certain tracks to the LifeDrive.
"We designed the LifeDrive mobile manager to serve the growing audience of consumers who have a significant volume of digital information," said Page Murray, palmOne vice president of marketing. "We’re excited to be giving LifeDrive customers an easy way to manage their music collections and quickly transfer songs to the LifeDrive for enjoyment on the go no matter where they are."
Real is also offering LifeDrive customers 30 days of free access to the web’s best music experience, Rhapsody Unlimited. With Rhapsody Unlimited, users can stream or download an unlimited amount of music from Rhapsody’s library of more than one million songs on their PCs. Subscribers can also listen to nearly 100 commercial-free, professionally-programmed Internet radio stations, and view more than 1,500 music videos, all for just $9.99 per month. Rhapsody Unlimited users can also download music for only 89 cents per song and $8.99 for most albums.
In the coming months, NormSoft, Inc. is introducing Pocket Tunes Deluxe, a new application that will enable LifeDrive customers to purchase tracks and albums protected by digital rights management functionality from Rhapsody’s integrated music download store and transfer them to their LifeDrive device. Pocket Tunes Deluxe will also be compatible with RealNetworks’ new Rhapsody To Go portable music subscription service, which will enable music fans to download and transfer an unlimited amount of their favorite music to their LifeDrive and enjoy it wherever they go as long as they are subscribed to the service.
To learn more about the Rhapsody digital music offering, please visit www.rhapsody.com.
