DailyTech - Can SanDisk and RealNetworks Topple Apple?

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Blog: Gadgets Can SanDisk and RealNetworks Topple Apple?
Michael Hoffman (Blog) - September 19, 2006 1:26 AM

4 comment(s) - last by JeffDM.. on Oct 10 at 10:00 PM

More companies team up to try and battle Apple's success with iTunes and iPods

Which MP3 manufacturer will be the one to bump Apple's line of iPod MP3 players from the top? Which MP3 download service will sell more music than the Apple iTunes music download service? Will Apple fall from the top? It's not like companies aren't trying to compete with Apple. RealNetworks and SanDisk are the latest to team up while trying to unseat Apple.

RealNetworks has announced that the company's Rhapsody music service will be put into the SanDisk Sansa line of MP3 players. Although Rhapsody can already be used with SanDisk MP3 players, the deal hopes to further solidify a viable alternative to the iTunes online music store and iPod partnership. Rhapsody and SanDisk will release the e200 with 32 hours of music preloaded on the MP3 player.

Rhapsody DNA is designed to offer MP3 manufacturers an alternative to Microsoft Windows Media Player, especially since Microsoft has launched its Zune audio player. Even though it is able to operate on devices that use Windows Media, it is not dependent on the software.

The Rhapsody DNA platform will most likely also allow seamless integration of Rhapsody into MP3 players from other companies.

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This fall?

By CrossFusion on 9/21/2006 12:52:59 AM , Rating: 2

Aren't the Sansa E200 series players already on the market? or is this a budget model for the line that is literally called the "e200"?

RE: This fall?

By treyder212 on 9/21/2006 7:51:51 AM , Rating: 2

u are correct, those models are already out, but i'm guessing they are releasing updated versions fitted w/ rnwk's rhapsody s/w...i've heard that this will be subscription based; meaning you pay a monthly fee (around $25/month i heard) to use rhapsody to download music on the unit...as long as you keep paying, the music stays on the sansa (or whatever u're using)..if you let your subscription expire, the music has drm and will expire..not a big fan of the subscription model, what happens once u've filled ur memory, u can download any more music AND u still have to pay to keep what u have...def not an ipod killer in my opinion...

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RE: This fall?

By BeyondPluto on 9/21/2006 3:42:13 PM , Rating: 2

If your Sansa MP3 player is filled and you want new songs, you just delete them from your Sansa and transfer new ones. Those deleted songs are, of course, also stored on your computer and you can transfer them back if you want. It's the same process as an iPod, only that my 500-song download session won't cost me 99 cents times 500. And the monthlty subscription is $15 not $25.

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RE: This fall?

By JeffDM on 10/10/2006 10:00:46 PM , Rating: 2

I am not a music subscriber, but I really hate it when people totally misunderstand the point of a music subscription.

For $15 a month, you get access to practically unlimited song downloads. For the cost of one CD a month, you get immediate legal access to far more songs than you can buy in a lifetime of buying 10 CDs a month, and it allows you to shift your music as your tastes change without having to pay for every song. It also doesn't burn you if you decide you don't like a song, just delete it and it isn't as if you paid $1 to get it.

I would be subscribing but I didn't want to upgrade my computer to Windows XP to get it, I'm content with Windows 2000, and so I can't risk unnecessary downtime on a computer that I use for paying work. Windows XP is required for any PlaysForSure hardware compatibility.

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"A lot of people pay zero for the cellphone ... That's what it's worth." -- Apple Chief Operating Officer Timothy Cook