Well, as expected, the big announcement promised by Real Networks yesterday was that the digital media company is following Naspter's lead and offering a portable subscription service. As previously reported, this means that subscribers to Real's subscription service will now be able to transfer an unlimited number of tracks from the company's Rhapsody music catalogue onto their portable music player - previously the unlimited play service was only available online. Like with Napster-to-go, subscribers will have to connect their digital music players to the web once a month to prove they still have a valid subscription in order to access those tracks.
Other announcements at the Real press conference yesterday included the launch of Rhapsody Unlimited, which lets subscribers listen to tracks from the Real music library while they are offline;
the introduction of Rhapsody 25, which will let subscribers make 25 of their favourite tracks available to their friends via streaming; and new partnerships with Google and Chrysler.
Despite the fact Real's biggest announcement of the day was essentially
"we're going to do what Napster already do", Real boss Rob Glaser managed to wax lyrical about his company's plans:
"We think the new Rhapsody will transform digital music.
What's more, we believe that once consumers experience Rhapsody and share it with their friends, many people will upgrade to one of our premium Rhapsody tiers."