"RealNetworks Inc today plans to announce a deal with SanDisk Corp to sell a digital music device that's specifically designed to work with RealNetworks' online music service, Rhapsody. The move follows one made by Microsoft Corp, which will release a digital music player of its own design this holiday season that will be closely coupled with its own online music service. Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. is working on a similar plan," says The Wall Street Journal.
The deals are an effort by Apple competitors to improve technological coordination between online song sellers and digital-device makers. Many consumers have been frustrated by hardware and software glitches when they try to download songs sold by one company onto a gadget made by another. The iTunes Store and iPods, by contrast, have long worked smoothly because they were both designed from the start by one company, Apple, to operate together. "That's something that Apple has played up very well," says Microsoft Vice President Bryan Lee. "One brand, one device, one service."
According to PaidContent:
The interesting part: RNWK is ditching MSFT's DRM for portable subscription (as MSFT prepares for Zune) and using its own, but only for this particular combination of service. The device would still include Microsoft's DRM, so people could still use it to run other music services besides Rhapsody.
Comment: SanDisk now has almost 10% of the US market for digital music players, according to NPD Group figures in the article.
