Sprint Nextel Corp. this week plans to announce its fourth music service, a wireless version of RealNetworks Inc.’s Rhapsody Radio.
The offering includes five channels of streaming audio including alternative, pop, urban and country music, as well as podcasts from a California National Public Radio affiliate. Users also can access music videos, news and reviews, and the service includes a kind of hip-hop karaoke that allows fans to rap to the beats of their favorite tunes.
Sprint will offer the service to its Vision subscribers for an additional $7 a month. Basic Vision service costs users an additional $10 per month. Like the Sirius service, Rhapsody is not available to the carrier’s Nextel subscriber base.
The move builds on an existing relationship between Sprint and RealNetworks. The digital media company powers rTV, a Sprint subscription service that delivers news, sports, weather and financial information.
“This will be the first time we’ve launched one of the Rhapsody brands in the mobile space, although we’ve done a lot in wireless,” said Kevin Nakao, general manager of mobile at RealNetworks.
With the latest offering, Sprint lengthens its lead in wireless music over other Tier 1 carriers. In addition to the Rhapsody service, the operator offers streaming music from satellite radio provider Sirius, mobile music company MSpot Radio and MusicChoice, a Web-based music company.
And Sprint hopes to be the first U.S. carrier to launch full-track downloads, announcing last month it expects to deploy service by year’s end. Groove Mobile, an Andover, Mass.-based developer that has launched full-track downloads for carriers in Asia and Europe, has been tapped to power that offering.
RealNetworks claims 1.1 million music lovers subscribe to its $10-a-month Internet music service, which features both streaming audio and a library of downloadable tunes. While the mobile version’s mere five channels of music may seem limiting- Sprint’s Sirius service, by contrast, offers 21 channels of music genres-Nakao said a broader offering would likely result in a more cumbersome user experience.
“In the mobile environment, if you present too many choices, it presents too many clicks or scrolls,” Nakao explained. “Too much can actually be too confusing.”
Instead, RealNetworks hopes to add a personalization component to the wireless service similar to one it has built into its Internet service. Rhapsody’s Web-based offering creates a profile for each subscriber, recommending new music and leading users to new sources.
“We are exploring ways to build that connection” between the PC and the handset, said Nakao. “We think the desktop will complement the mobile experience by making it smarter about what you want. You won’t have as many clicks.”
