October 6, 2006 at 08:35:00 AM | more stories by this author
Retailer to launch its own digital music store, powered by Rhapsody and integrated with the Sansa e200 series of players, with a Diddy exclusive.
Best Buy is getting back into the digital music game, and it's getting help from SanDisk, RealNetworks, and even Diddy to do so.
The big box retailer said it is launching its own digital music store next week, adding its branding muscle to the SanDisk-Rhapsody alliance announced last month. The Best Buy store will be powered by RealNetworks' Rhapsody, which launched an updated version yesterday and will be integrated with SanDisk's Sansa e200R series of players.
"Our goal is to deliver entertainment to our customers how, when, and where they want it, and to help them have the best possible experience," Best Buy's Jennifer Schaidler said in a statement. "The Best Buy Digital Music Store and Sansa e200R are part of that goal, allowing us to provide an end-to-end digital music solution that will deliver unique content and a premium customer experience. Whether they want to purchase downloads or a subscription and have access to all the music, we're giving consumers the ability to enjoy entertainment on their terms."
As previously reported, SanDisk and Rhapsody are hoping to replicate the "walled garden" experience that has propelled Apple's iPod+iTunes to such dominance of the digital music space. "Walled garden" refers to keeping the user from straying outside an integrated system like iPod+iTunes to buy and play music.
The Best Buy Digital Music Store will launch October 15 with an exclusive track from Diddy, who releases his new album, Press Play, October 17. The Best Buy service will mirror the existing Rhapsody prices of $9.99 for unlimited rentals and $14.99 a month for that and the ability to transfer music to compatible portable devices--in this case, the Sansa e200R. The SanDisk players will cost $139.99 for a 2-gigabyte device and $249.99 for 8 gigabytes, the companies said. Those prices are comparable to Apple's 2GB and 8GB iPod Nanos, respectively.
Like Rhapsody, Best Buy's store will also sell individual downloads for 89 cents for subscribers and 99 cents for others, RealNetworks said.



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