Rhapsody Brings Subscription Music to the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad

SEATTLE, April 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Rhapsody today launched a new version of its popular Rhapsody for iPhone app with an important new feature: music fans can now download their favorite Rhapsody playlists to their iPhone™, iPod® touch or iPad™ so they can listen any time - even when they're not connected to the Internet.

Rhapsody is the first U.S. service to enable people to download subscription music to the iPhone. By downloading playlists directly to their device, fans can enjoy Rhapsody anywhere: on the subway, on an airplane, even on a submarine.

"Today marks a turning point for Rhapsody and subscription music," said Jon Irwin, Rhapsody's president. "By making Rhapsody accessible anywhere people want to hear music -- and not just the places where they have an Internet connection -- we're giving music lovers a new way to discover and enjoy music on the devices they love."

Version 2.0 of Rhapsody for iPhone is now available in the U.S. for free from the Apple App Store. It is a new version of the iPhone app that Rhapsody first launched last September.

Using Rhapsody for iPhone, subscribers can stream (and now download) music from Rhapsody's catalog of over 9 million songs, listen to Internet radio stations, create new playlists on the go, or access the playlists they have already created through Rhapsody. The app also makes it easy for people to buy songs from the iTunes® Store. In the coming months, Rhapsody will add the ability to download individual songs and albums (in addition to playlists) as part of an update to the Rhapsody for iPhone app.

Using the app requires a Rhapsody subscription, either to the $10-per-month Rhapsody Premier offering Rhapsody introduced earlier this month (which provides access to Rhapsody on one mobile device) or to the $14.99 Rhapsody Premier Plus plan (which lets people access the service on up to 3 mobile devices). More info on those plans is available at http://www.rhapsody.com/-discover/plans.

In its most recent forecast on the U.S. digital music market, Forrester Research predicted that over the next four years the number of people subscribed to services like Rhapsody will double to more than five million, up from approximately 2.1 million today*. Wireless subscribers will be one of the major drivers for that growth.

Rhapsody is now the only on-demand music service available on the iPhone platform. Earlier this month, the company also launched a mobile app for the Android platform. In addition, the company is developing a mobile app for BlackBerry® smartphone users that will launch this summer.

* Source: Forrester Research forecast "US Music Forecast, 2009 To 2014" by Sonal Gandhi with Mark Mulligan, Seth Fowler & Laura Wiramihardja: http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/us_music_forecast%2C_2009_to_2014/q/id/55347/t/2

About Rhapsody

Rhapsody is a digital music service that lets you listen to any song you want, wherever you are. For a flat monthly fee, subscribers can access Rhapsody's catalog of over 9 million songs anywhere they want to hear music, including from their PC, laptop, home stereo, TV, MP3 player and mobile device (including the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and Android-powered handsets). Rhapsody is based in Seattle. For more information, visit www.rhapsody.com.

SOURCE Rhapsody