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For six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

RealNetworks to Offer Discounted Music to Some University Students

Associated Press: "RealNetworks Inc. will begin offering some university students its digital music subscription service at a steep discount in an effort to stem illegal downloads and attract long-term customers. The Seattle-based company said Monday that it had struck deals with the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Minnesota system to offer its standard Rhapsody service to students for between $2 and $3 a month. The service, which normally costs $9.95 a month, allows users to play more than 700,000 songs on demand. Subscribers also can burn songs onto a CD for 79 cents apiece. Richard Wolpert, RealNetworks chief strategy officer, said the company worked with record labels to make the cheaper service feasible. He said it will still be profitable."

And they said subscription services will never fly. Again, pricing and content is everything, and getting it cheap to college students is simply brilliant; Napster is trying a similar tactic with other schools.

[ Posted at 8:41 AM | Permalink ]