Thursday, May 26, 2005

I remain an unabashed iTunes junkie. But an alternative model — the "portable" music subscription — is growing on me. Now, with the addition of RealNetworks Rhapsody To Go service — and especially with the debut this month of Yahoo Music Unlimited — I imagine it'll grow on others, too.

Overall, both Yahoo and Real left a melodious impression. Each claims more than 1 million songs in its catalogs — though they're light on classical. (Apple says iTunes exceeds 1.5 million tracks.)

I'm guessing that Apple will eventually introduce a subscription service of its own.

Why? Under a subscription or rent-a-tune model, you can listen to a boatload of music for a lot less loot than on a buy-only download site. And you can carry those tunes in your pocket, via compatible portable digital music players. Buying 2,000 songs on iTunes would cost nearly 2 grand.