Digital Home Thoughts: Best Buy Launching Apple iTunes Competitor

"Best Buy, in cooperation with RealNetworks and SanDisk, is the latest company to join the growing list of competitors challenging Apple Computer's iTunes music service. Best Buy today unveiled an online music service called Best Buy Digital Music Store that allows customers to find, manage, and purchase music online. It is powered by RealNetworks' Rhapsody 4.0 music service and lets users purchase and permanently download songs and albums, as well as subscribe monthly to listen to an unlimited number of songs, the company says. As part of the offering, Best Buy will carry and promote SanDisk Sansa e200R Rhapsody MP3 players, which have been optimized to work with the new music service. Both the players and the service will be available starting October 15, the company says."

There doesn't seem to be anything special here: songs will be 99 USD cents each, or $15 USD a month for a subscription plan. The 2 GB Sansa device will sell for $140 USD with the 8 GB Sansa costing $250 USD. You'd think with a tie-in like there, there'd be some sort of rebate or Best Buy in-store coupon...SOMETHING to make this stand out from every other service out there. Unless they change something, or get creative, I predict it will be dead in 24 months. Best Buy has some serious marketing clout, but not unless they add some innovation on top of it all.