HP abandons ITunes for Real's offering

HP abandons ITunes for Real's offering
In fact, HP stopped selling its brand of iPods last year. HP struck a deal with Apple in 2004 when Carly Fiorina was the CEO at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. However, computer makers own line of music players were overshadowed by Apple's devices.

Hewlett Packard bade adieu to iTunes and has announced that it will henceforth offer Rhapsody's music software offered by RealNetworks on its new personal computers.

Bob Lund, general manager of HP's worldwide beyond the box team said: “We selected Rhapsody because we want to give our customers a compelling choice for their music management software and easy access to a leading subscription music experience on the Web.”

iTunes were pre-installed HP's PCs since 2004.

HP in its promotional offer to its customers will give them a 30-day free trial to Real's Rhapsody service.

Dan Sheeran, senior vice president of RealNetworks' music and video division said: “This will enable a much wider audience of consumers to experience Rhapsody and use it to manage their personal digital music collections.”

iTunes has a per-download fee structure, but Rhapsody offers subscriptions of unlimited music downloads beginning at $9.99 per month. Rhapsody's subscribers have the choice of transferring songs to various portable music players.

As per the agreement reached between HP and RealNetwork, Rhapsody will become the default music player on new HP PCs.

It will be available on its select PCs of brands which include Pavilion, HP Pavilion Media Center TV PCs and Compaq Presario.

In fact, HP stopped selling its brand of iPods last year. HP struck a deal with Apple in 2004 when Carly Fiorina was the CEO at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. However, computer makers own line of music players were overshadowed by Apple's devices.

Sheeran added: “When we look at HP's consumer product lineup, we get very excited. We view that as a great potential opportunity for Rhapsody to flow into other devices.”

HP, which is the second-largest maker of PCs, accounted for over 20 percent of PC shipments in the United States in the third quarter of last year, according to market research firm IDC.