RealNetworks Sells 3 Million 49 Cent Downloads In Three Weeks

(CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Music fans purchased more than 3 million songs during the three-week promotion celebrating the RealNetworks' new Harmony Technology. RealNetworks will continue to offer some of the most popular downloadable tunes for just 49 cents per song.

"Music fans who want choice are turning to Real," said Rob Glaser, CEO and founder of RealNetworks. "We are the only place consumers can buy music and enjoy it on any popular portable device, we offer the best price on the Top Ten, and we provide the most compelling subscription music service, Rhapsody."

RealNetworks and RollingStone.com have launched a new weekly top 10 list, the "Rolling Stone Top 10." Each week, the Rolling Stone and Rhapsody editorial teams will compile the list, which will offer consumers 10 of today's most popular and noteworthy songs for 49 cents each. The Rolling Stone Top 10 list will be based on a combination of Rolling Stone hot lists, the most popular songs played each week on the Rhapsody subscription service and the top downloads at the RealPlayer Music Store.

Like each of the more than 640,000 songs available through the RealPlayer Music Store, the Rolling Stone Top 10 is available in high quality 192 kbps RealAudio 10 with AAC. Music purchased from the RealPlayer Music Store is the only DRM-protected digital music available that can be played on all popular portable devices, including all Windows Media DRM-enabled devices, all Apple iPods and all Helix DRM-enabled mobile devices.

The inaugural Rolling Stone Top 10 list includes:

— Triple Trouble, Beastie Boys
— Turn Me On, Kevin Lytle

— Off With Your Head, Sleater-Kinney

— Let Me In, Young Buck

— My Place, Nelly

— She Will be Loved, Maroon 5

— Float On, Modest Mouse

— You Don't Know Me, Ray Charles

— The Revolution Starts Now, Steve Earle

— Date With the Night (live), Yeah Yeah Yeahs

"It's exciting for us to have been involved with the beginning of this new age of digital downloads," says James Valentine of Maroon 5. "It's a new era. It's getting easier to obtain music legally and cheaply online, and people are starting to catch on. I'm really glad that people are figuring this stuff out and that broad compatibility is starting to happen. Pretty much all of the new music I buy now is from online stores, and I'm not the only one." –Bob Grossweiner and Jane Cohen