Rhapsody (online Music Service)

Rhapsody (online Music Service)

Rhapsody is an online music store subscription service, launched in December 2001, and available in the United States only. On April 6, 2010, Rhapsody officially declared its independence from RealNetworks. Downloaded files come with restrictions on their use, enforced by Helix, Rhapsody's version of digital rights management enforced on AAC+ or WMA files. The service also sells individual MP3s without digital rights management restrictions.

Rhapsody is considered one of the canonical examples of The Long Tail theory. The service provided extensive data on consumer usage of the service for Chris Anderson's article "The Long Tail", which was published in Wired in October 2004, and subsequently provided updated data for Anderson's book of the same name.