Glaser: Dream Devices, Consumer Ed, Integration Are Keys To Sub Success

In a wide-ranging interview with Pete Rojas, Real Networks Chairman and CEO Rob Glaser adds to a refrain that seems to be getting louder of late (or maybe I’m just hearing it from more people): the lack of a killer, must-have Windows-based device is holding back Apple’s competitors in music hardware, software and subscriptions/downloads. It sounds obvious and, if it’s not said right, it also can sound whiny (not the case here), but think about it. Few people that I know have an iPod to fulfill their love of iTunes; they rely on iTunes because they have an iPod. Conversely, when I went looking for an MP3 player, my goal was to find the best fit for my subscription services and other needs.
What Glaser and Eric Nicoli and others are looking for is a device so desirable that acquiring it becomes a goal for consumers who, in turn, will go to one of the Windows-based services.
I’m not so sure that’s enough. Part of Apple’s attraction is the cachet, part is the ease of use; the latter includes the limited device choices and the lack of player options. Pick an iPod and the decision tree is more like a bush; pick a Windows device and the decision tree could take Visio to chart. The very thing that appeals to me — more choice — takes more energy than some people want to expend. They want to plug in, load up and listen. Period.
That’s where Glaser is headed when he talks to Rojas about integrating Rhapsody with devices. Buy a SanDisk player through Circuit City and get Rhapsody. Subscribe to Rhapsody and get some money off household music solution Sonos. Rhapsody is directly integrated into Sonos, which means subscribers can access playlists and music. Glaser, who uses Sonos at home, says the companies are discussing “an even deeper integration.” No hard numbers yet on the SanDisk promo but Glaser says reports so far are encouraging: “… after the holidays end and we get all the data in, we’ll step back and we’ll translate what that means, but I firmly believe that if we’re gonna change the current spiral we’re in there’s gotta be a better way. … We’re just now crossing over to a period where legitimate services are better, more reliable, more accessible, and easier than pirate services, and we now have to go in and encourage consumers to relearn behavior rather than following this default path that’s kind of gotten burnished into the culture over the last eight or ten years, and that won’t happen overnight.”

One other move could make a big difference — if Apple added subscriptions. “I think it would be the best thing in the world because I think it would change the debate. Today, you’ve got the guy who is No. 1 in the device business saying subscriptions are bad, and then you’ve got you Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Outside of Apple, nobody has established themselves in the portable music segment as having that dream product that your readers have to have.”

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