Rhapsody, a digital music seller, has announced a $50 million marketing campaign to compete with Apple's iTunes, offering downloaded songs in MP3 format. The music will be made available online and via partners, including Yahoo, Inc. and Verizon Wireless. The MP3 format means that Rhapsody users will be able to play their music on Apple iPods.

This new strategy is in contrast to Rhapsody’s previous subscription-based service, which offered music streaming for a monthly subscription fee of between US$13 - $15 per month. iTunes currently holds over seventy percent of U.S. digital music sales, and Rhapsody is now joining the MP3 competition that already includes Napster, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and Amazon.com. iTunes has sold more than 5 billion songs since its launch in 2003.

Rhapsody has labeled its music strategy as “Music without Limits” and said it is launching a $50 million marketing campaign in the media over the next year. Rhapsody will also be available for mobile phones via the Verizon’s Wireless VCAST Music service, in which purchasers of a song directly from phones will also be able to download that particular song to their computer.