NETGEAR and Listen.com Partner to Provide Home Entertainment Networks with CD-Quality Music From Thousands of Top Artists
Customers can easily stream music to virtually anywhere in their home with NEGTEAR home networking products and Rhapsody digital music service
SANTA CLARA, CALIF. — August 5, 2002 — NETGEAR Inc., a worldwide provider of easy-to-use, high performance networking products at prices affordable to homes and growing businesses, and Listen.com, Inc., the only online music company with licenses to offer music from all five major music companies, today announced a partnership to provide NETGEAR customers a 30-day free trial of the popular Rhapsody digital music subscription service. With NETGEAR’s networking products, including wireless access points, routers, and adapters, combined with Rhapsody’s digital music service, customers will now be able to enjoy unlimited access to more than 15,000 albums of CD-quality music from virtually anywhere in the home.
"NETGEAR and Listen.com are on the right track with this joint marketing approach," said Ken Presti, research director, network channels and alliances, IDC. "The success of networked entertainment in the home will depend on key partnerships and channels among product and service providers. These two companies have combined their technology to offer an easy, innovative music application that demonstrates the many uses and overall value-add of broadband in the home."
NETGEAR is the first networking company to partner with a leading entertainment application provider, and designs its products to work seamlessly with new and emerging broadband applications such as Rhapsody. Starting in the fall, in preparation for the holiday gift season, Listen.com will offer a free, one-month Rhapsody subscription to consumers who purchase NETGEAR's Platinum Family of easy-to-use home networking solutions. Listen.com will feature the NETGEAR products on its Web site as recommended solutions for enhancing home entertainment systems on home networks.
"“Home networking is moving beyond Internet sharing, and music is emerging as one of the most important entertainment applications," said Patrick Lo, chairman and chief executive officer of NETGEAR. "NETGEAR’s partnership with Listen.com demonstrates our commitment to make home entertainment networking as easy and affordable as possible for our customers. Together, we are changing the way people use the Internet."
"In the past two years, millions of consumers have set up home networks that connect their PCs and home entertainment systems," said Sean Ryan, chief executive officer of Listen.com. "Combining Rhapsody with NETGEAR’s networking solutions gives this audience a killer broadband application that lets them listen to thousands of CD-quality albums throughout their home."
The new NETGEAR Platinum Family of easy-to-use home networking solutions is designed to be an important part of the emerging digital home whose family members share broadband Internet access for communication, productivity, as well as entertainment, and connect to the network in many different ways on many different devices throughout the house. The NETGEAR Platinum Family includes the recently released Router (RP614), Switches (FS605/608), DSL Modem Internet Gateway (DG814) and Powerline Bridges (XE601/XE602). Future releases of the Platinum Family will be based on wireless networking standards, offering customers a complete and reliable choice for creating whole home coverage.
Rhapsody subscribers can access over 185,000 tracks of on-demand music, build custom radio stations with music from their favorite artists, or select one of the service’s professionally programmed Internet radio stations, then use these products to transmit this music to their home entertainment system. Rhapsody is the only service to provide consumers legal access to music from all five of the major music companies, including BMG, the worldwide music division of Bertelsmann AG, EMI Recorded Music, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group. Listen.com has also signed licensing agreements with 60 independent labels, including Zomba Recording Corporation, TVT Records, and Bar/None Records.
About NETGEAR Inc.
NETGEAR provides branded, easy-to-use, reliable and technologically advanced networking solutions for homes and growing businesses. Headquartered in the heart of Silicon Valley, Santa Clara, Calif., NETGEAR designs and develops products that enable home and small business users to share Internet access, peripherals, digital content and applications among multiple personal computers and other Internet-enabled devices. NETGEAR primarily markets and sells its products through distributors based in North America, Europe and the Asia/Pacific region to a network of resellers, including more than 4,500 retail stores, mail order catalogs and online retailers. NETGEAR was recently named to Deloitte & Touche’s "Technology Fast 500" and to its "2001 Technology Fast 50" for Silicon Valley. For more information visit the company’s Web site at www.netgear.com or call (408.907.8000).
NETGEAR is a registered trademark of NETGEAR, Inc. in the United States and other countries
About Listen.com
About Listen.com: Listen.com is a leading online music company that develops and distributes Rhapsody, a digital music subscription service. Launched in 2001, Rhapsody gives consumers unlimited access to a vast library of music on the PC today and on wireless and Net-attached devices in the future. Rhapsody combines one of the world's largest collections of on-demand music, professionally programmed Internet radio, and engaging music information and editorial recommendations. Listen.com licenses Rhapsody to a wide variety of distribution partners, including online media and entertainment companies, ISPs, and record labels. Rhapsody is available through Listen.com and a network of distribution partners that offer co-branded versions of the service. Founded in 1998, Listen.com is based in San Francisco. Visit www.listen.com for more information.
Listen.com, the Listen.com logo and Rhapsody are trademarks of Listen.com, Inc. All other company names are the property of their respective owners.
For more information:
Doug Hagan
NETGEAR Inc,
(408) 907-8053
doug.hagan@netgear.com
Jennifer ackman
Edelman Public Relations
(650) 968-4033, ext. 2748
jennifer.ackman@edelman.com
Matt Graves
Listen.com
(415) 934-2159
mgraves@listen.com
