iTunes has been ruling the online music download arena for five years now, without any serious rival. However that may be all about to change as digital music download retailer Rhapsody is looking to compete with the Apple owned giant. In a $50 million assault Rhapsody will be offering music, not just via its own website, but through media partners such as Yahoo! and Verizon Wireless.

The music will be offered in the MP3 format, meaning that iPod users will be able to download and use them as well.

Previously Rhapsody offered a subscription model for users who would pay fees of between $13 to $15 in order to access music, rather than the pay-per-download system that iTunes employs.

Rhapsody realised though that they needed to embrace the iPod and make their service compatible with the market leading player in order to compete. Rhapsody VP Neil Smith said:

We’re no longer competing with the iPod, we’re embracing it.

Rhapsody are also planning to hit the social networking scene on sites like Facebook, as they provide music for the website ‘iLike’, which is a popular Facebook application.