AT&T is pairing up with 7-Eleven stores and offer the AT&T PrePaid Web Cents card for users to pay for RealNetworks music. ItÌüs a reflection that sometimes the virtual online world needs a real world hook for commerce. The RealRhapsody card, available at participating 7-Eleven stores for $14.95, will provide consumers with one month of access to RealRhapsody’s enormous music library and the ability to build
a personal collection of tunes by being able to burn 15 songs, reports Current Analysis, a research firm. I just wonder how smart this idea is – after all, how many folks who are visiting Seven-Eleven are likely downloaders of music. And the reason this is going to make Business 2.0 dumb ideas list for 2004: RealNetworks will have to spend bazillions of marketing and it is still not like going to Itunes, double click, download.