Practically, after paying the subscription fee, TiVo customers will have direct access to Rhapsody’s music catalog where they can search and play any of the 4 million songs, browse the charts and the new releases or listen to the radio station. TiVo users can also use the famous peanut remote's Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down buttons to rate their favorite music.

However, only the owners of the new TiVo HD or of the Series2 and Series3 broadband-connected DVRs will have access to this new service.

The Rhapsody subscribers that had already downloaded music or video to their PCs will be able to watch the content on their TVs through TiVo boxes

By adding music into the mix, TiVo expanded its role as an entertainment hub. Beside TV station, the TiVo customers had already the possibility to browse movie downloads from Amazon Unbox or the online content from sources such as The New York Times and The Onion.

"By adding music to our portfolio of broadband offerings, TiVo is the only universal entertainment provider in the living room," said Tom Rogers, CEO and President of TiVo. "Since the beginning, TiVo has been focused on the principle of choice and control, giving our users the ability to experience TV on their terms. Together, TiVo and Rhapsody have extended the personal viewing experience on TiVo into music, providing consumers with an incredibly easy way to access their favorite artists from their television set”

Rhapsody music service, which was launched in 2001, offers tunes that are DRM-protected with Helix DRM. This means that if you stop paying the subscription the music will become unplayable.

During the last years RealNetworks has signed similar deals with SanDisk, the maker of Sansa players, Nokia and Reingcom, the iRiver owner.

Through these partnerships RealNetworks hopes to emulate the successful Apple’s combo: iTunes + iPod/iPhone.