RealNetworks and MTV Networks are looking to take a bite out of Apple's dominance in the music business with the launch today of a new store that allows people to listen to full length tracks before making a 99 cent purchase.

Rhapsody, the joint venture of RealNetworks and MTV, also is announcing that it will tightly integrate the new music store with iLike, Yahoo, Verizon's VCAST Music and MTV's online properties.

The store, like one launched earlier this year by Amazon.com, offers songs in the MP3 format without the digital rights management restrictions found on most songs purchased through iTunes. The company will kick off the new offering -- branded "Music Without Limits" -- with an invite-only party in New York's trendy Chelsea neighborhood Monday. A $50 million marketing campaign, operated in conjunction with MTV, also will begin immediately.

But even though Rhapsody vice president Neil Smith believes the new store offers a compelling add on to Rhapsody's subscription music service, he was reluctant to predict that it would knock Apple off its music perch anytime soon.

"Do we want to attract a bunch of iTunes users? Of course, that would be great," said Smith. "And we expect to do that to a certain extent. But, like I said, iTunes is not going away and we don't expect the death knell of iTunes anytime as a result of this."

Historically, Rhapsody has positioned its music subscription service -- which allows users to choose and listen to any of the 5.3 million songs in the collection for $12.99 or $14.99 per month -- as an alternative to purchasing individual tracks.

By launching the new Rhapsody MP3 store where individuals now own the songs, the company could face some brand confusion.

Smith said the company has been trying to redefine Rhapsody as more than a subscription service, saying they want people to think of it as a place "where you come to listen to music" and encounter "a great music listening experience."

Tracks that are purchased by Rhapsody subscribers are clearly marked, Smith said.

While there are possibilities for confusion between the subscription service and the MP3 store, Smith thinks there could be some interesting cross selling opportunities. For example, a Rhapsody subscriber who really likes a song now has an easy way to make a purchase. They also can manage the music collection and move the tracks to other music services or devices, such as iTunes or the iPhone.

Rhapsody now offers a music product for three distinct music audiences -- those who want free content, those who want to own individual songs and those heavy users who want to subscribe to a large catalogue of songs.

"Just like car companies try to get you from their base model to their midsize to their full size to their luxury. We want to get you from I am-not-a big-music-consumer all the way up to I love music and I want the all you can eat product," said Smith.

While plenty of competition exists in the music retailing arena, Smith said a key differentiator is that people will be able to listen to full length songs before making a purchase. Individual songs and albums also can be easily imported into iTunes, Rhapsody and the RealPlayer, though Amazon's music service offers a similar feature for iTunes.

Even though competing digital music stores have a lead, Smith said Rhapsody's offering is broader and different. And he thinks there is enough room for multiple players to operate.

"We are music focused, whereas Amazon has a MP3 store but they sell tires and batteries and all kinds of other stuff too," he said. "We feel like we are more of the record store and they are more of the department store."

iLike Chief Executive Ali Partovi said he is "super duper excited" about the Rhapsody MP3 store, especially since it brings "seamless" e-commerce functionality to the popular social music service. iLike also refers its users to iTunes and Amazon.com's digital music store, taking an affiliate commission. But Partovi thinks Rhapsody has some clear advantages.

"To purchase music from iTunes, in part because it is DRM-based, you can't do it within the browser," said Partovi. "And especially on Firefox it is a really clunky experience... The integration of going straight to a Web page to to buy (a song), we think all of that will be better for the consumer and drive sales and therefore be better for the industry as well."

RealNetworks' music business, including the Rhapsody joint venture, produced $149 million in revenue last year. For the most recent quarter, it reported revenue of $38.1 million. The Rhapsody America joint venture is part of the newly-created strategic ventures business at RealNetworks.