Half Price Songs, For The iPod
RealNetworks, developer of the RealPlayer technology, has announced that it will offer songs from its on-line music store for half the price of Apple and that the songs will be playable on Apple's iPod devices.
Real will use a new technology called Harmony to make the songs playable on the iPod, eliminating one of Apple's advantages. And that technology has raised serious issues. Real has not licensed Apple's technology. A spokesman for Apple said Real had "adopted the tactics and ethics of a hacker" to convert the formats. Apple is investigating legal action.
Real's marketing campaign says "Welcome to freedom of choice" and continues that the new RealPlayer "Supports over 100 secure portable devices, including the iPod." Looking at the RealNetworks news page, they are clearly going after Apple. With headlines like "Apple's control-freak tendencies could crush iPod" and "Apple should share the music" and "Apple Replays Old Mistakes" it is obvious who their target market is: Apple's iPod user base. See the Real news site at: http://www.realnetworks.com/info/harmony/?src=081604realhome_1_1_1_1_8_1
Now, neither of these companies is known for their business ethics. Apple's entrance into the music business violated their decades old settlement with Apple Records over the use of the Apple name. RealPlayer, which is included as part of many OEM builds, is almost universally loathed by computer cognescenti. (Fancy talk for "geeks.") It is considered spyware.
I mention Real's OEM connections (with companies that include Dell, for example) to underscore that this is a battle of giants.
Opinions about the companies aside, it is clear to me that Apple should own its format and that Real has violated that.