Comments on: RealNetworks slashes song prices

Company offers 49-cent tunes and releases Harmony, the software that has Apple up in arms.
Newsmaker: Can Glaser, Jobs find harmony?

good luck Real --- hah

I predict Real will lose millions on giving away music at a loss,
and then get into a big lawsuit with Apple which, even if they
don't necessarily lose, will cost them large to defend.
What really are the music biz folks thinking here? That it's not
okay to rip off music, but it's okay to crack the iPod? huh?

Anyway, this shall be interesting to see what happens.

[iKenny]

For now...

This might work for a little while, but as soon as Apple releases
an update to make iPod incompatible with Real's store, which is
very likely, most customers will leave. The fact that Apple has
70% music store marketshare means that almost everyone with
an MP3 player using online stores has an iPod. Still, a nice try on
Real's part, but like the other person before me said - they'll
probably just lose a lot of money.

[reinmasamuri]

This could go the right way.

Real is not breaking the DMCA as they are not actively removing, nor providing a way to remove copyrighted materials. They are using similar technology to make their songs compatible.
Doesn't matter anyway, the RIAA will still get involved and say that it IS against the DMCA and some liberal judge will listen to them, not the law.

[iKenny]

But the contract...

Even if Real is not breaching the DMCA, it is likely they are
breaching the contract on the iPod, the one they agreed to when
they used the product, which states that the owner may not
reverse engineer the software on or used with the iPod.

[dirk128]

Blah Blah

Real is forgetting? (or just stupid?) that a huge percentage of
iPod users use Mac's - and -ummm last time I checked REAL's
software wasn't compatible with Mac's! What hypocrites! A large
chunk of iPod users can't even download the cheap 0.49$
tracks!! Again, pathetic hypocrites!!

Plus reals's software is nowhere near as sophisticated as Apple's
iTunes (actually this point is why iTunes is doing so well with
both PC and Mac users compared to the plethora of WMA stores
and Real) - so real will lose once again! Their days are numbers
and this is a last deparate attack. Poor real.

Real has set up a pathetic anti-Apple site here http://
www.freedomofmusicchoice.org. It had a petition called 'Hey
Apple don't break my iPod' but it looks like it has been pulled - I
read many of the 200 or so signatures - about 98% were against
Real!! Paul Thurrott (notorious anti-Apple/Linux/Unix/BSD/
Open-source pro Wintel nut) even put a link to it on his blog -
he called it 'good stuff' guess he didn't read it lol - what a fool.

So pathetic...

Hahahahaha.... I checked that site you mentioned and signed the petition as "REAL sucks my donkey, get LIMEWIREANIME" | [e-mail].

Then I went to view the "48" signatures... heres what they say. What whimps! Just show the NAMES, idiots.



48 Total Signatures




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PetitionOnline.com has temporarily disabled the display of email addresses for signatories who chose to make their address public.We have done this to reduce the spread of harmful new viruses which harvest email addresses from the web cache of infected computers. This will also prevent spammers from harvesting email addresses from this site.

[JuggerNaut]

Real Needs To Practice What It Preaches!

If Real was really all about "Freedom Of Choice" then
they would offer their content beyond the "Windows
Only" crowd.

I want to see Real practice what they preach. Give us
"Freedom Of Choice" and offer your goods to not only
just Windows, but Mac, Linux, Amiga and etc...

It's time to give consumers "Freedom Of Choice" and
finally break the "Windows Only" experience!

Real's "Freedom Of Choice" falls short in the true
meaning of the phrase. Consumer freedom spans beyond
just "Windows Only" and I think it's time that these
companies start realizing that.

[WaltFrench]

Real's Offering a Nightmare

Real's "Choice" does not extend to Mac users, who are possibly
still a majority of iPod users, and at least a significant minority...
the store is simply NOT AVAILABLE to us. This is a "choice?"

And for those unwary Windows/iPod users, your "choice" to use
Real means that you are either (a) locked out of ever buying
music from the iTunes Music Store forever, or (b) forced to do a
clumsy manual update every time you buy from Apple... seems
that Real REQUIRES you to use THEIR jukebox every time you
update in the future.

Some folks see this as Real tweaking Apple's nose. To me, it
looks like Real doing a bait'n'switch on consumers. Music ought
to be enjoyable and fun, not a techno nightmare of mismatched
software like Real is claiming is a "choice."

Real crummy files

Red Book CD Audio was developed in the early 80s.

MP3 is inferior to pure Red Book CD Audio.

Apple iTunes is inferior to MP3.

Real media is inferior to Apple iTunes.

----------------------------------------------

Conclusion: Sturgeons law still holds. 90% of everything IS crap. And the fact that they charge money for it is what makes me write this post.

[jbelkin]

REAL - the AL QAEDA of Technology

This is from the company that tries to lock away every content on the internet so they can charge a subscription?

This is from a company that took down the comments on their "freedom of choice" page - guess free speech contradicts with your Al Qaeda version of 'freedom of choice.'

Where is our freedom of choice for Real's RM/RAM files? Where's my converter for that file format to Mp3?

Where is my freedom of being able to use the REal store if I'm using anything but WINDOWS?

ALL music stores were closed to macs so apple had to invent one - PC users abandoned their stores in droves to shop at Apple's so Real's only response is to throw a brick through a competitor's front window?

Like Al Qaeda, they are more interested in destroying everything/anything just to prove they can - and in the case of Real - better to destroy consumer's ease of use now for their version of how to better make money?

[Jonathan]

Uncool Joe...really uncool

You have about as much tact as a nuke joke at a 9|11 memorial.

Rob Glaser: Socialist, Terrorist, Al Franken supporter

Read the interview with Glaser. This is damning. He is an AlFranken-KoolaidDrinking-TerroristSympathizing-Socialist.

DUMP THIS COMPANY. DESTROY IT. IT MUST END TODAY.

I will not allow an anti-american, anti-consumer madman to sit atop his ivory tower and try to manipulate my world.

The attack begins.

[johnnycnote]

You must be lost....

...this isn't the Rush Limbaugh show....

[ScifiterX]

What a deal! 49¢ for songs I still can't download.

Setting aside the fact that I wouldn't need Harmony to put Real's
music on an iPod if I were using a Windows PC. Real's marketing
still avoids true competition by refusing to provide software
solutions to the Mac users. Meaning a deal for half price music
would cost me more due to the fact I'd have to buy hardware I
have no interest in using to use an OS I hate using to run Real's
software some of which is complete unnecessary.

[ScifiterX]

P.S. No Offense to those who use PCs.

I realize some people like PCs and have no trouble using them.
More power to them. This still doesn't make Real any less greed,
dishonest, or dumb.

[johnnycnote]

What I want: no monthly fees...

...and a flat rate per song. There aren't enough songs on these services that I'd want, so there needs to be an option for people who just want to sign on occasionally and download a particular song for a higher price....