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April 26, 2005 1:07 PM PDT
RealNetworks rekindles iPod tech tussle
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Last year, RealNetworks released a technology called Harmony that for the first time let copy-protected songs from a music store other than Apple's iTunes play directly on the iPod. RealNetworks had independently mimicked the antipiracy tools used by Apple and hadn't gotten Apple's permission first.
Apple called the company's actions "hacker tactics" and a few months later changed its software to break the compatibility, at least on iPod Photo devices. On Tuesday, a RealNetworks executive said his company had re-established compatibility with all iPods.
"Harmony now supports all shipping iPods, including iPod Photo," said RealNetworks Chief Strategy Officer Richard Wolpert.
The technology tussle, which focuses on a relatively small portion of RealNetworks' music business, nevertheless aims at the heart of one of the most controversial issues in online music.
Incompatibility between the major download stores and music players has fragmented the digital market. For example, songs purchased from Apple's iTunes store can only be played directly on Apple's iPod, while songs purchased from Napster or Microsoft cannot be played on the iPod.
Record company executives have been bitterly critical of this balkanization, and have asked technology executives--primarily Apple CEO Steve Jobs--to reconsider their technology decisions. As yet, no broad move toward compatibility has emerged.
RealNetworks' Harmony software, which allows songs to be played directly on an iPod or on a Microsoft-based device, is limited to the company's pay-per-song store. Songs downloaded through the new Rhapsody portable subscription service are compatible only with a small number of Windows-based MP3 players.
An Apple representative could not immediately be reached for comment.
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service are only compatible with each other. By far the most
popular. It's like saying VHS fragmented the tape market or
Microsoft fragmented the OS market.
that they are virtually out of sight. At least, I've never seen any
reason to bother with Real's products, no Real-based files show up
anywhere. But I have seen lots of reasons not to.
And with MP3 working for everyone, there's hardly fragmentation.
For example, I have over 8,000 songs on my iPod and only 12 of them were purchased from iTunes (and I use the term "purchase" loosely because they were actually free, from the Pepsi promotion.)
If I were going to buy any new music, I would buy the CD and rip it. Why? Because I LIKE having the ENTIRE CD - all the music, the lyrics, the CD jacket, etc. Plus, I can rip the CD in any format I want at any data rate, as opposed to buying a typical 128k file with DRM.
This whole debate is just silly. Besides which, it seems as though iTunes is the BEST store out there. So why whould anyone want to switch?