PJ Doland

Remember Streambox?

In an attempt to woo customers from Apple’s iTunes Music Store, RealNetworks halved per-song prices today for its music download service. The company will also be initiating an ad campaign espousing “Freedom of Choice.”

I have some serious difficulty mustering sypathy for RealNetworks in their current spat with Apple over Real’s new Harmony technology (which allows users to play files downloaded from Real’s service on an Apple iPod). Remember that Real is the same company that invoked the DMCA to crush Streambox several years ago.

If you do buy Harmony-enabled songs from Real, don’t expect them to always work with your iPod. Apple has already warned that future firmware upgrades may eliminate compatibility.

August 17, 2004 | Comments |

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