RealNetworks To Apple: "You Scratch Our Backs, We'll Scratch Yours"

[Kent Pribbernow]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5191831.html?tag=nefd.top' target='_blank'>http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5191831.html?tag=nefd.top</a><br /><br /></div><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/realapple.jpg" />RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser is appealing to Apple to form a mutual alliance against rival Microsoft. In an email leaked by a source from inside Apple, Glaser makes an interesting proposal to Steve Jobs:<br /><br />"It is against this backdrop that the timing and details of Glaser's offer to Jobs are particularly intriguing. In his message, which was obtained by The New York Times from a person close to Apple, Glaser asked Jobs to consider licensing Apple's Fairplay digital rights management system to RealNetworks to permit customers of the RealNetworks music service to play their digital music collections on iPod players.<br /><br />In exchange, RealNetworks would make the iPod its primary device for the RealNetworks store and for the RealPlayer software."<br /><br />Interesting. Clearly Glaser knows which way the winds of change are blowing (Microsoft). And it doesn't take a Wall Street analyst to see which online music service has the recipe for success. But frankly, I don't think Apple NEEDS Real. Nor do we for that matter. :roll:

[James Fee]

Interesting. Clearly Glaser knows which way the winds of change are blowing (Microsoft). And it doesn't take a Wall Street analyst to see which online music service has the recipe for success. But frankly, I don't think Apple NEEDS Real. Nor do we for that matter. :roll:
Was thinking the same thing when I saw the article. As long as iPods continue to sell well, Apple needs no one.

[Phoenix]

Real stinks. Fat-ass bloatware. I don't even load in on any of my systems anymore. If a website requires Real in order for me to view content, then I just don't view it.

Apple, for now, is the only online store in town that anybody is really paying a lot of attention to. But that will change over the course of the next year or two. Give it time... As much as I love the Ipod, Apple won't win the online music sales war. A big part of their problem is their AAC format that no one else in the world supports, except for Apple and its Ipod. That will be Apple's biggest obstacle. Some people might say, "Well, hey, the Ipod supports MP3!" But MP3 is on its way out. People can argue all they want, but MP3 isn't going to be around forever, and AAC and WMA have already surpassed it in quality. MP3 continues to age and for people who care about the quality of their music, MP3 is NOT the format of choice. This leaves AAC, and tell me who supports that? However, hundreds of products support WMA.

The world won't adopt AAC like they have WMA. WMA continues to spread, while AAC remains locked to the Ipod only. The significance of this, along with the fact that the MP3 format is slowly dying as the format of choice, is that it doesn't make buying music from iTunes a wise investment. This alone, will cause Apple to lose.

Apple indeed doesn't need Real. Apple needs to work on either getting the rest of the world to adopt the AAC format, or open the Ipod up to the WMA format. No one cares about Real Networks.

[Zack Mahdavi]

I don't really care if Apple licenses Fairplay to Real or not, but I really would like Apple to start licensing Fairplay to as many vendors as possible.

Why? This would make the iPod even more lucrative of a purchase. If more music stores start selling songs with fairplay protection, the iPod will definitely become more popular. Apple doesn't care about the iTunes Music Store.. it's a loss leader.

That's my 2 cents.. :D