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Apr 12, 2001
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According to Rob Glaser, CEO of Real Networks, "about half the music on iPods is music obtained illegitimately." Glaser's comments were made in an interview with The Guardian where he goes on to discuss why he feels his company is trailing Apple and what Real's strategy is to improve its standing in the digital downloading market.

The average number of songs sold for the iPod is 25, and there are many more songs on iPods than 25. About half the music on iPods is music obtained illegitimately either from an illegal peer-to-peer networks or from ripping friends' CDs, which is illegal.

This is not the first case Glaser has been at odds with Apple or its products. Real drew Apple's fire when they created a technology called "Harmony" in 2004 that allowed Real to sell iPod compatible songs through their music store. Apple later disabled the compatability, and slammed Real for "adopting the tactics and ethics of a hacker."
 
Where did he get these statistics?

He doesn't seem to think (or realize) that iPod owners rip their own CDs.

Of course, he's got an axe to grind and an uphill battle to fight, so you wouldn't expect him to be the most reliable source for facts about the iPod.
 
Hmmmm....

But I haven't bought any songs from iTunes and I have thousands of songs ripped from my own cd collection. I guess that means I don't count.
 
Amazing. Yet again people forget that people rip their own CD collections to their iPods. Do the recording industry seriously expect us to buy all our music again because we have iPods?

I'm no pirate, my iPod is full up of stuff from iTunes and (the majority) my own collection of legally purchased CDs ripped with iTunes.
 
Real is just pissy that nobody is buying their crap. So, they decide to take a low shot at Apple, a really low shot. Anyone with an MP3 player probably has ripped countless CDs, your MP3 player of choice, weather it be an iPod or a Creative Zen doesn't persuade you either way to illegally obtain music. If your going to get your music illegally, you'd end up doing it anyway, iPod or not...idiots :p
 
idk it seemed appropriate...
 

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I would never buy music or videos from the apple store. I want a hard copy of everything I own, so getting a CD for up to 6 dollars more sometimes is worth it. The quality is better, I can rip it again and again for anything rather than just itunes/ipod. FLAC it, AIFF it, MP3 VBR it, or OGG it... etc.

Same thing with DVDs. When the PSP came out, I thought UMD would flop for the reason of only being able to play on PSP's and nothing else. Did it flop yet? It would be unreal if it hasn't.
 
Glaser should be sued for slander, as he knows **** about the law...

Even in the U.S. with its absurd DMCA, people are still able to share personal copies of lawfully obtained works with family/friends, provided they occur on a non-commercial basis. From the U.S. copyright act:

"§ 1008. Prohibition on certain infringement actions

No action may be brought under this title alleging infringement of copyright based on the manufacture, importation, or distribution of a digital audio recording device, a digital audio recording medium, an analog recording device, or an analog recording medium, or based on the noncommercial use by a consumer of such a device or medium for making digital musical recordings or analog musical recordings."

In other jurisdictions such as Brazil, Germany and Switzerland this is even clearer, with freedom for anyone to share on a personal, non-commercial basis (read: shared with close friends and relatives) copyrighted works he/she has lawfully obtained, like a music CD.

Notwithstanding these legal remarks, it's an obvious fact people's collections originate from their OWN CD collections. I've never bought any songs from iTMS, and can surely assert that at least 85% of my music came from my OWN CDs (the rest formed by songs shared with me from close relatives or other lawful sources).

It's also funny to hear that iPod users are guilty, but not the others using crappy Rios or Creatives...as if there were any differences...

He is an idiot, and someone should spare him from such self-induced stupid remarks...better yet, it's about time for Real to just shut down its crappy online music or at least drop its hypocrisy and give real "interoperability" to users not on Windows...get a grip, Glaser, and accept your ridiculous defeat.
 
his # are all off, i know people who use iTMS and don't have an iPod, and i know people who have iPods and don't use iTMS but get it legally....

If even if iPod users stole music what would be his point, so do other Mp3 Player owns.. it means nothing about the over all product
 
Sour grapes.

All the music on my iPod is legal. I've been lining the pockets of the music industry for decades, and I continue to do so. How dare he accuse me of... whatever it was he was accusing me of.

That guy is just sore because Real's attempts to deliver anything other than a streaming audio/video format have failed completely. And they failed because they suck.

Get back in your hole, matey.

SL
 
he should be sued yes

he should be sued for slander to be honest - it is an mp3 player it is up to the person who wants to put what on it - he is pissed that itunes tracks won't work on the real's system. somone should tell him that the itunes sells loads of songs and they only work on the ipod - so he should be sued to shut him up for good
 
Songs bought through the Real music store still work on iPods. They were only disabled by Apple temporarily.
 
The iPod *insert any ridiculous statement for the sake of headline grabbing sensastionalism*
 
If Glaser didn't say stupid things about Apple, then he would have absolutely no way of getting attention.

iGary: those look a lot like "Glased" donuts there. :p

maximumbarkly: UMD seems like a flop because it actually *is* a flop. Seems like all the movie studios not owned by Sony have cancelled most of their planned upcoming releases on UMD, Wal*Mart pulled them from their stores, &c. &c. That format didn't stand a chance -- typical Sony move these days.
 
iGary said:
Have another one, Rob.

050307_glaser.jpg


LOLOLOL:D :D :D and the sugar has gone to his head. What a loaf. I guess it's great that we live in a country where Glaser can be free to express his blissful stupidity.
 
Rob said:
If you want interoperable music today, there is a very easy solution: it's called stealing. But it's the only way to get non-copy protected, portable, interoperable music.

There is a better solution, buy music from indie record labels. eMusic sells a catalog of over one million songs from indie labels in straight MP3 format. eMusic sold 4 million songs in November and 60 million in the past eighteen months.
 
I don't buy from the iTunes music store. You want to know why? I don't like DRM. So where do my tunes come from? I buy albums at HMV, etc,. and rip them myself. Is he accusing that of being an illegal activity as well?

For someone who's adopted hacker tactics in reverse engineering something else, and struggling to keep a bloated unnecessary Real Player alive, I don't think he can judge Apple for being successful. Real "real"ly needs to rethink their strategy.
 
Well, his math is SORT of right.... 1 billion songs divided by 42 million iPods is about 24 songs per iPod. But some people have purchased thousands of songs, some like myself have about 200 (including free downloads,) and others barely have any.

As others have said, and as Glaser said, of course we have more than 25 songs on our iPods. I have almost 200 CDs I've bought over the years. My iPod allows me not to carry those 200 CDs around, which f****** rules. 2 points Apple, shame on Real Networks.
 
Azerty said:
There is a better solution, buy music from indie record labels. eMusic sells a catalog of over one million songs from indie labels in straight MP3 format. eMusic sold 4 million songs in November and 60 million in the past eighteen months.
You can also legally buy other indie-ish music in MP3 at http://www.audiolunchbox.com I've bought an number of Epitaph Records releases from them.

Amazon.com also has plenty of free MP3s as well as many individual artist and record label home pages.

B
 
I don't think Rob Glaser expects to convince people like us who know the facts. He's after the general public, which doesn't know better than to believe what they read in interviews like this.
 
What a crock of s**t! I'll be surprised if there around much longer.

Instead of talking bull, why don't Real get there collective asses in gear and get a Universal build of Realplayer out, you know.. something useful rather than whining.

edit: Checked again expecting nothing.. but Shock!!! They've finally done it..
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/8428
 
Glazer is Full Of S***

Sure I used to download TONS of illegal music.. but that was before I got an iPod. Now ALL my music is legal. I've purchased over 450 songs off iTunes. Glazer can just suck it. He's just pissed no ones uses he crap service.
 
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