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RealNetworks Slashes Song Prices

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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RealNetworks is set to kick off a high-profile digital music marketing campaign, highlighting the new iPod-compatible technology that has swung the company into conflict with Apple Computer. For a limited time, RealNetworks will offer song downloads from its music store for 49 cents, along with half-price albums. The campaign is the second wave of publicity around the company's Harmony technology, which effectively recreated a version of Apple's proprietary copy-protection technology without Apple's permission. That has allowed RealNetworks to be the first non-Apple store that can distribute songs directly compatible with the iPod music player, despite strong protests from Apple itself.
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2004/08/17/realnetworks-slashes-song-prices/
Damn them

Damn those Real people. I hope they go out of business. Don't mess with Apple.
 
Macrumors said:
RealNetworks is set to kick off a high-profile digital music marketing campaign, highlighting the new iPod-compatible technology that has swung the company into conflict with Apple Computer. For a limited time, RealNetworks will offer song downloads from its music store for 49 cents, along with half-price albums. The campaign is the second wave of publicity around the company's Harmony technology, which effectively recreated a version of Apple's proprietary copy-protection technology without Apple's permission. That has allowed RealNetworks to be the first non-Apple store that can distribute songs directly compatible with the iPod music player, despite strong protests from Apple itself.
Click to expand...
How can RealNetworks afford to charge so little for song downloads? Surely they're taking a loss on this marketing promotion? Also, there's the Apple factor - how will Apple react to this news (both in their music store and regarding FairPlay itself)? I don't see how this will help Real, unless it means that their customer count more than doubles because of it - which I think is unlikely.
 
if there is no real legal action apple can take, then i guess it's bad for apple but great for consumers because a price war will be around the corner.
 
Arcady said:
49 cents won't seem like much of a bargain when Apple updates the iPod to break all songs from Real's site...
Click to expand...

Really... if there's any uncertainty as to whether the song is going to work for people or not going into the future, the incentive to pay for it rather than stealing it is minimal.

This gets them a day of pub and then disappears into the failed scheme file.
 
Dream Scenerio:

1. Real breaks iPod protection (done)
2. Real cuts prices of thier store (done)
3. Apple follows suit with iTMS
4. Real rolls over and dies
5. Rob Glasser gets a combination of herpes infected hemroids
 
Arcady said:
49 cents won't seem like much of a bargain when Apple updates the iPod to break all songs from Real's site...
Click to expand...

but at the same time you're expecting everyone that has an iPod to run the updater that would kill their Real connectivity. I think this will take a bite out of Apple. Maybe not a huge bite, but it'll still sting a bit. Besides, the publicity they've garnered from this has been more helpful to Real than really anything else in recent years.

Something to remember - there is no such thing as bad publicity. Just publicity. Real's name has gotten out there and been made known as a place to get iPod compatible stuff. And they're marketing themselves as such. Apple would have done better to quietly squelch the operability of Harmony and walk away, than to make a publicity battle out of it.
 
Bah...

This is just a shame. RealNetworks is only doing this to try and miff Apple... Won't work, however, as I don't believe there's a whole lot of people that even use RealNetwork's music service. :rolleyes: Oh well, with all the money they'll lose, it'll be nice to have these guys out of the way! :p
 
Guys the petition is hilarious!

Man, talk about a backfire. And to think they set it up as a .org. What lameness... what super lameness. Their petition is owned by people telling them to go shove it. =)
 
do we even know if apple will file a suit against real. im sure real's legal team checked before they went into this whole mess, but i could be wrong.

iJon
 
Real is really starting to piss me off. Their products have sucked for years and now they aren't doing anything but annoying Apple like a fly on a horse's ass.
 
Good for Real! Lower prices are good for the customer! I hope they do well, and then hopefully force Apple to lower their prices. Thats a fat chance, but I like to dream...
 
Mudbug said:
Something to remember - there is no such thing as bad publicity. Just publicity.
Click to expand...

seriously, you buy that? when you read articles like the ones about XP SP2 and how it breaks apps like office and how it only took MS a year longer than it should have to make a service pack that should never have been needed, you feel the simple fact that the name of the company is repeated several times, is somehow good for them? seriously?

....and i thought that I had a cynical view of the average user!
 
The first item listed on their "Freedom of Music Choice" website is:

DON'T BREAK MY IPOD
“Don’t Let Apple Break Your iPod!” Sign up*and tell the Apple you want the right to choose where you get your music.​

I think just knowing that there is this possibility will stop 90%+ of people from proceeding further because most people I talk to (1) don't know Real now offers songs they claim will play on the iPod, and (2) don't know that Apple will probably break their compatability at the most opportune moment. Why is Real advertising that? (Besides the obvious answer that they are stupid.)

If I just knew how to launch a DOS attack... www.real.com would be my first choice.

;)
 
iPod should play Rhapsody content

I might have a different opinion to most of you, but I think it is in everyone's favour to open up the iPod to let other music play on the player. I think most people are literally pissed off about the way that REAL has been going about this issue, but sometimes the ends justify the means. Apple and Real are just as much about politics as they are business and I think most people are forgetting that.

I also agree that REAL sucks on the mac, but I have been using it a lot on windows and there it is working just dandy. I love the fast playback, e.g. RollingStone.com's videos and I really dislike Quicktime trailers and music videos in iTunes because the take so long before they start. It's not only my connection (i'm on 768/128), but I am willing to forego minor quality if the music and video starts to play as quick as possible, and REAL has nailed that. It's tough love for Apple, but probably even harder for the Mac evangelists - me included.
 
Here are my 2 cents.

1. If Real offers iPod compatable songs, won't that just sell more iPods?, that's where the most money for Apple comes from, in their music venture anyway.

2. Dispite what most people think, illegal donwloading of music is still the way to go for most, so in this case, only Apple wins becuase nobody would buy a shoddy POS MP3 player, they would buy an iPod.

That's just what I think.
 
I hope apple increase the quality to 192kbps I don't/wouldn't mind keep carrying on paying 79p for 192kbps songs.

You just don't get the slickness of how itms is integrated into iTunes and then with iPod on Real's service though do you?
 
I just signed Real's petition... #263. F Real.

(As Chappers pointed out, this actually seeems to be a petition for Real to go out of business.)
 
Truely Disappointing.

Chappers said:
At http://www.freedomofmusicchoice.org/ you can see and sign Reals petition. Somehow though having read a few of the comments, I don't ever see them sending it to Apple.

Good luck Real - you are sure gonna need it with this petition.
Click to expand...

Actually I think the petition shows how pathetic Apple zealots can be.

If this were Apple doing the very same thing to another competitor who had a lock on the market you would all be behind Apple cheering. Another win for the "little guy" as everyone says. It really stings when it's turned around on Apple.

I've used, administered, developed on OSX, BSD, Linux, Solaris, and Windows and have had experience will the zealots of each platform. It's amazing how all of the Apple zealots sound just like the Windows ones you trash all of the time. In the end you are all alike, just behind what each considers a winning solution.
 
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