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RealNetworks badly needs a PR coup to regain credibility with music fans, but its latest "freedom of music choice" campaign is missing the mark, critics say.

Last Tuesday, the company debuted RealPlayer 10.5 multimedia software, which includes its controversial Harmony program. Harmony enables songs purchased in the Real music store to play on Apple iPods, much to Apple's annoyance. Real has said its technology is designed to give music fans more options in the devices and services they use.

Read more:

http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,14 ... _tophead_2

That's got to be a bit of P.O. for mac isn't it?

the iPod is the new big deal in "music on the go" ,yeah?



If what i'm hearing is correct, then naturally mac's goin to be dischuffed if they're trying to market an item where the residual is to be made on song sales and Real's opened up the doors on their end of the bar.

i seem to recall hearing that apple made some quick changes to their software within a day or two of real's announcement that have since disabled the harmony stuff. don't remember where i read it, d'oh!

RealNetworks badly needs a PR coup to regain credibility with music fans, but its latest "freedom of music choice" campaign is missing the mark, critics say.

Last Tuesday, the company debuted RealPlayer 10.5 multimedia software, which includes its controversial Harmony program. Harmony enables songs purchased in the Real music store to play on Apple iPods, much to Apple's annoyance. Real has said its technology is designed to give music fans more options in the devices and services they use.

More:

http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,64630,00.html

Real Player. UGH!

I don't want to go on a tirade about this company - but maybe I will! I was about to write about their nasty nasty program and all of its marketing junk and advertisments that pop up. Then I found the related article on Wired. They did the ranting for me.

"For the past few years, Minnesota Public Radio's customer service department has fielded e-mails and phone calls from angry listeners who can't get their Real media player to play the radio station's programs through the Internet.

People complained that they couldn't find the free player on Real's site. They wondered why the player clogged their screen with advertising. A fan of Saint Paul Sunday refused to listen to the show on the Web because of Real's aggressive marketing practices. Another was furious at the station because he thought he had to pay to download the player, and wondered if the station was getting a cut of the profits."

AND

"But RealNetworks hasn't been doing itself any favors with its affinity for pop-up ads, icon installations throughout users' computers and aggressive (and sometimes misleading) pitches for subscription products, analysts say. Instead of developing user-friendly products, RealNetworks has been focused on getting as much money as possible from users with each registration. "

"Such aggressive marketing is a double-edged sword, he said. The company may get people to pay, but the risk is that customers may get so frustrated by the tactics that they decide not to come back. "

Think so? You better believe it. I'm never going back. Firmly with iTunes and Windows Media Player.

I never liked RealPlayer. I have Windows Media Player, but tend to use Winamp a

lot for music.

http://www.winamp.com :guitarist :-6