“Harmony is just a slap in the face for Apple. Current iTunes Music Store (iTMS) customers will have no strong incentive to switch stores. Rhapsody will also face an uphill battle in trying to win over new iPod users, especially when access to the iTMS comes conveniently packaged with the iPod. For all its controversy, Harmony does not hit Apple where it hurts — it does not enable iPod clones to play iTMS songs,” Tim Goh writes for The Motley Fool.
“However, Apple will still be upset by this move. If it had intended for the iPod and iTMS to be unlocked, it would have done so earlier, on its own terms. RealNetworks has forced Apple’s hand early, and Apple will probably seek to stop RealNetworks by either legal or technological means. The latter is easily implemented. Apple can simply issue a firmware upgrade that doesn’t allow Harmony to be downloaded when a user fires up iTunes, and Harmony would become merely background noise,” Goh writes.
Full article here.
First post! Yeah Baby!!! WooohoooO!!!!! Yeeeehaaaawww!!!
as is usually the case… others will follow suit.
question is… will windoze users install the firmware upgrade… or simply leave iTMS?
Man, Muthalode, You the MAN!!!!!!!
“as is usually the case… others will follow suit.
question is… will windoze users install the firmware upgrade… or simply leave iTMS?”
I doubt they’d leave the iTMS.
F*** this article, it’s all about the Muthalode!
Tha Muthalode, u rock! good job on the first post.
yeah congrats Muthalode.
Mutherlode!
You stop acting like a fool before I come over there and snatch you bald.
I’m the origian first poster. I posted you onto this planet, and I can take you out.
Do be messin’ with me!
Love
Mom
Where’d all the losers come from?
loserville
Sometimes I am sure I have stumbled into the Crazy Apple Rumors Site when I read the comments here.
We’ve been here all along.
ugh…. anyway.. it’s nice to see the press acknowledging that this is not some technological feat: cracking software is inevitable if you have enough programmers, and time.
Real’s solution does nothing but piss off Apple.
Way back when Rob Glaser was emailing Steve love letters, someone said this guy has no business acumen whatsoever.
Look at this scenario… Real has NO LEVERAGE. Instead of thinking of a way that they can give Apple something it wants, they give up and try to rip off Apple’s pathway to the almighty iPod.
While Real will insist it is within its legal right, why did they not think Apple could kill Harmony with technological workarounds (iPod Update etc.)
Eventually the Harmony users will be so pissed at the downtime, while Real tries to crack each new iPod Update adjustment, they will just get pissed and a)throw they ipod on the ground and smash it to bits (ahem… these would be PC users who are used to this frustration.. no self-respecting Mac user would use the Real Store) b)Switch back to the iTunes store.
It sickens me that Real is ready to take responsibility for the oncoming agony of .. ahem.. tens of thousands of it’s customers.
Maybe a propoganda leaflet slipped into iPod packages.. describing the Harmony situation..
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Interestingly enough, there is a iPod SW Update crying for attention right now. 😀
Goodbye, Harmony! We hardly knew ya!
Real have a music store?
Where is it?
Whats it called?
Never heard of it.
Apple releases firmware update that disables Harmony.
Windows users have to choose between:
a) Update firmware and continue buying 128Kbit/s songs from iTMS
b) Not update firmware and start buying 192Kbit/s songs from RealPlayer Music Store.
Tough choice. Not.
“Interestingly enough, there is a iPod SW Update crying for attention right now. 😀 “
Uh…the only one I see is the one marked July 15.
This is evidence of a desperate, last-ditch attempt by Real to stay relevant. If you’re Rob Glaser, your enterprise is being threatened by Bill Gates on one side and the iTunes Music Store on the other. Gates is simply trying to run Real off the road. And without hardware like an iPod, Real is just another player trying to compete.
Where Real has a unique business model is in streaming content. That’s always been their strength. By failing to anticipate downloadable music in the manner of the iTunes Music Store. And being late to the party, if you’re not Microsoft, is a huge disadvantage.
Do you remember all the flustering that took place with buymusic.com? Where are they now? My point here is this: in the computer trades, there’s news and there’s noise. Most of what we railbirds read here each day is noise. When you look back 6-12 months from now, I think you will agree that there was less substance to Harmony than all the press it got.
This is proof that the computer and digital music business is and will be a nasty, zero-sum game. And if you’re Rob Glaser, you would feel desperate too.
What about you all go to allofmp3.com where you can pay $10 for 1GB of songs in any format and any bitrate you want and totally unlocked???
‘Sup Dawgs. Props to the peeps. Gotta questions for ya – anyone use allofmp3.com? Do it work like a charm or does it be more of a playa that playz ya wallet? What be the thang wit’ dis thang? Do it work? Thanks to my peeps who be reserchin’ dis info for me and my organization.
Lates,
Muthalode
Re: Dr. Solution & allofmp3.com
1) unless they use PayPal, I don’t want my credit card # floating around on some russian site that borderline shady
2) it is illegal to do so in the USA
Joel, buddy, bru-tha in arms. First point is well-taken my gangsta-friend. But afta you make yo’ 2nd point about being illegal and shit – you lose street-cred playa! It iz illegal to have a honey suck you in Alabama – it’s illegal to knock-boots in da South on Sunday – so who gives a mack about illegal bru-tha. But the credit card thing – props to my peeps. My associates work too hard selling da dope to give me my American Express Black 3 mill bone limit for me to have it floating around some Russian mafia-owned shiznit. I may have to take a couple of pipe-wielding negroes over there myself and show them who be the boss if they mess wit’ me or my bru-thas. Any utha peeps out there who have experience with the allofmp3.com homies?
Why is it that every time I repair permissions it says:
We are using special permissions for the file or directory ./
System/Library/Filesystems/cd9660.fs/cd9660.util. New permissions are 33261
The privileges have been verified or repaired on the selected volume
Without fdail – every time…What the heck does this mean?
I’ve seen that too, but I don’t know what it means. What’s the point of asking that? It’s not relevant to the subject at hand.
They actually do use PayPal, I have never had any trouble so far, I have been using it for 3 months now. About this web site being illegal or not, I don’t know I just think that if it was really illegal the BigFive would have closed it. Overall I am really pleased. The online encoding is fast and you have access to songs from other countries like Germany and France and you don’t need a French or German address or credit card like the iTMS.