“Apple Computer has quietly updated its iPod software so that songs purchased from RealNetworks’ online music store will no longer play on some of the Mac maker’s popular MP3 players,” John Borland reports for CNET News. “The move could render tunes purchased by many iPod owners unplayable on their music players. For the last four months, RealNetworks has marketed its music store as the only Apple rival compatible with the iPod, following the company’s discovery of a way to let its customers play their downloaded tunes on Apple’s MP3 player.”
MacDailyNews Take: Come now, let’s get “real.” How many iPod owners were really running off to buy songs from RealNetworks?
Borland reports, “Apple criticized RealNetworks’ workaround, dubbed Harmony, as the ‘tactics…of a hacker,’ and warned in July that RealNetworks-purchased songs would likely ‘cease to work with current and future iPods.’ Apple offered no further statement Tuesday, but confirmed that the software released with its Photo iPod will not play music purchased from RealNetworks’ music store.”
“The changes Apple made were to the iPod’s ‘firmware,’ which is the low-level software that powers hardware such as MP3 players…” Borland reports. “The notes that accompanied the release mentioned several enhancements, but did not comment on Harmony. It was not immediately clear whether iPods older than the Photo edition had as a result also been rendered incompatible with RealNetworks’ technology.”
Full article here.
In November, RealNetworks was among the “big winners” at the first annual Billboard Digital Entertainment Awards. RealNetworks’ Rhapsody won Best Downloadable or Subscription Music Service, and the company’s Harmony service won Digital Music Innovation of the Year. No one outside Billboard has really been able to figure out why. More info here.
MacDailyNews Take: Break out the Krispy Kremes! We only wish Apple had done this sooner. It’s RealNetwork’s responsibility to care for their customers. If they sold these so-called “Harmony” files as “iPod-compatible” and they now don’t work on iPods, Real has a problem. It is not Apple’s responsibility to make sure Rob Glaser’s hack works.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
RealNetworks ‘Harmony’ stops working on iPods but nobody notices for a month and a half – December 15, 2004
Bono-Glaser photo caption contest now open – October 25, 2004
Real’s CEO Glaser: ‘Harmony’ hack legal, Mac lovers are very sensitive to Apple criticism, and more – September 14, 2004
Analyst: Rob Glaser’s ill-advised war against Apple ‘is going to bite RealNetworks on the ass’ – August 30, 2004
Rob Glaser interviewed about achieving harmony with Steve Jobs – August 17, 2004
RealNetwork’s CEO Glaser crashes Apple’s music party – July 30, 2004
Real CEO Glaser: Steve Jobs’ comments on Real ‘not succeeding’ are ‘ridiculously humorous’ – April 29, 2004
NY Times: Real CEO Glaser was close to having ‘iPod’ before Apple, but let it ‘slip through his fingers – April 24, 2004
Real’s CEO Glaser: Apple’s iPod/iTunes combo ‘threatens to turn off consumers’ – April 20, 2004
Jobs to Glaser: go pound sand – April 16, 2004
Real CEO Glaser begs Apple to make iPod play nice with other music services – March 24, 2004
*snicker*
Why would anyone want to use anything but iTunes for downloading?
This is just UNFAIR. Steve Jobs is a big ‘ol meanie.
I double the *snicker* remark …
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Well, RN has been “jobbed”!
WTG Apple – Merry Christmas Real! LMAO
Crappy move by Apple to punish its customers for buying music elsewhere. If Apple wants to disable/remove music paid for LEGALLY by its customers, it should re-imburse those customers. Apple should resolve its issue with RealNetworks, not use its customers as a proxy.
Playfair
It still makes me sick that Real won a Billboard award! What a joke!
Is Apple using MS tactics? Or is it just coincidental?
C’mon, let’s face it: the iTunes Music Store doesn’t have all the music I want. So why couldn’t I get it from another service?
I wish all those DRM go away once and for all and we start to live in a true digital music era !
OK, so Apple releases this iPod firmware update some weeks ago, and it takes us, the iPod/Mac community, several weeks to even notice that Real’s crud no longer works with iPod?
We’re the most plugged-in, news-hungry group of computer users/enthusiasts in the world, and it takes someone this long to notice?
This can be boiled down into two words: “Goodbye, Real.”
Well, it depends…
If Apple went out of their way to “break” Harmony-translated songs, then I agree that it’s bad. While I’m in the minority around here, I think that it should be “About the music” and I should be able to buy that music from RealNetworks, if I want. Personally, I can’t–they don’t support Macs–but if someone came out with an iTunes competitor that worked with Macs, I should be able to buy from them.
On the other hand, if Apple “fixed a problem” with FairPlay or AAC playback which, inadvertently, broke Harmony-translated songs, then Real has no leg to stand on.
It’s about motivation. No, I don’t think Apple should go out of their way to break Harmony. But Apple is under no obligation to make sure Harmony works, either–that’s Real’s job.
It’s not about buying music elsewhere; it’s about by-passing the Digital Rights Management that convinced the record labels to go along with digital downloads. Apple presented them with a plan that provided a relative measure of security; in exchange Apple got to structure a system that gave the end user a fair amount of freedom in using the purchased music. Try to imagine the music environment 15 or 20 years ago, when the record companies were trying to prevent people from coping tapes, records, and cd to cassette for personal use (ie. on a walkman ). The labels were not interested in fair use by the end consumer, they wanted to (and still want to) control the end user. Apple has managed to broker, in my opinion, a fair scheme for personal music use. It’s not perfect, and I’m sure there are plenty of people with quibbles, but overall, it seems to work well.
If any users bought from Real during the fire sale, hopefully they were clever enough to convert to AAC or burn to disc so they can re-import them. Some quality loss, I’m sure, but if you are going to buy cheap�
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Has Apple warned people about this lately? Real warns it users about this very thing on its website, or did at one point. It’ll probably end up biting Real more than Apple, but Apple should have been upfront about this change.
zupchuck, burn the songs to a cd and import into iTunes.
Allofmp3.com That’s the solution. You choose the format, you choose the bitrate, it’s not protected and it’s the cheapest service so far. I have been using it for 6 months no problem.
Jason, why should Apple be responsible for Real’s hack? They even warned beforehand that the music may not play on current and future iPods.
I think Real acted in bad faith and if you bought something from them then you take your chances. Truth is you can convert the tracks to MP3s and still play it so why does Apple have to “warn” its customers?
And as for the comment about having the ability to use RealNetworks if you want stuff that’s only available on Real and not on Apple, then you have to decide which is the better company to deal with. Make your choice and stop bellyaching. You’ll probably discover that iTunes and your iPod are the better choice even if there are some tracks you can’t get.
OMG, the track i bought from REAL does not longer play after i updated my iPod. I’m going to fill a lawsuit against REAL Networks!
PeterJ, how do you convert Real files to MP3 (on Mac OS X)?
Funny, my iPod said nothing about working with harmony in the past, present or future, it said it supported AIFF AAC MP3, and iTunes DRM files and now Apple Lossless. Cool, they added one since I bought it, WTG Apple. Now I can do anything I want with my iPod, just like promised. So long as the hardware supports it.
I guess I wouldn’t expect Apple to be on the side of a bunch of hacked together software that probably barely meats the realm of compatibility. Making a case for Real’s DRM hack is like saying I’m mad at Apple for not supporting WMV. Seeing as how it was never part of the deal, ever. Or even hinted at being supported.
I got my choices, AIFF, AAC, MP3, or Apple Lossless from CD’s, AAC DRM from ITMS, MP3’s from P2P, and whatever else I can think of.
Next the REAL supporters will be all pissed that that free copy of Jezball for Win 95 their neighbor bootlegged isn’t compatible with OS X.
Somy the Real tunes are downloaded from PC. As far as I know it was never available for Macs. But if you have downloaded them then you’re probably using a PC and can use whatever PC program you have to convert files to .aiff or .wav and then rip those to MP3s.
Double J,
Thanks for hint (I would have done so anyway). I don’t yet own an iPod or any MP3 player. When I can use one to directly download files off my digital camera, I will buy one. Until then, it’s just an expensive music player (to me).
I will never buy music online unless the prices drop for MP3s/AACs (at $0.25 a song) or the full-fidelity version is offered for $0.99.
I do love iTunes on my home PowerMac G5 and work PC, though.
my OPINION
as much as i like apple
this whole incompatibility between various music store is just monopolistic and backwards .. and not in line with free market.
the customer should chose which player and wich music store and what artist … i am sure apple could win the battle for the customer even if the iPod would play any format out there ..
hmmm