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Real Networks Discovers The Difficulty Of Having An Open Forum
from the no-fun-at-all dept
RealNetworks seemed to assume that everyone was on their side in their effort to get their downloadable songs onto iPods. They set up a page with an open comments section, officially for people to express their anger at Apple for refusing to license FairTunes. Instead, Real discovered that people can say whatever they want when you give them an open forum and they started bashing Real Networks instead. As you might expect, the open forums didn't last long -- though, expecting as much, some enterprising folks made sure to copy what was on the page before it disappeared.
Reader Comments
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It's actually not Apple's fault
I was thinking about this and in my opinion, the whole problem with the iPod and iTunes and Real actually revolves around the RIAA. If they didn't insist on such restictive practices I am positive that the iPod would be a more open system and you could buy music from anywhere and play it on anything. If the RIAA would grab a brain - any brain - and think about it they would realize that they could increase the music market by loosening up a bit. Of course, in the long run, even the digitial rights management that is in place doesn't work. Download some songs from one store, burn it to a CD-RW and then rip it into iTunes. Voila, the iPod now supports your favourite store. Sort of.
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Critical Mass
I agree that 80% of this is basically on RIAA's shoulders. However, there are two other components, I think. First, a lot of people who don't like Real's software are just using this as an all-purpose vent against them. IMHO, RealPlayer has always been one of the most lousy pieces of wide-spread commercial software out there (aside from Lotus Notes, of course). Unfortunately, due to contracting with various media sources, most people have to use it sometimes.
Second, the idea is pure capatilism. Apple won customers for the iPod not only because it is a great player but also because iTMS is a good service. It is their IP. They own it. They don't have to let any other company get a cut of their revenue if they don't want to. Yes, they do it for partially legal reasons, but control over the service makes sure that they have a degree of control of how good the 'iPod experience' is. If lack of choice was hurting iPod sales, you can bet the iPod would be opened so fast it'd make your head spin. Its one of their biggest single sources of revenue. Anyway, that's my rant.
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No Subject Given
Shaffer said the company wasn't fazed by yesterday's incident. "We are looking at the site as part of a campaign to educate consumers, so it's all a process," she said.
God forbid they actually used the site to listen to the public or get meaningful marketing analysis...nooooo, it's part of a campaign to "educate consumers."
Real is shiat.
Long live Allofmp3.
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