This continuing nonsense with Apple’s competitors in the music biz is getting silly. RealNetworks has now launched something called “Freedom of Music Choice,” where — like Sony and other music player manufacturers — they claim that iPods are locked into a proprietary music format and are not compatible with “industry standard” music files.
This is just complete and utter bullshit.
My iPod — both my original model and the new Mini — play a ungodly number of music formats, including the number 1 industry standard, MP3. I can play MP3, AIFF, any Quicktime format, AAC, WAV, Audible…
What they really mean is that it won’t play their myriad versions of Windows Media or other crippled, locked, encrypted formats.
This is a common tactic of the anti-Apple forces, claiming that Apple devices aren’t compatible or can’t use files from the PC world. In fact, my Mac (and iPod) can open and use more file formats than any typical Windows machine can.
Meanwhile, Real’s attempt to create an anti-Apple bulletin board has backfired:
The petition, on RealNetworks’ http://www.freedomofmusicchoice.org site, is titled: “Hey Apple! Don’t break my iPod.”
“Your company has long stood for innovation and open competition,” the petition reads. “We’re asking that you…support the right of your own customers to make their own choices about where they buy music for the iPod. We want Freedom of Music Choice! Don’t lock us in to purchasing digital music from one source. That’s bad for competition. It will stifle innovation. And it will slow the adoption of digital music devices like the iPod.”
Readers were encouraged to sign up and leave comments on the petition, now running at more than 900 signatures. However, many comments left by petition signers were less than complimentary and featured a selection of tartly worded phrases and four-letter epithets, with the target being RealNetworks itself. CEO Rob Glaser came under particular attack from the Web site’s visitors.
… Others took issue with the fact that RealNetworks’ Rhapsody song shop doesn’t support Macs. A poster by the name of MacUser wrote: “I choose to use a Macintosh. Why won’t Real support me? Rhapsody doesn’t work on the Mac. So even if I was interested in buying music from Real, I can’t do it.”
… The deluge of anti-RealNetworks sentiment prompted the company to take down the original petition and replace it with one without a comment section, but where the names of those who signed up were visible. Most signed up as ‘Real sucks’ or something similar. The ability to see names was then removed.
Having an iPod doesn’t restrict you to buying music from one source. Just convert the music to MP3. Oh, wait — you can’t do that with those other formats. Sounds like a failing of the other music stores, not the iPod.
