RealNetworks Plans to Sell Songs to Be Played on iPods

(reg. req.): This is sure to cause a lot of controversy (and expect a lot of analyst questions during RNWK’s July 28 Q2 earnings conference call)…Tomorrow, without Apple’s authorization, RealNetworks will start to give away software that will allow people to buy and download songs from its online music store and then play them on Apple’s iPod, in addition to those that use the Windows Media Player format and RealNetwork’s Helix format.

AP: The new software is called “Harmony“…A test version of Harmony will be available Tuesday on Real’s Web site.

This will be the first time any company other than Apple has sold songs for the iPod. Rob Glaser said his company was not violating any of Apple’s intellectual property rights. Forrester analyst Josh Bernoff said that was not clear, and Apple might choose to assert that its patents were being violated.

The human story behind this is also fascinating: two larger than life personalities: Steve Jobs and Rob Glaser, fighting publicly to take a share of the digital music market and as a result re-define their companies.

WSJ (sub. req.): Even if RealNetworks is successful, it’s unclear if the effort would harm or help Apple. The move could boost iPod sales by allowing users to buy songs from more sites.

Official company announcement here

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