Perhaps disabling Real's hack isn't trivial at all. Otherwise, why only the iPod Photo. Maybe they needed to make a hardware change?

the funny thing is, its REAL NETWORKS, the worst offender of poor quality, invasive, persistent, and irritating software downloads. anyone else would garner some sympathy, at least from me.

Shame on Apple - this is the kind of dirty trick we would expect from Microsoft or Intuit. For a company that "thinks different" this is the same kind of dirty politics we see every day from everyone else. It's kind of like when they said "Appple II Forever" and then killed off the Apple IIe. Or when they took the power button off the Mac keyboard. It stinks!!!

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Guest wrote:
Shame on Apple - this is the kind of dirty trick we would expect from Microsoft or Intuit. For a company that "thinks different" this is the same kind of dirty politics we see every day from everyone else. It's kind of like when they said "Appple II Forever" and then killed off the Apple IIe. Or when they took the power button off the Mac keyboard. It stinks!!!

This is no surprise what so ever. Apple said that this would happen a few months ago. Apple is doing what any company would do if a third party broke into their "proprietary" software.

If Real really believes the crap they spout off, they can freely offer their downloads as MP3s without DRM. Those will work on an iPod no problem!

Need hardware change to prevent harmony?

No comment on whether it is right for Apple to do so.

Apple:

Apple is not the culprit. It told everybody in the beginning that the iPod will only work with iTunes. When Real without permission came up with a hack to allow it to bypass the iPod's protection scheme, Apple clearly stated Real's technology most likey would not work in the future.

Moreover, Apple has every reason to not want to allow other people's music to work on the iPod. Right now Apple has the number one music player. The last thing Apple needs to do is allow Real's horrible software to muck up somebody's iPod, because Real will not get the blame, but Apple will, undeservedly. When Apple is controlling the whol experience, it can respond quickly to user problems. Soon as third parties become involved this is not as easy to do.

Right now Apple has no reason to allow Real's software to work on the iPod, as customers are content using iTunes. If they were not, Apple would not be seeling so many iPods, all of which clearly state on the box, they only work with iTunes.

It just might be that the purpose of the update was to, well, update the photo iPod, and because Apple doesn't support or test the Harmony hack, it just broke.

Apple isn't obligated to keep Real's hack working.

Real is the jealous little kid on the playground who wants to horn in on somebody elses game. Face it, they're third rate and they know it. Apple has NO duty to even allow them to play the game. It's their game. They know it. Heck, they made it what it is. Everybody knows it. Congrats to them.

Send Real away whimpering like a whooped puppy.

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Guest wrote:
...this is the same kind of dirty politics we see every day from everyone else. It's kind of like when they said "Appple II Forever" and then killed off the Apple IIe. Or when they took the power button off the Mac keyboard. It stinks!!!

The truth is, if Apple makes any changes for whatever reason they would have to test against Real and make changes to ensure that Real's software continued to run. That isn't realistic, if you'll pardon the pun. Apple didn't necessarily deliberately break Real. They just aren't ensuring support for them. Calling it shameful that Apple doesn't spend it's own money to ensure that a competitor's products work with Macs is absurd.

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Kircle wrote:
Perhaps disabling Real's hack isn't trivial at all. Otherwise, why only the iPod Photo. Maybe they needed to make a hardware change?

The Microsoft (WMA) formatted music files will only play on music players that have licensed software from Microsoft but noone is complaining. Microsoft's technology is also restrictive. If Apple wants to control the source of music files that are allowed to play on their iPods (to protect both revenue and user experience) they should be permitted to do so and should be applauded to doing it. The reason people switch to Apple (I have been developing on Windows since v3.0 and recently switched) is that the user experience is far superior to the Windows world (this is my opinion, please do not flame). The reason that Apple has an excellend user experience is the control they maintain on the hardware and software. If people do not like the fact that you can only purchase music for an iPod from iTMS then they should purchase another music player. When someone purchases a Windows-based PC they have decided that it is OK to restrict the source of their operating system (if they want to run Windows programs, e.g. the general public not Linux/WINE or ReactOS users). iPod purchasers have (hopefully knowingly) made the decision that the iPod has features/abilities that outweigh the iTMS restriction.

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Guest wrote:

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Guest wrote:
...this is the same kind of dirty politics we see every day from everyone else. It's kind of like when they said "Appple II Forever" and then killed off the Apple IIe. Or when they took the power button off the Mac keyboard. It stinks!!!

Boy, you really showed your colors old-timer. Who cares about a marketing slogan for the Apple II or a powerkey on an old keyboard? Get a grip, your losing it.

"The public fracas between Apple and Real over the rights to buy and play music on digital media devices pits two industry giants against each other with consumers stuck in the middle. "

For a company that's been bleeding cash for 5 years now, and is trailing well behind Windows Media and Quicktime, you're giving RealNetworks waaay too much of a compliment by calling it an "industry giant" on par with Apple.

RealNetworks is old news, and soooo stuck in the 20th century!

-Ken P

Real knew the risk when the decided to go it alone and crack Apple's DRM without Apple's blessing. I can't understand how people can blame Apple for this. Since this problem doesn't appear across the entire product line, I suspect it is just the result of a tweak to the firmware that just happens to break Real's hack. Should Apple be responsible for testing every release of software that attempts to hack their DRM? Of course not.

If Real was a true chamption of choice, they would manage to come up with a scheme to offer music without DRM, so that it is a moot point.

I'm very happy with eMucic, which offers all of their content as MP3 files. I've bought more songs from eMusic than I have from iTMS. To me, this is the future, not coming up with a single DRM standard.

if they REALLY wanted their music playable on the iPod, it would be trivial to do so

Apply has become what they detest. I recently saw a PhotoShop of a still shot of the mind numb audience in the Apple Mac 1984 commercial wearing iPods while staring at the screen. So true. You're locked in the world of Steve Jobs.

I've said this before, I'll say it again. If Real is allowed to go through with this, I have to wonder about the legal precedent it might set. I'm into cars, so I think about it like this. If Chevy realeased their new Corvette, and said that it would only use tires of a certain kind and that was that. Lets say it could only use Goodyear. If Pirrelli went out to a dealership, bought a Corvette, took apart the wheel and desgined a tire to fit and realeased it, saying it was good for business for Chevy. Its like that. Reverse engineering and circumvention of a patent is against the law. End-of-story

my favorite music artist does drugs it bothers me i happen to like aly aj but i cant listen to any of there music or i'll get made fun of i know this hasnt got any thing to do with what you wrote but. i mean why would people make fun of me i have long blond hair to the knees green eyes really long lashes and dimples

Because you have no grasp of either capitalization or punctuation?