Apple Computer Inc. is unhappy with RealNetworks Inc.’s move this week to make its RealPlayer music service compatible with Apple’s market-leading iPod digital music player and may take legal action to counter it, the company said on Thursday.
Apple said in a statement it is “stunned that RealNetworks has adopted the tactics and ethics of a hacker to break into the iPod,” adding: “We are investigating the (legal) implications.”
Apple said once its iPod software is updated it is “highly likely” that RealNetworks files “will cease to work with current and future iPods.”
Earlier this week, Seattle-based RealNetworks started offering a test version of its latest media player, RealPlayer 10.5, that allows people to transfer songs purchased on the RealPlayer Music Store service to Apple’s iPod.
Real was quick to defend its Harmony digital rights management (DRM) software, which makes the RealPlayer-iPod transfer possible.
“Consumers, and not Apple, should be the ones choosing what music goes on their iPod,” the company said in a statement. “Harmony follows in a well-established tradition of fully legal, independently developed paths to achieve compatibility.”
Real has said its new software makes the DRM technology that protects its songs compatible with Apple’s own DRM standard, known as FairPlay.
Apple has aggressively fought against software developers who develop ways to get around the FairPlay protections, which regulate where and how files downloaded from the iTunes Music Store can be played.
Analysts were relatively unconcerned about the legal implications for Real, which so far has released the new “Harmony” software on a limited test basis.
To date, Apple has sold more than 4 million iPods, which now account for about 12 percent of its revenue. More than 100 million songs have been downloaded from its online music store.
For Cupertino, California-based Apple, the iPod operation “is the most important division because of its visibility and high growth,” said Michelle Gutierrez, analyst with Schwab SoundView Capital Markets.
But, Gutierrez said, RealNetworks’ software should not have an impact on Apple.
“This is not really material at this point,” she said. “It hasn’t been proven that RealNetworks provides a benefit. Their songs are not cheaper (and) they don’t have a broader selection.”
