Apple has reportedly been "stunned" at the announcement this week, that Real music tracks will now play even on an iPod. They have even gone so far as to call Real Networks engineers, nothing more than unethical hackers. Apple says that they are looking into the possibility that this is a violation of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act or DMCA and are going to try and put a stop to it.

Real says that they can go ahead and look all they want, the DMCA provides for such flexibility. At least that's what their legal staff maintains. They say Harmony has simply developed a new, legal, independent, path to the iPod player and it's not a product of reverse engineering. They say this is similar to when Compaq produced the first IBM compatible PC's. What Real is trying to accomplish is a better foothold on the new online market. Something like this will make them stand out over other more proprietary services. Because Harmony will also handle players such as Microsoft compatible rivals. This new universal compatibility is what Real is banking on. If you buy their music, it's going to work in any player. At least for a while...

In addition, what will consumers say, especially the ones that don't follow this closely, when their music quits playing. This could get ugly. On the other hand, maybe it will turn more people off to Digital Rights Management. Read the entire article here.

Source: My Way - AP News