Feslmogh used our news submit to tell us that the RealNetworks campaign against Apple is not going exactly as planned. Real has opened up a new website called Freedom of music choice and on the site, they are asking folks to sign a petition. Entitled "Hey Apple Don't Break My iPod" it's intended to show support for what Real calls interoperability. In addition to signing the petition, which has some 1657 signatures now, they also gave people the ability to leave a comment. Only thing is, some petitioners are very negative towards RealNetworks.

Hostilities started in late July, when RealNetworks cracked Apple"s FairPlay code, meaning songs bought from the RealPlayer Music Store could be played on the iPod--a move that went down very badly over at Apple. RealNetworks then decided to ratchet up the pressure by slashing the cost of its downloads to below the 99-cent price barrier favored by AppleReaders were encouraged to sign up and leave comments on the petition, now running at over 900 signatures. However, many comments left by petition signers were less then 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. Visitors--some of whom identified themselves as "Michael Jackson," "The Pope" and "Bill Clinton"--expressed the view that they already have freedom of choice and would be exercising it by using Apple"s iTunes music service. One poster, Rich Mertz, wrote: "You people are wrong, wrong, wrong. If we wanted "choices" like yours, they wouldn"t have to be foisted on us. Most of us, given a real choice, would rather see you and your tactics go away. "Competition" doesn"t give you any right to reverse-engineer when you feel like it, but come down on those that hack into your IP rights. It"s theft, pure and simple."

Another petitioner made a very good point, it seems he was questioning why RealNetworks doesn't support Mac's. He said he is a Mac user and even if he did want to purchase RealNetworks products, he can't as his Mac isn't supported.

Source: C|Net