RealPlayer MusicStore uses AAC!
according to this article, http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/...ss/7739725.htm , Real is also using AAC for its new online music store (www.real.com/musicstore). That's great news for the Apple and all AAC users!! It means that AAC is gaining traction and that people who buy music from the iTunes Music Store will not longer a captive audience whose music can only play on the iPod or Apple's iTunes jukebox.
Indeed the new RealPlayer is able to play AAC files downloaded from iTunes. Way to go Real!
To me universal support for the AAC format (and as importantly the FairPlay DRM that's built by Apple into it) is a condition sine qua non for starting to shop for music on the iTunes Music Store. Listening at Apple lately, it sounded like they were completely happy having AAC/FairPlay only be supported by their own jukebox and MP3 player. Thankfully it looks like that might not last. When I buy music, I don't want it to be tied to a specific company or piece of hardware, even if they happen to have 50% market share today.
The only issue I have with this new offering from Real is that it is not available for Mac, if it ever will. Why does Apple seem to scare off everybody when it enters any market: Microsoft for browsers, Adobe for video packages, and now Real for jukeboxes and music stores? It seems they're killing off competition in every single Mac software market they're entering, by no (known) action of their own other than producing software that's at the top of their class. I suspect the issue is more one of reducing already low incentive to produce or keep producing software for the Mac, adding tough competition to dwindling market share. Sad really and not very hopeful for the future unfortunately.
ps: I am aware that AAC files can be burned into a CD and converted back into DRM-free MP3 players. However I also know what double lossy compression means: lower quality for the same 99c that I paid for the original file. Not a price I am willing to pay for the freedom to enjoy my own damn music.
Indeed the new RealPlayer is able to play AAC files downloaded from iTunes. Way to go Real!
To me universal support for the AAC format (and as importantly the FairPlay DRM that's built by Apple into it) is a condition sine qua non for starting to shop for music on the iTunes Music Store. Listening at Apple lately, it sounded like they were completely happy having AAC/FairPlay only be supported by their own jukebox and MP3 player. Thankfully it looks like that might not last. When I buy music, I don't want it to be tied to a specific company or piece of hardware, even if they happen to have 50% market share today.
The only issue I have with this new offering from Real is that it is not available for Mac, if it ever will. Why does Apple seem to scare off everybody when it enters any market: Microsoft for browsers, Adobe for video packages, and now Real for jukeboxes and music stores? It seems they're killing off competition in every single Mac software market they're entering, by no (known) action of their own other than producing software that's at the top of their class. I suspect the issue is more one of reducing already low incentive to produce or keep producing software for the Mac, adding tough competition to dwindling market share. Sad really and not very hopeful for the future unfortunately.
ps: I am aware that AAC files can be burned into a CD and converted back into DRM-free MP3 players. However I also know what double lossy compression means: lower quality for the same 99c that I paid for the original file. Not a price I am willing to pay for the freedom to enjoy my own damn music.
Comments
Originally posted by wmf
When is AAC not AAC? When every company creates their own wrapper for it.
Sounds like you're right: http://www.macnn.com/news/22737
Why oh why isn't Apple licensing its FairPlay DRM technology to other players in the market? Why so much fragmentation?? This is ridiculous, and so harmful to consumers..
Originally posted by ipodandimac
props to real i guess... it'd be nice if they would give up and promote itunes, but i guess supporting aac at least promotes the ipod. now if we could get musicmatch to go bankrupt the world would be a better place. i hate musicmatch. with a passion.
"give up and promote itunes"?? huh?! Why on Earth would you wish that on any for-profit company? That makes no sense. Don't you want some competition in the market, so as to keep all players on their toes (including Apple) and benefit you, me and others, the consumers?
Or maybe you'd rather have a Microsoft-like monopoly controlling everything.. To each their own I guess.
The RealPlayer Music Store, launched with this software, is the biggest disappointment here. It offers major-label music with a selection and price comparable to the likes of iTunes and Napster -- about 400,000 tracks at 99 cents a song or $9.99 an album -- but at a higher quality (Real's AAC files are encoded at a noticeably clearer 192 kbps) and with the possibility of Mac OS X and Linux compatibility (Real, alone among major music-software firms, develops for all three platforms).
Real just forgot to make these downloads halfway usable.
The complete article is here.