Tag archive: RealNetworks

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been ordered by a federal judge to submit to questioning in an antitrust case which alleges that the tech company iTunes service constitutes a music downloading monopoly. The order comes from U.S. Magistrate Judge Howard R. Lloyd, who is overseeing the proceedings on a complaint that was taken to the courts back in 2005, Bloomberg reports. The plaintiff's legal team must abide by a number of court-imposed… Read More

Rob Glaser is mainly known as the founder of RealNetworks, but since stepping down from the CEO chair a year ago, the man has apparently been keeping busy: at the Demo conference this week in Palm Desert, California, Glaser has launched his latest project, dubbed SocialEyes. SocialEyes blenders Facebook's social graph with real-time video calling a la Skype and Apple's FaceTime technology to enable simple one-on-one and group video… Read More

Subscription music service Rhapsody has finally completed the process of spinning loose of its dual corporate parents, RealNetworks and Viacom. As part of the celebration, Rhapsody has rolled out a new logo…but potential customers are probably more interested in Rhapsody's new pricing: $10 per month for Rhapsody Premiere, an all-you-can-handle music streaming to PCs, home audio systems, or (single) mobile device that can handle… Read More

RealDVD—the $30 “legal” DVD-copying software that almost never was—is no more. Real Networks has announced a settlement with major Hollywood studios in which it agrees to stop selling RealDVD and pay about $4.5 million to cover the studios' litigation costs. It will also refund purchase prices to the 2,700 or so customers who managed to purchase RealDVD for the week or so it was actually on sale back in 2008.… Read More

Almost a year ago, RealNetworks burst forth with a PR campaign promoting RealDVD, a software tool the company touted would enable consumers to make legal backup copies of their DVDs and use them on computers or portable devices without requiring the origianl disc. Of course, as soon as RealDVD hit the strees the MPAA and major movie distributors filed suit against RealNetworks, quickly winning an injunction barring the sale of RealDVD until… Read More

U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel has ruled that a court injunction barring the sale of RealNetworks' RealDVD DVD-copying software will stand for at least another month until she has an opportunity to ramp up on the details of the licensing arrangement, how the software functions, and copyright issues involved in the case. Judge Patel indicated after the hearing that the case raises serious issues of licensing and the Digital… Read More

RealNetworks' RealDVD DVD-copying software is officially on sale, and its debut has been marked by a salvo of lawsuits: RealNetworks has sued the MPAA over “threats” made against it by the major movie studios, and the MPAA has sued RealNetworks (PDF) alleging RealDVD violates the Digital Millenium Copyright Act by bypassing copy protection built into DVDs. “RealNetworks' RealDVD should be called… Read More

At the CTIA Wireless tradeshow in San Francisco, RealNetworks announced that it was adding a video component to its voice-response service that allows mobile users to find information and entertainment, CNET reports. Mobile operators will be able to subscribe to the service, then offer it as a video-telephony service to customers, all made possible because of 3G. When customers with an appropriate plan and capable phone dial a designated… Read More

RealNetworks is looking to get into the DVD copying business—only they hope to do it legally—with their new RealDVD application. RealDVD enables users to copy a standard DVD to a computer or portable storage device and watch them later without requiring the original physical disc. How can this be legal? RealDVD wraps the copy in digital rights management software (DRM) that restricts the copy to being played on the machine that… Read More

RealNetworks is taking a step out of the streaming media and music businesses to launch RealTime, a new browser toolbar/screensaver combination which automatically draws personalized news, feeds, and images to users' desktops. RealTime competes with toolbar offersings from Yahoo and Google (as well as built-in tools Microsoft is increasingly bundling into Internet Explorer and the Windows operating system) and marks the first time… Read More

You'd think winning hundreds of millions of dollars from Microsoft in exchange for settling antitrust caims against the software giant would make RealNetworks bullish on Windows…maybe it is, but they also can't seem to live without their cell phones. Yesterday, RealNetworks announced it has acquired South Korea's mobile entertainment developer WiderThan for some $350 million; today, the company announced the launch… Read More

Major League Baseball has dropped support for RealNetworks' RealPlayer streaming media software on its MLB.com site, opting instead to present streaming audio and video in Microsoft Windows Media format. The move isn't entirely unexpected: the relationship between MLB and RealNetworks got started in 2002 when MLB picked RealPlayer to stream live baseball games and other video via the Internet. However, things quickly… Read More

The last major antitrust Battle in Seattle came to an end today: Microsoft and RealNetworks have announced they've resolved Real's antitrust case against the Redmond-based software giant. Three separate agreements have Microsoft forking over $761 million to RealNetworks and create a new partnership between the two companies to “innovate and promote digital music and games.” The three agreements settle all of… Read More

Last year, RealNetworks was able to make their Harmony music download software compatible with Apple's popular iPod MP3 player. Apple however quickly released a patch destroying the compatibility between the two. Well, Real is back and this time you can use their music software to play their songs on the Apple iPod once again. At least until Apple releases an updated patch again. “RealNetworks' Harmony software, which… Read More

Prices of downloadable songs at RealNetworks' online music store are back to 99 cents per track, but the company said Wednesday that it will still offer 10 of the most popular songs on its site at the 49 cent price. RealNetworks also said Wednesday that it sold 3 million tracks over three weeks of the 49-cent promotion, almost double its normal sales. Dan Sheeran, a senior vice president with the company, said the cost of… Read More