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RealNetworks not giving up on RealDVD, plans to appeal court injunction

by Tim Stevens posted Oct 9th 2009 at 7:54AM

RealNetworks found itself on the wrong end of a gavel back in August, receiving a court injunction to stop selling its RealDVD software -- curiously flying in the face of an earlier ruling in the favor of Kaleidescape. Perhaps that's why Real isn't done fighting yet. Or, perhaps it's just because it doesn't want to be put out of business. Either way, the company is set to file an appeal and take the show back to court again. Exactly what the basis of their appeal will be remains to be seen -- assuming there is one -- but here's to hoping it's a little more legally sound than their last defense. We're not quite ready to give up on Fair Use just yet ourselves.

Rhapsody App approved by Apple: 8 million tracks streaming to the ether (update: video!)

by Thomas Ricker posted Sep 10th 2009 at 1:31AM

We had a feeling this day was coming. After Spotify's subscription music app was approved, offline listening intact, there was every indication that Rhapsody was next for christening. Especially with the feds watching Apple's every move. The free download just went hot and requires a $15 per month Rhapsody To Go subscription -- you can try it for free for a week -- and streams 64kbps quality (ugh) music over WiFi or cellular data (only, no off-line access) from a catalog of about 8 million tracks offered by the MTV and RealNetwork tie-up. Now go 'n get it.

Update: Added video demo after the break.

[Via Komo News, thanks Bill Y.]

Read -- Rhapsody App [iTunes link]

Continue reading Rhapsody App approved by Apple: 8 million tracks streaming to the ether (update: video!)

Rhapsody brings subscription music to the iPhone, pending Apple's approval

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Aug 24th 2009 at 10:53AM

If the maniacs at RealNetworks have their way, you'll soon be rockin' out to Rhapsody on your iPhone or iPod touch, streaming all those pop tunes you crave over WiFi, Edge, or 3G, courtesy of your $15 Rhapsody ToGo account -- pending approval from Apple, of course. Sure, we can't imagine the company allowing Pandora but dissing Rhapsody, but stranger things have happened. If this isn't enough to get subscription music fans spinning in their office chairs, the company is also working diligently on Rhapsody for other mobile platforms and carrier app stores, including Google Android. And there's more! Check out the app in all its glory -- on video, no less -- after the break.

[Via PC World]

Continue reading Rhapsody brings subscription music to the iPhone, pending Apple's approval

Court injunction puts sales of RealDVD on ice, hopes and dreams in purgatory

by Darren Murph posted Aug 12th 2009 at 2:02AM

Something tells us Kaleidescape has a man (or woman, to be fair) on the inside, else United States District Court Judge Marilyn Patel is just downright trifilin'. In every visible way, RealNetworks' proposed RealDVD player was exactly what Kaleidescape was, but for people with annual salaries far less than $9,854,392,220. Regardless of our opinion, a preliminary injunction has just been passed down from The Almighty in the robe, which blocks the sale of the RealDVD software here in the US. The six major movie studies filed the suit last September, alleging that it "illegally violated their right to restrict the use of their movies in digital form." Evidently those that matter agree. A RealNetworks spokesperson took the time to vent their feelings on the whole ordeal, and since we know you're curious, we've pasted it below for your convenience.

We are disappointed that a preliminary injunction has been placed on the sale of RealDVD. We have just received the Judge's detailed ruling and are reviewing it. After we have done so fully, we'll determine our course of action and will have more to say at that time.

[Via Electronista]

RealNetworks steps up its RealDVD legal case, just wants your approval

by Tim Stevens posted May 14th 2009 at 8:19AM

It wasn't long ago that RealNetworks and its kludgy Player software were the bane of computer users everywhere. But, a few legal accusations later, Real is now the apple in the eye of every fair use advocate, fighting for the right for users to make legal copies of DVDs -- so long as you make them through its RealDVD software, of course. The company is now escalating its legal battle against Hollywood big wigs, suing the six major movie studios and the DVD Copy Control Association for anticompetitive activity, asking for monetary damages due to the sales it has lost since the industry asked for that initial injunction against RealDVD. We're not entirely sure who's going to come up on top of this one, but if Kaleidescape can survive the CCA, maybe Real can too.

RealDVD ripping software heads to court, fair use advocates on pins and needles

by Darren Murph posted Apr 27th 2009 at 5:08AM

Let's face it -- quite a lot is resting on the outcome of this case. For months now, RealNetworks has been unable to legally sell its RealDVD movie ripping software after a court issued a temporary restraining order that remains valid until it's decided if the application violates the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act). Now, the software is finally having its day in court, and the outcome could shape the future of the DVD player (for better or worse). You see, Real has already assembled a prototype Facet device that hums along on Linux; essentially, this DVD playing machine would sell for around $300 and could store up to 70 movies internally. On the surface, this sounds entirely like a poor man's Kaleidescape, but only time will tell if The Man agrees. Cross your fingers folks, we get the feeling fair use advocates are going to need the luck.

Vodafone's music catalog goes DRM-free for mobiles and PCs

by Darren Murph posted Mar 12th 2009 at 10:08AM

We were wondering (seriously, it has been on our conscience at night) which carrier would be the first to go completely DRM-free in respect to its music catalog, and now Vodafone has stepped in to claim said throne. This week, the operator has inked deals with Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and EMI Music to bring tunes to handsets and PCs sans any nasty DRM, and for those who already downloaded DRM-laced files in the past, they'll be able to upgrade to DRM-free without a charge so long as they do it soon. And to think -- something like this would've been stopped cold at the drawing board by record label execs just a few years back. Desperate times call for desperate measures, right?

Court bans sales of RealDVD indefinitely

by Nilay Patel posted Oct 9th 2008 at 3:51AM

It look like Hollywood's won the first round in court against RealNetworks' RealDVD DVD-ripping software -- Judge Maralyn Hall Patel (of Napster fame, remember her?) ruled yesterday that a temporary restraining order blocking sales of the software will stay in place indefinitely until she decides whether it violates the DMCA. The central issue is whether or not making a bit-for-bit copy of a DVD constitutes circumventing copy protection: the studios claim the encryption keys must be read off the disk under the terms of the license agreement, and RealNetworks obviously disagrees. There's a lot at play here, including the studios' argument that fair use doesn't serve as a defense to backing up DVDs, so we'll be tracking this one closely -- it's sadly clear to us that Hollywood's fight here is against consumers having flexibility with their media, since it lost the battle against actual piracy ages ago.

Hollywood hates fair use, sues over RealDVD

by Nilay Patel posted Oct 1st 2008 at 4:31PM

We knew Hollywood wouldn't let RealNetworks sell its RealDVD DVD-ripping-and-archiving software without a fight, and right on schedule, six major studios have filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent it from being sold. Of course, RealNetworks has been planning on hiding behind that Kaleidescape ruling all along, but straight CSS circumvention isn't really what's at the heart of the suit: according to the studios' request for a restraining order, consumers won't be able to contain themselves in the face of RealDVD's voodoo magic and will start ripping rental DVDs en masse -- seriously, the suit calls the incentive to do so "all but overwhelming." Here's a hint, guys: if you believe the temptation to do something is that strong, it probably means you can get people to pay to do it -- and you should probably be working out a business model that embraces consumers instead of funding new BMWs for your lawyers while actual piracy tears down the fragile house of cards your entire industry is built on. Or you know, whatever.

RealDVD rips DVDs just like you do, only legally (maybe)

by Thomas Ricker posted Sep 8th 2008 at 5:18AM

RealNetworks, the company you love to hate, is back with a new product sure to capture the attention of Hollywood and its MPAA thugs. For $30, RealDVD plans to do what DVD Jon enabled years ago -- namely, making digital copies of your DVDs. Unlike Jon's illegal DRM stripping software, RealNetworks' approach lays on additional DRM allowing you to make a single copy, only, playable on the machine doing the rip -- up to five additional Windows PCs can be authorized at a cost of $20 per.

Real thinks that the use of the additional DRM coupled with Kaleidescape's legal victory -- a ruling that seemingly authorizes users to copy DVDs for their own personal use -- will help it escape the wrath of the MPAA. Not that RealNetworks has ever been afraid of a fight as demonstrated by its 2004 scuffle with Apple when it began offering software that allowed iPods to play Real's DRM'd content. Good thing too because we're pretty sure that shutting down the planned start of RealDVD's sales at the end of this month is the number one topic around the bunny-juice dispensers at the MPAA offices this morning.

[Via cnet]

Yahoo! Music Unlimited shuttered -- customers feel the Rhapsody

by Thomas Ricker posted Feb 4th 2008 at 4:12AM

Yahoo! Music Unlimited (and its customers) is the latest victim of the digital media shakeout. However, unlike the shutdown of Sony's Connect service which left customers stranded with DRM-laden tracks, Yahoo has struck a deal to send its existing subscription customers to the PlaysForSure-friendly Rhapsody music service from RealNetworks. The shift will occur sometime in "the first half" of 2008 and leave Yahoo Music Unlimited's payment plans and music libraries in tact for customers "for a limited time." Eventually, Yahoo's legacy customers will be required to sign up at Rhapsody's relatively higher rates of $12.99 per month (Yahoo charged $8.99 per month or as little as $5.99 per month for a year paid in full). So, do you still think that the subscription model is a good thing? Just wait, the shake-out has only begun.

Update: To be clear, Yahoo Music will continue to offer streaming audio, music videos, web radio and other advertising-supported music offerings while integrating Rhapsody into its online portal. Only the subscription service is being shut down.

Rhapsody users experiencing login issues?

by Darren Murph posted Dec 12th 2007 at 5:59PM

Though not what we'd deem "common," outages extending beyond a few hours have been known to happen to the services we love so dearly, and it seems that some Rhapsody users have become the latest to fall victim to an inexplicable lapse in service. Over at the Real forums, a number of customers have been unable to sign into their accounts for up to two days, and no amount of chicanery has solved the quandary. To make matters even more frightening, many are getting a message that their account simply is nowhere to be found, and customer service doesn't seem to be getting anyone very far. Also curious is the fact that new accounts (as in, ones created while current customers are unable to login) seem to be working just fine, but we here haven't personally experienced any of the login difficulties. What gives? Any of you out there pulling your hair out over this? Got a secret for getting logged in that you'd like to share?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: This in from Real: "Our engineer and support staff became aware of a login issue affecting a small number of users yesterday. They're hard at work to fix the problem for the folks being affected." No ETA for the fix though, and it definitely sounds like more than just a few users, but your mileage may vary.

RealNetworks lays off a hundred employees

by Darren Murph posted Dec 11th 2007 at 9:38AM

Around a hundred employees at RealNetworks are dealing with the news that their job is no longer available, and about 35 of those positions were in Seattle, Washington while the others were in Asia / Europe. According to company spokesman Bill Hankes, the firm made cuts "across the board to reduce redundancies built up as a result of six acquisitions made over the past two years," and he also added that these were the "first layoffs the company has made since those purchases." As it stands, around 1,700 employees are left, and no further job cuts are "planned."

[Via PaidContent]

Universal and Rhapsody launch DRM-free partnership "test"

by Joshua Topolsky posted Aug 21st 2007 at 12:19PM

Rhapsody America (the new Real / MTV partnership) wasn't the only thing that Real had up its sleeve today. Hot on the heels of the Universal snubbing of iTunes, and consequent announcement that the company would begin selling music via other outlets, comes today's news that the Rhapsody / Universal Music partnership has officially launched, at least in a limited "test" form, with the aim of selling UMG's catalog of thousands of tracks -- sans DRM -- via the Real Rhapsody service, charging $.89 per song for subscribers and $.99 for non-subscribers. Currently, only a select group of artists are up for grabs, including 50 Cent, Amy Winehouse, The Pussycat Dolls, The Police and Johnny Cash, though the plan is to make Universal's entire catalog available in the future. This announcement makes what we all knew was coming now abundantly clear -- the gloves have come off.

Apple and friends hit with C&D for "actively avoiding" use of DRM tech

by Paul Miller posted May 11th 2007 at 4:22PM

Here's a new one on us. Instead of suing companies for infringing on its patents, like all the cool kids are doing, Media Rights Technologies has sent cease and desist letters to Apple, Microsoft, RealNetworks and Adobe for "actively avoiding" the use of its technology. According to MRT, the DMCA's language on copyright protection circumvention -- defined as "to descramble a scrambled work, to decrypt an encrypted work, or otherwise to avoid, bypass, remove, deactivate or impair a technological measure, without the authority of the copyright owner." -- requires those companies to use its product, since its X1 SeCure Recording Control technology has been proven to plug the "digital hole," and therefore allows them to uphold the DMCA. "We've given these four companies 10 days to talk to us and work out a solution, or we will go into federal court and file action and seek an injunction to remove the infringing products from the marketplace," says CEO Hank Risan. RealNetworks spokesman Matt Graves calls the letters "a rather novel approach to business development," and lawyers are calling the effort "out there" and "a play for publicity." We call it a riot, and while it's not likely to go far -- not even the far-reaching and vaguely worded DMCA is likely to hold this one up for long -- we're at least grateful to MRT for mixing things up a bit in the boring old tech lawsuit game.