[Tech] Nuovo Media Player (e l'ennesimo Music Store) da RealNetwoks

Ormai quella degli Internet Music Store sta diventando la nuova tigre da cavalcare: constatato il successo di iTunes e sniffato il business tutti, grandi e piccoli, ci si stanno tuffando a pesce .



Ora è il turno di un altro dei grandi competitors: RealNetworks.

Internet media company RealNetworks Inc. unveiled on Wednesday a new version of its software for playing music and video over the Web with a new feature -- a digital music store.



RealNetworks, which is suing longtime rival Microsoft Corp. for unfairly promoting its own software for playing audio and video on computers and over the Internet, said the new player will "leapfrog" Microsoft's current Windows Media 9 Series media player.



"We have redefined how consumers can find and enjoy music on the Web,"" said Dan Sheeran, RealNetwork senior vice president.



The Seattle-based company is calling its latest media software RealPlayer 10, going back to the name used before adopting the RealOne brand two years ago for its player and subscription services.



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RealNetworks entered the digital music download space last year with the acquisition of Listen.com's Rhapsody service, which allows users to listen to more than 300,000 songs online and transfer them onto CDs for 79 cents each.



RealNetworks also said it would promote the launch of the new player and music download service by offering song downloads at 10 cents each for U.S. consumers who download the software within the next 10 days.

Il nuovo RealPlayer 10 è in grado di riprodurre tutti i principali formati digitali, compresi quelli supportati dalla serie 9 di Microsoft Media e il formato QuickTime di Apple.



Gli utenti potranno acquistare brani musicali direttamente dal player e, compatibilmente col formato scaricato, trasferirli direttamente su CD o su oltre 50 diversi media players, compresi l'iPod di Apple e i palmari e telefoni equipaggiati col sistema operativo Palm OS.



Fonte: Reuters.