] Apple Computer accused RealNetworks Thursday of adopting
] the tactics of a hacker and breaking into the technology
] behind its popular music player iPod device.

[ I think we all saw this coming. I'm not sure yet if I agree, not having any technical information and being up in the air on the ethics. I have mixed feelings over wether it's harmful to open the iPod to other music stores in the long term. I think i understand Apple's strategy of iPod + iTunes == (recognizing how badass apple is) ==} buying a mac, where the real money is. I guess, too, they want to position iTunes as *the* music store, even if they don't make money on it now, because they will someday, and they way they do that is to lock the most popular device with their service.
At the same time, we're back in the "if I buy a device, who can say how i'm allowed to use it?" mode.
Apple has always been extremely protective of their IP and their image, and seem, usually, to strike a balance which makes sense, i think. I'm interested to see what happens here. What I *don't* want is an endless patch-war between apple and real, as between AOL and Trillian, et al. -k]

Apple: RealNetworks is a hacker - Jul. 29, 2004