Ask RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser

RealNetworks has always been more Linux-friendly than other streaming media purveyors, and is now moving closer to the open source camp with its Helix Community effort. More recently, Real has made a big media splash by selling downloadable tunes in an iPod-compatible format. Does any of this matter, considering that world + dog seems to be jumping on the downloadable multimedia bandwagon? Can Real once again become "the" streaming media leader? Will Real's 49 cent "limited time only" song download price force other music download vendors to cut their prices? We have no idea, but hopefully Rob Glaser does. He's promised to answer your questions personally (rather than have PR people speak for him). So ask whatever you like. We'll forward 10 of the highest-moderated questions to him by email and post his answers soon after he gets them back to us.

Comments

Re:It still comes down to price, for a lot of us

[wo1verin3]

Here's some news for those who just came down from fairyland: in this world, most of us get a fixed amount of income and we need to divide this among all our spendings, the more we spend on songs the less we have left to spend on other stuff. We can't just put in more hours on a whim to cover our growing expenses.

Ah thats true. In fact, I really wanted the new Dodge Viper but I couldn't put in the extra hours at work to cover it so I just stole it. If anyone catches me I'll just explain that I deserved it because I'm a good person and that my fixed incoming didn't leave me enough to pay for the car, let alone an oil change.