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Real Pays For Legal MP3 Playback On Linux

Posted by timothy on from the stepping-up-to-the-plate dept.

kforeman (aka Kevin Foreman, GM of Helix RealNetworks, Inc.) writes "As part of the free RealPlayer 10 for Linux, Real has paid Thomson for a legal MP3 playback license and then includes it at no cost as part of the newly released RealPlayer 10. As I speak to people, many are under the false impression that MP3 playback patent and royalty rights are free, since there are open source implementations of MP3 playback available. Not true. Nonetheless, we are glad to do our part of making the Linux desktop a first class citizen by legally providing MP3 playback to users via our new RealPlayer."

12 of 618 comments (clear)

  1. Spyware on Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Will this introduce spyware into Linux?

    I notice the page signature reads "Shit Happens"

    hmm...

  2. Strange... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "making the Linux desktop a first class citizen"

    Shouldn't that last bit read "corporate whore?"

  3. Well damn by bugbeak · · Score: 2, Funny

    Linux-based jukebox, anyone?

    1. Re:Well damn by NTT · · Score: 2, Funny

      mpg123

  4. Stay away from Linux by Dancin_Santa · · Score: 5, Funny

    Real, all these operating systems are yours, except Linux. Do not attempt any loadings onto Linux.

  5. But, but... [lip shaking] by ceeam · · Score: 4, Funny

    Real are supposed to be evil! And it turns out they read slashdot! [eyes crossing. blackout]

  6. AT LAST!!! by ducklord · · Score: 3, Funny

    It was time! Up until now, you fired an mp3 player and you could hear all your MP3s with no problems whatsoever! Now, for the first time in Linux, you`ll be able to load an mp3 player (among other things) and, guess what, you'll be able to hear all your MP3s with no problems whatsoever! Ain`t it great? ...err....or something...

  7. Doing Linux a Favor? by concord · · Score: 2, Funny

    I can hear outrage from RMS already! Licensing proprietary technology for use with GNU/Linux? Next people will start using the Flash plugin too! It's a slippery sloap.

    --
    MFG: "The system supports both the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) and WIMP (Windows, IIS, MySQL, PHP) platforms."
  8. Does that mean... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...that it's legal to play the MP3's I've downloaded from KAZAA as long as I use Real?

  9. Re:no surprise by Angostura · · Score: 3, Funny

    What? You think 'A water filled drum attached to an electric motor' was tough to invent, compared to an encoding and compression algorithm?

  10. ...buffering... by cybertears · · Score: 3, Funny

    i'm amaz....buffering...ed that Real is still pum...buffering...ping out products. i don't kn...buffering...ow a single person that has used a Real pro...buffering...duct for longer than it took to view that o...buffering...n...buffering...e file they downloaded and found out it was in realplayer for...buffering...mat aftewards.

    I've managed to go without using real at all for many years now. I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything.

  11. Shit doesn't just happen. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Shit doesn't just happen. It comes from assholes.