1) Yes. Even if you own 50 iPods and 100 different WindowsMedia compatable devices (Rio, Creative, Samsung, Dell, etc) you can tranfer the tracks you purchased at the RealMS to all of them.
2)Yes and No. The files you download from the RealMS are DRM protected. When you transfer them to a device, they are temporarily converted to another DRM format, but only for the purpose of transferring to the device. BUT if you burn the files to audio CD, then you can re-rip them in whatever format you want (ogg, mp3, etc) with no DRM protection.
3)Quality is good (192K encoding) compared to P2P downloads, which vary widely, and other stores. The iTMS encoded at only 128K, for example. Or course, the big issue is that you don't have to waste time on the P2P networks trying to find a decent rip and avoiding fake or virus-ridden files.
4)You can re-download if you lose the file.
5)Advantage: Even IF something crazy happens in the future with a firmware upgrade or a legal action, you can still burn your stuff to CD and re-rip it so you can use it in iTunes. If you burn a backup, you will never 'stop' owning it.
Debatable advantage/disadvantage: Audio quailty, in the general sense. If you are an audiophile , there is no lossy audio solution that will satisfy you, either practically or in principle. If you are not an audiophile, then you will be perfectly happy. If you realize that being an audiophile and owning a cheap mp3 player are mutually exclusive, then you are almost a buddha.
Enough guesses. Here's a quick summary of how this Harmony stuff works so we can all be on the same page.
- Real does not change any software or firmware on the iPod.
- Real's store tracks get re-wrapped in FairPlay, then transferred to the iPod. There's no way for the iPod to tell the difference between an iTMS-originated track and a RealMS-originated track. They are functioally equivalent.
- Just like iTunes, you can burn CDs from the tracks you download from the RealMS.
-The download quality from Real is actually BETTER than iTMS - 192Kbps vs. 128Kbps. This means that when you burn the tracks to audio CD to 'clean'/(backup/share with your friends/whatever) you will end up with a better sounding audio CD because you have a more detailed (higher bitrate) source file.
Nuff said. If you don't get it now, you never will.
I don't know why everyone keeps saying the sound quality for Real's downloads is bad. It's actually *better* than iTunes, which is only 128Kbps. Both Real and Apple use AAC encoding (m4a, m4p). Let's ease up on the FUD, shall we?
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Have you even installed it? There's a lot more in there than the dumbed-down press release mentions.
RA10 is to AAC what m4p is to m4p. (They both use the same encoding)
1) Yes. Even if you own 50 iPods and 100 different WindowsMedia compatable devices (Rio, Creative, Samsung, Dell, etc) you can tranfer the tracks you purchased at the RealMS to all of them.
2)Yes and No. The files you download from the RealMS are DRM protected. When you transfer them to a device, they are temporarily converted to another DRM format, but only for the purpose of transferring to the device. BUT if you burn the files to audio CD, then you can re-rip them in whatever format you want (ogg, mp3, etc) with no DRM protection.
3)Quality is good (192K encoding) compared to P2P downloads, which vary widely, and other stores. The iTMS encoded at only 128K, for example. Or course, the big issue is that you don't have to waste time on the P2P networks trying to find a decent rip and avoiding fake or virus-ridden files.
4)You can re-download if you lose the file.
5)Advantage: Even IF something crazy happens in the future with a firmware upgrade or a legal action, you can still burn your stuff to CD and re-rip it so you can use it in iTunes. If you burn a backup, you will never 'stop' owning it.
Debatable advantage/disadvantage: Audio quailty, in the general sense. If you are an audiophile , there is no lossy audio solution that will satisfy you, either practically or in principle. If you are not an audiophile, then you will be perfectly happy. If you realize that being an audiophile and owning a cheap mp3 player are mutually exclusive, then you are almost a buddha.
Enough guesses. Here's a quick summary of how this Harmony stuff works so we can all be on the same page. - Real does not change any software or firmware on the iPod. - Real's store tracks get re-wrapped in FairPlay, then transferred to the iPod. There's no way for the iPod to tell the difference between an iTMS-originated track and a RealMS-originated track. They are functioally equivalent. - Just like iTunes, you can burn CDs from the tracks you download from the RealMS. -The download quality from Real is actually BETTER than iTMS - 192Kbps vs. 128Kbps. This means that when you burn the tracks to audio CD to 'clean'/(backup/share with your friends/whatever) you will end up with a better sounding audio CD because you have a more detailed (higher bitrate) source file. Nuff said. If you don't get it now, you never will.
I don't know why everyone keeps saying the sound quality for Real's downloads is bad. It's actually *better* than iTunes, which is only 128Kbps. Both Real and Apple use AAC encoding (m4a, m4p). Let's ease up on the FUD, shall we?