Last month, RealNetworks announced that they had figured out how to allow songs downloaded from their online music service to play on Apple's iPod player while maintaining the copyright protection mechanisms that make these services viable. And today, they slashed the price of their entire library to .49 a song, with albums available for as little as $4.99.

First, let me say that today is the first day that I have ever purchased music online. I have a Rhapsody account (which I love) that allows me to listen to whatever I want while I work. But everything on my Karma is ripped directly from the CD in FLAC format. There is a HUGE difference in the quality compared to any lossy compression format. And when you compound the expected quality loss of the compression with the poor output of most headset players AND a crappy pair of headphones, it is almost not worth listening to anymore.

And ALL downloaded music is compressed. Whether as an MP3, or some proprietary format designed with rights management and file optimization in mind. Which is why I refuse to spend only marginally less for a downloaded copy than I can pay for the CD. The price differential does not make up for the difference in quality.

But for .49 a song and less than 5 bucks an album, there are some things that I would not mind having. I am not as much of a sonic snob as it probably sounds like. And there are things that I would like to listen to at the gym (which is what I call getting in and out of my lazy boy) or on a walk (to the fridge) that don't require the same level of detail (for any number of reasons). Finally, if only for a limited time, the actual difference in the product is reflected in the price.

So I started downloading a few things and started telling my friends about the deal. Almost to a person, their response was, "How long till Apple sues them over that?".

I don't know how long it will take. I know that Apple has already been griping about Real's practices and this may push them over the edge. You see, the iPOD can only play MP3s (ptui) and Apple's proprietary file format. That is what keeps iPOD owners dialed into iTunes. It is the only option they have. No WMA, OGG, FLAC, WAV... just what Apple wants them to have (in painfully ironic contrast to the 1984 Big Brother ad that launched the Mac in the first place). Until now...

Now iPOD owners have a choice... and a terrifically less expensive choice, at least for the time being. But, instead of Apple looking at this as a reason for more people to buy iPODs (one of the reasons I never would is this very limitation) they are likely to whine about how unfair it is that Real cracked into their private little world. And they will repeat the same mistakes that have kept them from dominating the PC industry in the first place.

And the worst part is, some Apple users are so brainwashed that they will likely WANT and EXPECT Apple to take action. Out of some twisted, economically agnostic loyalty to the white box with the feather touch dials, they will hope that Apple is successful at shouting down the mean giant so that their's can return to the exclusive, protected realm of those who have the extra money to spend on a perceived quality built on form before function.

So we will see how long it takes Steve Jobs to get his invisirim glasses all fogged up and start threatening to protect his company from success no matter what it costs. For the time being, I have some songs to download.