Real Networks Releases Jukebox for MP3

Computergram International, May 4, 1999

MP3 player software is no longer the domain of specialist companies and enthusiasts. Real Networks Inc has unveiled its RealJukebox, a client-side application designed to give help net users acquire, manage and play their own personal music connections. The jukebox is based on and was announced in conjunction with RealSystem MP, Real Networks' foray into the popular audio compression format MP3.

Beta versions of RealJukebox are available for free download immediately. An excited Real chief executive Rob Glaser called the product "the biggest breakthrough in music listening since the Walkman." Users can record their own CD collections to MP3 or find and download music on the internet. RealJukebox is compatible with the CD Database, so users can get information about songs, and with portable MP3 players like Diamond's Rio and Creative's Nomad, so they can listen to music while on the move.

To placate critics like the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which assert that MP3s are synonymous with piracy, RealJukebox will incorporate secure music download systems like IBM's Electronic Music Management System (EMMS) and RIAA's own Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI). Not everyone is convinced. "That the software can rip audio and convert it into an insecure format is troublesome," Todd Steinman, vice president of online and new media at Warner Bros Records, told the Industry Standard.