Man, I don’t know what the heck color glasses Real Networks CEO Rob Glaser is wearing, but I’m thinking opaque. Let’s have him speak for himself.
If you want interoperable music today, there is a very easy solution: it’s called stealing. The average number of songs sold for the iPod is 25, and there are many more songs on iPods than 25. About half the music on iPods is music obtained illegitimately either from an illegal peer-to-peer networks or from ripping friends’ CDs, which is illegal. But it’s the only way to get non-copy protected, portable, interoperable music.You’d think Glaser would be afraid to go outside, what with all these dangerous thieves running around. I mean, think about it: “Ripping?” “Burning?” “Mixing?” Even the jargon is violent. Or makes you think of cake. One or the other.[From The Guardian]
So, Rob, having now won John Gruber’s coveted Jackass of the Week award and with your smug, glassy-eyed stare making even Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer look marginally less crazy, what’s next for you? Disneyland? Careful. That’s Steve Jobs’s turf now. You don’t want to mess with the King of Thieves.
