RealNetworks CEO urges Steve Jobs to open iPod

“RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser has a message for Apple Computer chief Steve Jobs: Open iPod or shrivel. Glaser, the feisty founder of the Internet entertainment network, said during a panel discussion Tuesday at PC Forum here that Apple is creating problems for itself by using a file format that forces consumers to buy music from Apple’s own iTunes site.

(CNET Networks, publisher of News.com, last week acquired EDventures, which sponsors PC Forum.)

Because Apple’s iPod music player does not support other proprietary music formats and does not license its own format to rivals, Real’s Rhapsody and other song sites are blocked from easily reaching iPod users.

‘Apple’s (market) share will go down if they continue to do this,’ Glaser said.

‘The only way to presently put songs on an iPod is to (buy) them from iTunes.’

‘There is a good opportunity to say to Steve, ‘You’ve done a good job of promoting this thing, but now one of two bad things will happen,’ Glaser said. ‘One, Apple’s market share will go down to its historical single-digit levels, or two, it will slow down the development of this market.’”