RealNetworks seeks Microsoft's help

REAL NETWORKS wants to make its music files playable on Microsoft's Windows Media Player format.

The company, which is suing Vole for a billion dollars, said it needed the Redmond Giant's help to flog its music over the net and play its content on portable devices.

According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, RealNetworks Chief Executive Rob Glaser has e-mailed both Apple's chief executive Steve Jobs and Vole's Bill Gates allowing interconnectivity between the portable versions of their software.

Jobs has already said no and Apple sportingly leaked the email to the New York Times.

The Vole seems curiously welcoming of RealNetwork's offer. A spokesVole said that if Real wants to integrate its software it was pleased to have that going on.

Glaser's plan is to get customers to sign up for its Rhapsody music subscription service. Unfortunately it only works on PCs and not on Apple's iPod or the portable versions of Vole's media player.

However if Microsoft agreed that it could be used Microsoft's WMA format, Real would be heading towards becoming a little more universal for portable devices.

RealNetworks already licenses WMA for playing audio and video on PCs. But that licensing doesn't cover using WMA to play files on portable devices. The company is currently suing Microsoft for "illegally using its monopoly power" to hurt RealNetworks' PC software for playing audio and video files, but Glaser does not think that will make a difference. µ