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Technology Stocks : RealNetworks (NASDAQ:RNWK) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Pruguy who wrote (3883)	7/15/1999 9:48:00 PM
From: Scott C. Lemon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 5843

Hello Pruguy, > I think a 3-4 year lead is insurmountable if Real stays on the > eight ball. Yes ... this is the key! Who would have thought of some of the changes we have seen in the last several years ... billion dollar market caps coming out of no where ... start-ups with no revenues selling for tens or hundreds of millions ... The key reason that I have seen is that the Quicktime format seems to be gaining momentum. And in an article that I was reading (I'm looking for the URL and will post) it said that the majority of video content creation, editing and tools is still being done on Macs. > What makes you think otherwise.....You are correct that what truly > matters is the formats which the streams are created in. I'm not sure that I think otherwise ... but I do leave the possibility open ... ;-) I think a lot of people thought that Apple was dead ... but it's obviously not. ;-) > As a broadcaster, since real has such a lead in market share, why > would any broadcaster not stream in their format, eliminating > nearly all the potential viewers. But today, how many sites do you go to that offer Real and Microsoft formats ... I don't see it as one vs. the other ... until the quality and features show that one is superior ... > I have to believe many folks are like me and don't want 3,4 5 > whatever number of players on their hard drive when you can get by > quite well with the right one or two... And many people haven't bought DVD because Video Tape is just fine. And there are probably some 8-Tracks out there somewhere playing audio. (And some people aren't even listening to MP3s yet! Imagine that! ;-) Not that we can see the differences today, they do exist and I think it will be content and features that the consumer will look for. This is why I felt bad when Real did the deal with Microsoft on Real support in the Microsoft player ... Microsoft was trying to reduce the number of players on your hard disk ... by eliminating the need for the RealPlayer! > Unless Real blows it, I don't see anyone ever getting more than a > fifth of their share for several years. I'm not too good at guessing at these numbers ... I know that on the "high-fidelity" audio market, Real has blown it. Even with the new MP3 features in the RealJukebox, they suck. I tried to use the product ... nice UI, but the rips (encoding) are far too limited in bitrates and quality ... I hope they don't screw-up AudioCatalyst ... it's a good product. I agree that Real is here ... and I'm long in the stock ... but I am also cautious and aware that Apple is striving to put a dent in Reals position ... Scott C. Lemon