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

To: Cavalry who wrote (1142)	9/21/1998 2:28:00 AM
From: neverenough	Respond to of 5843

A few weeks ago, RealNetworks sent consumers a notice of an intriguing new product. To borrow from that release: "CD Streamer lets you store music CDs in highly compressed, CD-quality RealAudio on your hard drive. It automatically retrieves the album title and song names from the Internet, and allows you to create customized playlists for playback via CD Streamer." The product costs $19.95, but a limited-time trial version of it is available at developer SuperPlanet's Web site (www.superplanet.com). Larry Guy, president of SuperPlant, which is based in Bala Cynwyd, Penn., says the software allows users to select various degrees of compression. As opposed to such similar, MP3-based software as MusicMatch, CD Streamer provides a copy-secure system with files less than half the size of those in the MP3 format, adds Guy. But what do products such as the CD Streamer mean for RealNetworks' long-range plans? Through its partnership with Audible, Inc. (www.audible.com), Real is already offering some downloadable content for desktop listening or play on Audible's flash memory portable device. So far, the material -- dubbed Mobile RealAudio -- consists of news downloaded or converted from CDs. Could mobile playback be looming? What about digital distribution prospects? "I would be careful about reading too much into this," says Chris Otto, RealNetworks' executive producer, music services. "I'm not trying to dampen enthusiasm for the product, because I think it will do very well, but it's a third-party product that we're selling through our store. It's not representative of a major new direction for us."