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

To: Scott C. Lemon who wrote (3481)	6/6/1999 1:18:00 PM
From: Pruguy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5843

didn't follow you Scott: Ok ... this is where my feelings get very mixed. After doing some DD today I think that Spinner is even more of a risk. What they are doing is creating a new portal that I believe will begin to pull together all of the various "broadcast" or "netcast" audio with a variety of sources. I didn't realize that Spinner had it's own player also ... although it appears to be built on Real's technology. It seems that they have built an advertising/channel selector "wrapper" around Real's G2 player. Correct me if I am wrong, but the spinner network is run through RBN and the spinner player is a quasi-branded realplayer. Where's the risk in this for rnwk unless you are suggesting that AOL will abandon their strategy of giving consumers what they want and know and creating a new brand for AOL to try to get all rnwk/aol users to switch to.No player on the market is more adaptable than the Realplayer...Granted the quality can improve, but AOL knows that it will. I think this is a very remote possibility....Only 3 weeks ago nscp launched their newest browser with very little that is new in it: The primary upgrade is the G2 player in nscp 4.6. Why bother with the upgrade instead of just a plug-in unless they wanted thr realplayer to be a very strong partner of theirs. Additionally, as of 6/3, the official word out of spinner was that rnwk is not a competitor but a partner. I wil admit that I am concerned about the Winamp purchase because I can't figure out where rnwk plays into this piece...The spinner acquisition seems to me like Case's way of getting more control over rnwk without buying into rnwk. I would love to hear your or anyone elses theory on strategy here, on AOL's part, but I frankly don't buy that AOL is going to abandon using the standard of today, that happens also to be anti-microsoft, and try to convert their 18mm users to a foreign format. This isn't consistent with their past strategy. My guess is they have something up their sleeve that will play itself out over the next couple of months and rnwk will be an integral part of it through the realjukebox and realguide and RBN.

To: Scott C. Lemon who wrote (3481)	6/6/1999 2:03:00 PM
From: B. A. Marlow	Respond to of 5843

Here's more on Spinner/RNWK, Scott. Your points well-taken, although Nullsoft seems to be the bigger loss for RNWK. We'll be deconstructing this situation for weeks to come... Any thoughts on Telos Systems' Audioactive technology? BAM *** From the Spinner.com Website ("Press" link): spinner.com SPINNER.COM SIGNS LANDMARK DEAL TO DRIVE MILLIONS OF DOWNLOADS OF SPINNER PLUS AND REALNETWORKS' REALPLAYER G2 Extends Spinner.com's Leadership in Streaming Music Services on the Internet SAN FRANCISCO - April 27, 1999 - Spinner.com, the largest Internet music service, announced today a distribution deal that creates millions of new customers for Spinner.com and makes RealPlayer G2 available to Spinner.com users. The deal leverages each company's leadership in streaming media, and provides new, convenient channels for their customers to get RealPlayer G2 and the Spinner.com player. As part of the agreement, technology leader RealNetworks will promote the download of Spinner Plus, Spinner.com's downloadable music application, by making Spinner Plus available to RealPlayer G2 customers. Spinner.com will include RealPlayer G2 with every download of RealPlayer G2 versions of Spinner Plus for users who do not have RealPlayer G2. "We are very pleased that Spinner.com has confirmed their support for the industry-leading RealSystem G2, by choosing to build upon RealSystem G2's open and extensible platform," said Len Jordan, senior vice president, Media Systems, RealNetworks, Inc. "We believe that the digital music market provides an exciting opportunity for RealNetworks and its partners." "This deal creates a closer strategic relationship between Spinner.com and RealNetworks that goes well beyond the promotional partnership we have had with them for the past three years," said Josh Felser, president of Spinner.com. "We are eager to introduce the improved listening experience of RealPlayer G2 to Spinner's surging audience." ABOUT SPINNER.COM Spinner.com is the first and largest Internet music service with a database of 175,000 digitized songs delivered on 120+ highly specialized music channels. Covering an unprecedented depth and breadth of music programming -- with channels such as 90's Rock, Bluegrass, British Invasion, Chicago Blues, Top Pop, Great Guitar, Jungle and Latin -- Spinner.com reaches one million unique listeners per month, broadcasting 1.75 million songs per day. The Spinner.com music players -- the stand-alone Internet application Spinner Plus and the Web-based Spinner -- display song information as music is played, while providing dynamic links that enable online purchasing and real-time listener feedback. Based in San Francisco, Spinner.com combines the power of the Internet with advanced digital audio technology to raise entertainment to a new octave. Spinner.com investors include Sony Music Entertainment, Intel Corporation, Amerindo Investment Firm, IDG Ventures, Arts Alliance, Phoenix Partners and Allen & Co. The company has partnerships with industry leaders including RealNetworks, Amazon.com, @Home Network, as well as 350 record labels. New listeners can visit Spinner.com and download a free player at www.spinner.com. Contact: Dawn Holstein Public Relations Manager 415-934-2720 This site is BMI and ASCAP licensed. Click here for legal stuff. Copyright © 1998 Spinner Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. Spinner.com is a trademark of Spinner Networks, Inc.