[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Shane R

It's not really true. It's a collection of confusing soundbites.

During the timeframe that the lawsuit covers, Realplayer discovered weaknesses in the security software (DRM) that Apple used to protect the music it sold. It used these weaknesses to sell it's own protected music that would work on iPods (Apple only ever allowed it's own DRM to work on the iPods, in much the same way that Amazon only allows one sort of DRM to work on the Kindle.)

But when Apple corrected the weaknesses, the music that Realplayer sold stopped playing on iPods because that music depended on the existence of those weaknesses.

Music that was sold DRM free always worked on the iPods without any complications.

Thanks for clarifying it - that makes a lot more sense now.