RealNetworks and Sony fight MP3, MS

RealNetworks Inc. and Sony Corp. have pooled their technologies to produce a compression technology that can be played on Sony devices the same way as the popular MP3 format. RealAudio 8, successor to the G2, uses Sony's audio compression technology, ATRAC3, that reportedly yields better quality sound than MP3 in both the high and low end of the playback spectrum while producing files significantly smaller. To take advantage of the technology, music will have to be re-recorded using the new software. Microsoft, in the midst of a serious effort to take over RealNetwork's territory, makes similar claims about its sound quality and file size.

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