Real targets iPod with download price cut

RealNetworks has kicked off what it claims is the biggest online music sale in history.

For a limited time, every song in the firm's RealPlayer Music Store can be downloaded for 49 cents, with most albums available for $4.99.

The promotion coincides with the release of RealPlayer 10.5, the first product to support the company's recently unveiled Harmony technology.

Rob Glaser, founder and chief executive of RealNetworks, said in a statement: "Thanks to RealPlayer with Harmony technology, consumers can now buy digital songs and play them on virtually any device of their choice, just like how CDs and DVDs work."

RealNetworks claims that Harmony, designed to allow consumers to buy and download music that can be formatted to play on multiple portable devices, prevents consumers from being locked into any one device.

But last month the technology launched a war of words when Apple claimed that, by developing Harmony, RealNetworks had resorted to "hacker tactics".

RealNetworks countered that consumers should be allowed to make up their own minds about what they play on their iPod devices.