Slip on the beer goggles, folks, because things between Apple and RealNetworks are starting to get ugly. We won't delve into the whole backstory here, because you've no doubt heard it a kajillion times before, but the short version is that RealNetworks wanted to license Apple's FairPlay Digital Rights Management architecture so it could sell iPod-compatible songs, Apple refused, and eventually back in July RealNetworks released Harmony, software that more or less brute-forces Real's songs onto the iPod without Apple's permission. Apple decried Real's move as "the tactics... of a hacker," vowed legal consequences, and warned its customers that Harmony would probably "cease to work with current and future iPods."

And then absolutely nothing happened for four months.

Personally, from the company's subsequent silence on the matter, we'd assumed that while Apple more or less had to complain in public, it was secretly okay with the whole arrangement, since, if anything, Harmony might have sold a few more iPods. And it's been four months, you know? There have been plenty of iPod firmware updates in that time (well, okay, one or two, anyway), and none of them has broken Harmony... until now. Faithful viewer Best Friend Brad forwarded us a CNET article which reports that Apple has "quietly updated its iPod software so that songs purchased from RealNetworks' online music store will no longer play" on certain iPods, specifically the iPod photo. In response, Real vowed that it would rejigger Harmony to work once again "on different portable audio devices... including the iPod photo." And so the endless chase begins.

So why did Apple hold off until now to start breaking Harmony? Well, for one thing, apparently it didn't; the article isn't totally clear on this matter, but it sounds to us like either the iPod photo has never worked with Harmony, or Apple's last downloadable iPod firmware update nuked Harmony on the iPod photo (and possibly other models); in any case, that means it took the world at least two weeks (and as long as seven) to notice, which doesn't exactly indicate that legions of iPod users have embraced Harmony.

Either way, though, there was clearly a distinct lag between Harmony's release and Apple's intentional crippling of the technology-- so why the delay? Well, we figure Apple was going to let things slide, but eventually it gave into that most noble of business motives: spite. Consider, if you will, that back on November 9th we mentioned that while Steve Jobs had indeed beaten out Rob Glaser to be named Billboard's "Visionary of the Year," the winner of the "Digital Music Innovation of the Year" title was none other than-- that's right-- Harmony. And we didn't mention it at the time because we didn't even notice until a slew of faithful viewers pointed it out to us, but Billboard also called RealNetworks's Harmony'd-up Rhapsody the "Best Downloadable or Subscription Music Service," ahead of the other finalists: Musicmatch, Napster, and... the iTunes Music Store. That's two none-too-subtle "messages" to Apple (e.g. "open up the iPod, already") in one awards ceremony, taking the form of two stinging slaps in the face.

Six days later, Apple released iPod Updater 2004-11-15-- the company's most recent firmware update, and presumably the one that broke Harmony on some iPods. Suppose that timing is just coincidence? No, we don't, either. So for those of you who had been using Harmony to play Rhapsody-purchased songs on your iPods (all two of you), don't blame Apple for crippling it; blame Billboard for waving a red handkerchief in front of a raging bull.