What $9.95 monthly subscription rate? Real Rhapsody is $9.95/month, but that's something completely different. Real 10 basic is free and Real 10 plus is a one time $19.95 fee. Downloads are $0.99 a piece or $9.95 an album...
I don't know. Frankly, I think it has been a very poorly implemented and extremely confusing launch.
When I upgraded my player, it made me fill out a bunch of stuff, and one of the things was for what they call a
RealOne SuperPass membership. This is what I'm being charged $9.95/month for. (I'm looking at my account right now in other window, so what I tell you is not in err.)
I had to sign up for this to get my one 10 cent download.Can I cancel my
RealOne SuperPass membership and still continue downloading tracks? I have no clue. If what you say is true about their music store being a "free" service like iTunes, then this is a very shady business practice!
You can't even play the downloaded files on an IPod, since it can't read the Real DRM'ed files and there's no way to convert them!
I read the same thing in other forum, but I'm not sure that is really true. I'm looking at their "AutoUpdate" page right now, and one of the plug-ins is as follows:
Apple iPod Plug-in
Update RealPlayer with this plug-in to enable music transfer with your iPod device. With drag-and-drop and auto-sync functionality, taking your music on the go has never been easier! 1.0.0.8
Size: 1.6 KB