Cnet news.com reports that Apple’s latest version of its iPod software no longer plays music using Real’s Harmony technology.

The move could render tunes purchased by many iPod owners unplayable on their music players. For the last four months, RealNetworks has marketed its music store as the only Apple rival compatible with the iPod, following the company’s discovery of a way to let its customers play their downloaded tunes on Apple’s MP3 player.

Read the article here. Good times, good times. Although it begs the question; should Apple open up? iTunes Music Store is not a huge revenue generator for Apple, so it wouldn’t hurt Apple too much to open up--and it may help sustain sales of the iPod. However, it must be done on Apple’s terms. “H4x0r” may indeed be an appropriate term to describe Real on this matter.