real kicks apple in the balls

RealNetworks has made the jump (in my mind) from annoying application maker that never quits dragging down my box to cheapie MP3 provider. They announced recently that they, for a limited time, will be running their MP3 download service (similar to Apple's iTunes service) for 49 cents a song and $4.99 per album. Now i haven't seen their list and am interested in finding out if this is a genuine list or just a list of a couple hundred Huey Lewis and Carol Kane songs instead of those Snoop Dogg songs i really want. I've been overly pleased with iTunes ever since it was released for Windows and very rarely ever not find a song in their list. and if i can't find it via iTunes, i just go rogue and find it on WinMX. another thing that i like about iTunes is that when you open it, it doesn't slow your box down to a crawl or throw up 9 splash screens or closing boxes as Real tends to do. it's really annoying and in the long run, that may keep me from using Real, but again, i'll need to decide based on the selection. i guess the 49 cent download isn't going on forever, which also makes me wonder whether that price will set the selection and if i want something i can't find for 49 cents, i could just pay the other 50 cents and immediately find it. so maybe it's just a nut and not a swift kick . . .