As computer users download more music and videos from the Internet, companies are jostling to provide the software they need to listen and watch. Microsoft, the No. 1 software maker, expects to vanquish RealNetworks in media players — the browser-like tool used to manipulate Web-delivered audio and video digital files — just as it steamrolled Netscape Communications in the browser wars. But RealNetworks is proving more resilient than Netscape. And Apple Computer is moving to widen its small slice of the media player market.
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