RealNetworks issued an update for its RealJukebox audio player Monday (Nov. 1) after the New York Times reported the software secretly tracked information about RealJukebox users.

The company, which developed the popular RealAudio format, issued a revision of the program Monday to keep it from sending information about users to RealNetworks or other parties.

The modification was released the same day the New York Times ran its story saying RealJukebox tracked information about users' computer files without first informing the users.

"We made a mistake in not being clear enough to our users about what kinds of data was being generated and transmitted for the use of RealJukebox," Rob Glaser, RealNetworks' chief executive officer, said in a statement.

The program gathered such information as the number of songs on a listener's hard drive, what digital format the songs are stored in, the user's favorite genre of music and other data, according to the Times. The information was sent to RealNetworks each time RealJukebox was used on a computer connected to the Internet.

The most strident MP3 users tend to be suspicious of efforts that smack of Big Brother, such as attempts to encrypt songs to protect copyright, or to identify music listeners for any reason.

Internet analyst Aram Sinnreich of Jupiter Communications called the Times story a "PR debacle" for RealNetworks. "This is exactly the kind of news Real's core audience does not want to hear," Sinnreich said.

The information gathered by RealNetworks was used for collective statistics, not a study of individual users, according to a company statement.

Richard Doherty, director of research for the Envisioneering market research firm, said the incident would have little effect on RealJukebox's popularity. Numerous other online and offline companies track data about their customers, he said.

RealJukebox plays songs in both MP3 and RealNetworks' G2 formats, and organizes a user's collection of songs. It also can be used to create MP3 and G2 files from CDs.

More than 10 million people use RealJukebox, according to RealNetworks, making it one of the most popular online audio programs. It was launched in the spring with the support of such bands as punk-rockers the Offspring, who released a downloadable version of "Beheaded" (RealAudio excerpt) for the kickoff.

More recently, political rap-metal band Rage Against the Machine offered fans free downloads in a promotion with RealJukebox.

Existing RealJukebox users can access the privacy update at www.real.com. A version of the program for new users with the changes already incorporated will be released later this week, RealNetworks said.