The consumer tech market is a volatile one. What’s new, what’s in, what’s dominant, these things change fast. And, like most markets, consumers influence producers in more than one way.

Take RealPlayer, the streaming audio system from RealNetworks. That’s the system we use at termlimits.org so you can hear Common Sense as well as read it on the web. It’s pretty slick technology. And it has competition.

Not far from Real’s Seattle offices are the offices of what some like to think of as “The Evil Empire,” Microsoft. Microsoft has devised something called Windows Media Player. Both companies offer free versions of their software, so cheapskates like me can gain the benefit of modern technology without having to shell out big or little bucks.

Unfortunately for RealNetworks, fans of Click and Clack, the “Tappet brothers” of “Car Talk” fame, have had trouble getting what they wanted at the real.com website. The free version, the brothers wrote, is “harder to find than Osama bin Laden at night.” So they yanked the RealPlayer option off their web pages, settling for Microsoft’s alternative.

Well, you know what happened? RealNetworks revised their site, set up a special page for “Car Talk” fans, and once again RealPlayer is there to broadcast Click and Clack puns and automotive insight on the Web. This is how markets respond to consumer complaints.

But note that it helps having clever loudmouths on your side. There might be a political lesson here: never underestimate the value of loudmouths.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.