Comments on: Comments on 12906

Post number 12906

solistrato — Wed, 05 Dec 2001 16:19:17 -0800

Real Networks launches subscription service. Yes, everyone's favorite purveyor of bloatware is launching RealOne, a subscription service. Think anyone will nibble?

By: hotdoughnutsnow

hotdoughnutsnow — Wed, 05 Dec 2001 16:45:59 -0800

wait... buffering....................

By: machaus

machaus — Wed, 05 Dec 2001 16:51:44 -0800

I made a vow last month to never ever install another Real product on any of my computers, even if it meant missing out on some good porn.

By: daver

daver — Wed, 05 Dec 2001 16:55:36 -0800

Nope. See Machaus above.

By: skyboy

skyboy — Wed, 05 Dec 2001 17:02:03 -0800

Have to agree. I can't count the times I've earnestly *tried* to use RealPlayer but quit in frustration trying to turn off all the ad-channels/spyware/registry settings. Shame on them: Progressive Networks originally started out with a good product, and probably good intents. Looking now at how cluttered their product has become I have to wonder... geez, guys, could you not have restrained your Marketing & Sales staff a bit? I won't be surprised if this is the beginning of the end for Real. Guess we'll take our Windows Media and like it. (At least it's relatively nag-free, but for how long?)

By: ParisParamus

ParisParamus — Wed, 05 Dec 2001 17:08:31 -0800

Quicktime kicks ass.

By: jmd82

jmd82 — Wed, 05 Dec 2001 17:10:57 -0800

Is Windows Media Player any good for XP (versus the pre-XP version)? I'm installing it in a few weeks.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Wed, 05 Dec 2001 17:13:32 -0800

I have an excellent response to the above, but you will need to download the new 26Mb version of Metafilter in order to read it.

By: scottandrew

scottandrew — Wed, 05 Dec 2001 17:20:31 -0800

"Would you like to make Real Networks your home page?" "Are you sure?" "Are you double-dog sure?" "Okay, how about now? Would you like to make us your home page now? How about now?" "Please please please please please?" "Sorry, in the time it took you to decide, your RealPlayer version has become obsolete. Click here to download RealPlayer."

By: benjh

benjh — Wed, 05 Dec 2001 17:28:09 -0800

What amazes me is the RealOne Music, in which you get 100 streams and 100 downloads. Wow... or maybe I could just download Kazaa, check out music, and go buy a CD, which is something I can rip (until they try to prevent it after which consumers will sue the music industry into the ground) into my computer and load onto my MP3 player. Now imagine that.

By: solistrato

solistrato — Wed, 05 Dec 2001 17:29:11 -0800

And it figures that I'd forget to mention it was a music subscription service. Where is my mind, indeed...

By: barkingmoose

barkingmoose — Wed, 05 Dec 2001 17:50:10 -0800

Yeah, Paris, QuickTime does kickass — did you know it was QuickTime's 10th anniversary? News.com says we might be about to witness the comeback of Apple's media format.

By: lotsofno

lotsofno — Wed, 05 Dec 2001 18:03:30 -0800

i would say quicktime kicks ass, but for the life of me, i haven't been able to fix the gamma on my relatively new version. 'cause of that, i primarily stick with media player for windows. i would bash on real like the rest of you, but gaiman's Snow Glass Apples and just overall, SciFi's Seeing Ear Theatre makes using realplayer worth it.

By: jeremias

jeremias — Wed, 05 Dec 2001 18:09:29 -0800

yep benjh, pretty much. Except maybe the suing part. But I continue to laugh at how the music industries are trying to develop the online market on their terms. They just don't get it. People don't want to subscribe to music in their own homes, in the car maybe, but not at home.

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Wed, 05 Dec 2001 19:15:10 -0800

Frankly I'm surprised Real Networks hasn't gone chapter 11 yet. Yahoo Broadcast recently laid off more employees, with yet more lay-offs to come. Real Networks can't be far behind in that arena. I guess this is the real reason why the bottom has dropped out of tech companies. A lot of money was invested in the Internet the past five years, and everybody thought eventually people would start paying for what they had been getting for free. Create a demand by offering the supply for free, get them hooked, and then hike the prices. However what they didn't realize was most people went to the Internet because they didn't have to pay extra for everything. What the dotcoms tried to do with the Internet would be like if instead of creating the cable networks a few decades ago, they had made ABC, NBC and CBS pay. There'd be no such thing as a boob tube today if they'd done that.

By: hotdoughnutsnow

hotdoughnutsnow — Wed, 05 Dec 2001 19:41:25 -0800

buffering....................

By: lotsofno

lotsofno — Wed, 05 Dec 2001 19:54:12 -0800

oh yeah... if you have the time, i kind of like the whole buffering concept used on this piece.

By: panopticon

panopticon — Wed, 05 Dec 2001 22:10:03 -0800

realplayer is bad for the mac, but windows media player is waaaay worse.

By: Hankins

Hankins — Wed, 05 Dec 2001 22:28:32 -0800

Hate hate hate hate. I think Osama Bin Laden created Real Networks to incite chaos and frustration amongst the web-users of the world. Real Networks is surely chaired by Satan.

By: salmacis

salmacis — Thu, 06 Dec 2001 00:59:30 -0800

I don't think I've ever installed a more invasive piece of software than Real Player. And now I find that Real Jukebox won't play an audio CD, and I get a nagging message telling me to upgrade to RealOne. I don't think so....

By: Summer

Summer — Thu, 06 Dec 2001 03:12:12 -0800

Tiscali is about to launch a subscription music download service in the UK and guess what they're using? Clue: it starts with Windows and ends with Media.

By: salmacis

salmacis — Thu, 06 Dec 2001 03:49:11 -0800

Can anybody suggest a good piece of software on Windows that will play audio CDs and MP3s and rip CDs as you listen? I would prefer to use neither Real Jukebox or Windows Media.

By: crasspastor

crasspastor — Thu, 06 Dec 2001 04:00:24 -0800

It's all so weird too. I mean, RealPlayer is the only streaming media to run native on Linux. As you could guess, it has no megalomaniacal tentacles there. It's seeming somebody should hop on the "realzilla" domain name soon. Real should cut its losses (take a huge gamble/what have they to lose?) and take its knowhow to a big Linux distro, team-up and see if they can't make Linux a viable multimedia/desktop alternative. Quick caveat: Strolling down Alaskan Way last summer (other side of the train tracks from Real's headquarters on Seattle's waterfront) I spotted in the window of a large office, thirty or so small posters of Tux the Penguin in full view for the microsoftian public. Somebody's thinking Linux there. For whatever that's worth--my "quick caveat" that is.

By: walrus

walrus — Thu, 06 Dec 2001 07:43:57 -0800

Is there any other streaming video format which works better than Real and can be viewed properly on PC/windows mac and linux? Filesize is also important. I ask because I have a great big website with lots (500Mb) of video encoded in real format. I want it to be possible to view it on as many platforms as possible, but I don't want to alienate everybody from the site either (page design apart) by using a crap format. All advice appreciated.

By: fooljay

fooljay — Thu, 06 Dec 2001 19:00:48 -0800

I'm really curious to see a breakdown of what RealPlayer versions you all have on your desktops. Do ANY of your have RealPlayer 8 or, even better, RealOne? RealOne doesn't have spyware, doesn't litter your desktop or kidnap your computer settings. You can turn off notifications (nagware) completely or customize which ones you want. Furthermore, it's now a combined player. If you take into account the size of the last versions of RealPlayer and RealJukebox, the download is a lot smaller and the program actually FASTER. Also, just so you know, with the default setup, "buffering" has very little to do with the player and everything do with the connection speed, the bitrate of the media you chose to view and the server load. It just seems to me like a lot of the things I read here are things some of you are holding on to from three versions ago or older...

By: Iax

Iax — Sat, 08 Dec 2001 23:32:24 -0800

Can anyone recommend a good all round movie player (avi, mpeg) other than windows media player?

By: owillis

owillis — Sun, 09 Dec 2001 00:29:15 -0800

fooljay: when I start Real 8 I get a pop-under, as well as an extra window with an ad for real at times. Win media has their startup page, but Real still stinks. Not to mention inferior video quality/playback.

By: fooljay

fooljay — Mon, 10 Dec 2001 02:17:22 -0800

You may want to upgrade to RealOne from RealPlayer 8, Oliver. It's light-years better and I don't get any popups. As far as the video quality make sure you're comparing apples to apples. Real's video quality is excellent, but not when disadvataged by unbalanced media selection.

By: owillis

owillis — Mon, 10 Dec 2001 06:01:22 -0800

As far as the video quality make sure you're comparing apples to apples Oh, I am. I spent over a year comparing them day in and out (work related). Windows Media wins hands down. Personally, for video I think if it's not live - streaming sucks. The time it takes to download a Quicktime file is much more worth it quality-wise. Nothing beats non-streaming Quicktime, of course everything beats streaming Quicktime...