RSSRealNetworks Previews RealOne Platform
By David Worthington | Published September 26, 2001, 8:19 PM
Shedding the code-name "Viper," RealNetwork's RealOne Platform is spearheading the effort to regain lost influence amidst stiff competition from arch rival Microsoft. Alpha builds of Viper have circulated around the Internet for some time, leaving those lucky enough to obtain a copy with the impression that major changes were in the works for Real.
Two separate products, RealPlayer and RealJukebox were merged together into one with a drastically overhauled interface. It was also apparent that a major push was planned for a subscription service, called "GoldPass."
When asked about Viper earlier this month, RealNetworks refused to comment on the rumors. However, an alpha feedback form was accessible on the company's Web site, indicating the existence of Viper. Real instead pointed BetaNews toward Rob Glaser's upcoming keynote address which was held this past Monday.
In his address, Glaser -- chairman and CEO of RealNetworks -- laid out the foundation for RealOne. Shortly thereafter, an abundance of information became publicly available for the first time, as well as a public preview of the software. In a bid to become more developer friendly, content can now be authored using standard Internet languages. Real is also providing development tools and services free of cost.
Within 60 days GoldPass, which enjoys in excess of 400,000 subscribers, will be propped up and rechristened RealOne Service. The subscription services are tightly integrated into RealOne's interface, and constitute a bold move toward embracing a subscription based revenue stream.
According to Glaser, "RealOne Platform will empower our partners to create a new generation of digital media businesses. By combining the many ways that people enjoy and interact with digital media, and by steering use of the Internet toward integrated, compelling audio-visual content, RealOne Platform will fundamentally change how consumers and creators of content will relate."
Recent studies reveal that RealNetworks has fallen into a deficit in terms of its overall users for its players. Jupiter Media Metrix has reported that there are over 24.7 million users of Windows Media Player, while RealNetworks garners nearly 24.4 million. This fall in market share has taken place prior to the launch of Windows XP, which includes rich new multimedia features.
Can someone explain to me what THEIR definition of SPYWARE is??? Is it a program that use the internet to download Album Covers, Artist info, etc. Is it a program that makes you login in and puts a cookie on your harddrive??? Is it a program that uses IE as a browswer in it's interface???
Or is it a GUID??? Which is turned off by default when you install RealONE. Look at Windows Media Player under uniquely identify player, or in Office , etc. Or how about an identifer key in Windows XP to make sure it's installed only on one machine?
Ok, Real asks for your email address to register the free player. It's far better than MS who knows your credit card information/address/etc with Passport and Hotmail/MSN Messenger.
Real clearly states that it's an internet enabled device. That's how it does auto upgrades, use the browser and get Artist info. Turn it off you don't like that feature.
Also Real supports far more data types than Windows Media Player. (SMIL, Flash , WMA, Liquid Audio, Quicktime, MP3, RealAudio 8, etc) Even WMA protected files and you can encode it to WMA if you want.
If you want to encode in Windows Media Player 8 for XP you have to shell out some dough. Do a price comparison of the features of both products and RealOne Player you get more bang for your buck.
Oh and by the way you aren't forced to upgrade to Windows XP to get it.
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|You do not have to pay to encode in WMP, you have to pay in order to encode in mp3 (a propreitary standard) in WMP.... and when you are doing mp3 encoding, someone will always have to pay, somewhere.
First, MS hasn't started the .NET My Services, which will encompass things like storing credit card info, and even when they do, you don't HAVE to use that feature.... but I guess you were just looking for someway to bash MS....
The hash of your system is encrypted, so no one actually sees what you have, it's just a key in order for MS to say, "Ok, you've already installed WindowsXP with this CD key on another computer".
So basically, MS gets bashed b/c they include a new/better product (or feature) in THIER OS, as well as have it available for download for other versions of the OS... and now they are getting bashed for just having it as a feature? Really, this is a must have feature in the this OS... so you can't have it both ways.... pick one way, and stick to it.
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|My point was, Real supports multiple formats for encoding/decoding in their product "out of the box". There is no EXTRA PAID add ons to encode in mp3, Real8 with ATRAC3, wave or Windows Media. Ok someone pays for it somewhere, but with WMP 8 (a propreitary standard) the cost is on the consumer. RealONE the consumer doesn't have to bother with that legal technically or expense. If you want to pay for that , go right ahead when you can get it for free. I guess you also want to start paying for a web browser again??? I would hope your smarter than that.
Ok, now about this .Net My Services or Passport or whatever the marketing dept. wants to change the name to.... Microsoft DOES know your address/phone # etc when you register Windows or Office. It DOES have some information like your name, date of birth, where you live, gender and occupation when you sign up for Hotmail...which is connected to Passport. Of course you don't have to use, MSN Messenger, Hotmail, Windows XP, Windows 98/2000/ME or any version of MS Office. But that is like living in the Stone Age and not being able to use any of the peripherals that a new OS supports.
You assume too much about who I am. I use Microsoft products so go ahead and pin-point me as "MS Basher". I use my Windows XP, Compaq Ipaq PocketPC and even own a few MS t-s***s. I guess I'm not living up to that MS Basher nickname you gave me. Oh well! I just enjoy technology/gadgets and will use only the best hardware/software on my system. I won't get suckered into buying or owning something inferior just cause it has the MS stamp or logo on it. (If I did I wouldn't be typing this post on a slick Logitech cordless optial mouse and keyboard setup.)
Oh and I'm always going to choose the audio format that doesn't restrict my playback devices choices. I know more devices our supporting Windows Media in their products, far more support MP3 and I'll stick with that instead of re-encoding my entire library of music.
You still had nothing to say about GUIDs. Where Windows Media Player allow "Internet sites to uniquely identify your player" Or how WMP wants you to start in the "Media Guide", which is essentially just a Microsoft webpage. Don't you think they collect cookies on that page?
Or how about people who use Office.
RealONE turns those GUIDs off by DEFAULT. I know Microsoft has address some of these concerns, but how many users have actually updated or downloaded their patch??
http://www.microsoft.com...99/03-08custletter2.asp
I appreciate the meta-data in the File Folders and being able to assign an artist/album cover to a folder in Windows XP. If that means "integrateing/including" Windows Media Player 8 into the OS, that's GREAT!! Maybe I wasn't clear...the ONLY way to get Windows Media Player 8 is to get Windows XP, it's not going to be on Windows 95 or 98 or ME or 2000. Not to confuse the player with the codecs which can be update your Windows Media Player 7 and 6.4. If I'm wrong on this matter, point me in the right direction for information on this.
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|You think RealNetworks are the only ones in the whole world that are spying on you...don't you? Almost every company does this but they do it for a reason, and it isn't to spy on you. You really wanna know what RealNetworks do to your computer?
Read this:
http://www.realnetworks....mp;src=010924realhome_1
As for those Microsoft fans, what is not to say that every time you connect to the internet that your computer isn't sending info to Microsoft? Huh? Tell me...why wouldn't they be? Microsoft could know how many pirated copys of winblowz are being used and what sort of people run certain programs. You all make me sick. At least some people here have common sence, but most of you are like 10 year old kids who have an AOL connection and think your the s***, and can hack into disney.com. Wake up to yourselves!!!!!
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|Do spwolf is huge?
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|Installing any *real* firewall or packet sniffer on your system will tell you if your computer is contacting Microsoft. Do it...then come back to us with your findings and of course instructions for how we check your results for ourselves, I'd hate to think that you might make up some results. Note: I said real firewall as I don't consider Zone Alarm Pro a real firewall since it's rules are application based.
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|When I was 10, I woke up one morning and realized that God was spying on me. Then when i was 18 it was the phone company. And now at 48, it's the internet. One must live ones life under the assumption that it is being viewed.
But privacy is not what I am concerned with, it is bandwith hogging. It is also about control. by far I do not know half of what is going on in this machine but i will tweak it and thin it down the best I can.
Oh, and someone needs a bar of soap stuffed deep inside. Talk about 10 years old.
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|You must be one of those 10 Year Olds, or some real Bill Gates look alike freak with "I want to be Bill Gates" or "I love Microsoft" on your T-s***, and with those thick coke-bottle glasses. If you read correctly I said "WHAT IF..." read it again, and you'll see....you might need to take your glasses off to read it. You think Firewalls are going to stop Microsoft...not a chance. They wrote Windows, and there is no source available. What if there is some sort of Private Port that only Microsoft go through? What if when you log into Messenger, that stuff isn't sent then? What if Bill Gates comes knocking at your front door, demanding a big payment, because you have been using Warez for your Microsoft lovable s***.
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|wow, you sure got me picked. Why is it that you can't respond to something in a normal manner? Do you abuse everyone that disagrees with you? Look at yourself.
As for my point regarding firewalls, at least you could have said something sensible like MS put it code to hide a particular port's activity from the better known firewalls - based on knowing how those particular firewalls work, but Private Ports? WTF?!? Do you have a single clue on how Sockets work?
And putting "what if" doesn't protect you from anything, neither does "no offence but...", "IMHO..." nor a disclaimer.
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|Hey, Captain Paranoia, do you have to have to get so worked up that you have to resort to vulgarities to get your point across? Take a breath, man. The question I have for you is: If "information" is being sent to Microsoft while I'm on the Internet, what is it, and what are they going to do with it? Are we all really that ignorant and you're the only one who really knows what's going on? And try not to completely flip out when you reply.
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|I thought i turned off the item, evntsvc, that loads at boot up, but behold it was there again. So, always wanting control of what boots up, I was pissed. I got the mcafee uninstaller up and removed evntsvc.exe. It removed several reg keys and the entire folder below with no ill effects to the player that i can see. I watched c-span with real player after doing this.
[C:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB]
upgrdhlp.exe Added 7.0.0.576 9/25/2001
rnuninst.exe Added 7.0.0.1087 9/25/2001
rndal.exe Added 0.1.0.634 9/25/2001
evntsvc.exe Added 0.1.0.634 9/25/2001
rnxproc.exe Added 7.0.0.409 9/25/2001
rnup3270.dll Added 7.0.0.69 9/25/2001
rnqu3270.dll Added 7.0.0.690 9/25/2001
upgr3270.dll Added 7.0.0.688 9/25/2001
setu3270.dll Added 7.0.0.1097 9/25/2001
twebbrowse.dll Added 1.0.2.311 9/25/2001
faus3270.dll Added 7.0.0.317 9/25/2001
rnad3201.dll Added 0.1.0.634 9/25/2001
rnms3270.dll Added 7.0.0.620 9/25/2001
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|Just about every media player out there sucks a$$. The top suck-ass players naturally being RealPlayer (any of them) and Windows Media Player 7 and 8. They're too damn big and resource heavy and full of tons of useless features that none of us will ever use. Here's my two cents: Use winamp for mp3, Windows Media Player 6.4 for video, and ThePlaya for divx. Screw everything else!
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|Get a real computer and you wont' have to worry about system resources.
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|Ah, no way, man. Maybe you don't know what true speed is, but on my "real computer", WMP 7 and 8 are slow as hell compared to WMP 6.4, Winamp, and the playa. It's true. No matter how much memory, or processor speed you have, those apps are just slower, and what you get from them isn;t worth the upgrade.
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|Ooh , sorry I wasn´t clear. Yeah , The have that option , but that was not what I meant. When Netscape 6.1 came out I though that I could load every page faster (due the latest JavaVC and some new inprovements) than IE 5.5 , but itz didn´t . Now IE 6 its even faster than 5.5 . * Netscape 6.1 chops 64 MB of memory and isn´t ebven compatible with most of the sites out there in the web . Try for example www.shockwave.com .
Also the Java Console , though it´s totally new doesn´t work as fast as that old Java Virtual Machine from Microsoft. Try to login in www.hushmail.com (basely pure java).
If the thing is everything against Microsoft , then I suggest you Opera (way a lot faster than Netscape)
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|Netscape 6.x supports gzipped web sites, which means it works better in low bandwidth environments (gzip is a free, open-source compression algorithm like zip or winzip for Microsoft fools). The W3C has shown this increases speed. Yes, people must be running Apache or iPlanet and have the option turned on, but if they find sites like that there are HUGE performance benefits using Netscape 6.1. IE does not support this, pocket IE does.
Seems if u did some reseach instead of ranting about Netscape's performance you would have seen they DID improve the net.
Also, Gartner is warning companies to stop using IIS, so more companies will use Apache or iPlanet with this option.
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|That's all you come up with to support Netscape? It supports gzip'ed sites? Wow congrats! How many of the major sites are gziped? it it even the faintest minority?
'they DID improve the net'...they WHAT!?! improved the net by supporting gzip'ed sites? I'm not sure what you're thinking but I'm sure that if major sites start using gzip, then IE will support it too, until then it's a pointless feature.
And if you're going to talk about Gecko etc, then I'd love for you to convince us all why we should use Netscape over Mozilla.
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|The W3C has clear performance specs that indicate gzipped sites are faster over slow and even large bandwidth connections, and a LOT of sites support this. Please stay with IE 5/6 whatever, since your obviously not capable of believing that everyone is not crazy about Microsoft products.
BTW - Go with Mozilla or Netscape or Microsoft, thats your choice, but I will stay with the one that performs best, and that is Netscape or Mozilla. Also Mozilla .9.4 allows you to turn off the stupid pop-ups/pop-unders, I guess thats not needed since IE doesn't support it...yeah right!
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|I'm fairly certain that gzip'ed sites would be faster in many cases - that's fairly obvious but how many sites are currently doing this. You say a LOT...can you define what a lot is for me? .00001%? 1%? 10%? 50%? and could you name some bigger sites that use gzip?
I'm not saying this is a useless feature, just pointless until a fair amount of sites start using it. And when/if it is adopted by major sites then IE and all the other browsers will adopt it as well.
'since your obviously not capable of believing that everyone is not crazy about Microsoft products'.....Oh I'm both capable and I do realise the general perception of 'Microsoft products' especially in the geek community and in many aspects I agree with those perceptions...but you just came out and said that netscape DID improve the net!
Yes Mozilla has options to disable onload popup windows, something that has been asked by a lot of people and something that is probably a good feature for those people. I do not require this option, I don't visit sites that popup 20 banners on entry and some sites that I use (financial sites) use a method of poping up a new window after going back to the server and performing some calculations (yes the window it poped up 'onload' when the page reloads). This feature would break these sites. Can you point me to the W3C standard that says popup windows aren't allowed?
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|Obviously nobody here has tried RealAudio 8? I find it way better than WMA. You are all lowlife scumbags, all brainwashed into Micros*** bullcrap, that you all love. Screw you all. You are all f**ked in the head.
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|Let me get this straight. You are bashing WMA in favor of RealAudio? At least Microsoft licenses other companies the right to play the format. Real pulled that from the old version of Media Player because then no one would use their spyware, bloated, deceiving program.
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|Real Audio plain and simply sucks comared to WMA, hell, it sucks compared to Quicktime movie files.
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|RealAudio 8 is definitely better than wma. DOn't give me that crap about 'sounds like a phone underwater!'. If that's what you think, you haven't heard RealAudio8 - you're thinking of their very low bitrate codecs. RealVideo8 is also better than I've seen from microsoft (or 'divx'). With the new player it looks like they've addressed some frame rate issues. Competition is good and in my opinion they are gaining.
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|RealPlayer will never be popular as long as they keep installing their spyware crap. RealPlayer is more propietary than any other player out there, plus they make it hard to figure out how to keep it from loading at bootup.
I would take Windows Media Player any day over Realplayer.
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|I should also add that Windows Media Player is FREE, RealPlayer isn't.
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|Umm...ever known that RealPlayer is/was also free!!! RealPlayer Plus is the one that costs money...d***head!
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|Anyone with ears will be able to tell that Windows Media sounds better than Real Audio at the same bitstream rate. Real Audio is to far behind, and the spyware that's incorporated (I've personally verified this) is far worse than any other proggy I've seen.
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|http://www.pcworld.com/r...icle/0,aid,64123,00.asp
Here's an article on PC Labs did on audio quailty with uncompressed audio and compressed audio.
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|Just like Netscape 6.1 , they´re all following the same path. Nice new interface , but no real change in performance. That´s sad , very sad. They should improve their products alá DivX.
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|This is crazy, this is a 10Mb download, for a media player! That's ridiculous.
I like the real audio/video format, I think it's better than the windows solution (IMO), but I just want a player to play that for me, THATS ALL.
This is just full of stuff that I will never ever use, or want. Couldn't they just bring out a "lite" version, for me, it'd have to be under 2mb before I'd even think about downloading it!
And to find out it's got spyware.... good grief! will real ever get it together in time before Microsoft wipes them out?
At this rate I seriously doubt it!
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|Actually the download is 8Mb approx.
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|God!!! Its a chore just to INSTALL RealPlayer! First you have to untick all the file associations, then untick all the subscription crap and enter a fake email.
Once Installed, you have to turn off the spy ware (and in the windows registry) and all the other bloat that includes special offers etc because with all the options viewable, it takes up 1/4 of the screen with 1600x1200 resolution.
I wish RealNetworks JUST DIE DIE DIE! Im sick of downloading various trailers, episodes in Real Media Format :(((
Thats My 2 Cents.
Tony Danza!
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|And I thought I was alone...
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|so is this basically reaplayer 9 or whatever, just with a new fancy name?
here's the thing that makes me so mad about realplayer - every new release, they just re do the UI, and add more advertisements.. but no functionality is added, or performance. the video still looks like crap, so why bother? sorry real, Windows Media blows you out of the water.
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|i h8te RealNetworks they are just pure crap, and they are AOL like
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|This is free software... so stop complaining about it. If RealNetworks would not be here, we would be left at Microsoft's mercy for streaming content... you know what that would mean.
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|Real Networks is evil, even more evil than M$ in my opinion. The spyware associated with Realplayer is a reality, and has been there since previous versions. It will contact Real Networks without your approval and god only knows what it sends.
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|I used to hate real networks. I mean really hate them. I hate installing their s***. In fact I go out of my way not to install the s***. (by the way I hate AOL even more). I have been a big WMP fan since V7 came out. Then I tried this new version. I have to say I was very impressed. First of all I didn't have to uncheck a million check marks telling them that I don’t want this and that. then there is the fact that there was no advertising (that might be just because it is still in beta). I like the fact that It organizes your media. And I think it does a better job at that then WMP V7 or V8. it also now burns CDs just like WMP. There are two things I really like about it first of all it docks to the toolbar. This is a very nice touch. The second tombs up is the fact that I can edit my MP3 titles. This is the only think I liked about Winamp that WMP didn't have.
I think Real is doing a good job competing with MS. This is competition not complaining to Government like AOL and Sun do.
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|yeah this release isn't as bad as the rest but it's too bad ALL real media formats suck ass!
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|They haven't hurt M$ very much. WMP is many times better then anything from Real and Windows Media Streaming is also many times better then Real's
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|RealOne is one last chance effort to save a lost company. Everyone has groanced about the sneakiness of RealPlayer in the past. The checked checkboxes on a page down of the unchecked options, the enabled autostart options, etc.
Now it is even worse. Running Windows XP, having a notice of a new message is not too infrequent (driver updates, windows messenger checking my hotmail box, etc), but from Real is.. unreal. I could at least normally choose to disable these options thru a maze of Preferences/SmartStart.. But now, to my dismay, I can't even disable RealOne from starting on startup.
When is it that companies will learn that we want our computers to ourselves? I may download a lot of shareware that comes w/ spyware and whatnot, but I shouldn't have to uninstall a certain program just to eliminate this problem.
Uninstall is what it came to w/ RealOne. I installed RealOne hoping for some competition to WMA, but once again Real has managed to take over my system. From starting a number of processes to startup, to requiring a 'login' for the Real player system along w/ a 15 day trial is ridiculous.
Microsoft is giving away the WMA technology, and if Real had any type of business-savy they would do the same. What Real is trying to do i s enable push, a technique that failed back in IE4 (hell, push in IE4 was free at least). Real is on its final straw, not only has it's lost its audio market to MP3 and WMA, but it has lost its new video market to everyone else. If Real was smart, they would do what is expected and make RealOne FREE.
It's not too tricky Real. You make RealOne free, then 6 months down the line charge from some RealGold pass or whatever you wish to call it. I swear monkeys are taking over our world as corporate executives are completely misjudging their intended audiences.
Who is running these companies? And what are you thinking? A "not so screwed up" interface is nice, but try getting the marketing as well before you bow out to MS. No wonder they take over so many sectors, none of you dumbsh#ts seem to know how to handles them.
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|have a break , have a Kit Kat . . .
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|Well Said
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|haha
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|Are you afraid they may see all the porn you've stored on your PC?
Privacy freak!
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|It is NOT freeware. It never has and never will be... oh I guess you can call their basic version free, but then you have to put up with poor video quality.
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|Wow if you want to b**** come on over to the Adelphia newsgroup and b**** about the piss poor service we uns are receiving from this piece of crap broadband company. s*** you won't get any of these players to play on this broadband crap shoot. Come on Adelphia Powerlink let's get those new servers you promised and hook up some more high speed Ceeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssccccccooooooo Routers!!!!!
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