RSSRealNetworks Updates RealOne Player
By Nate Mook | Published August 21, 2002, 2:27 AM
RealNetworks on Tuesday released the second iteration of its RealOne Player, which originally debuted last year as a revamped combination of the company's RealPlayer and RealJukebox applications. RealOne Player 2.0 adds support for numerous formats including Windows Media and QuickTime MPEG-4, prompting RealNetworks to brand the update as "the world's first universal media player."
"Today’s announcement truly changes the rules of digital media for both consumers and the industry. With only one player, consumers can now get all the media they want just click and it plays," said RealNetworks CEO, Rob Glaser in Tuesday's announcement.
But to take advantage of such multi-format playback, users must purchase a premium version of RealOne Player. The free edition offers DVD support, full-speed CD burning and TurboPlay - technology that provides near-instant playback of digital media and live content, according to RealNetworks. For a one-time fee of $19.95, users can upgrade to RealOne Player Plus, which adds the ability to play over 50 additional media formats, advanced CD burning options, a toolbar playback mode and other enhancements.
AOL's Nullsoft unit considered a similar move last March for Winamp3, but made no announcements when the media player was officially released earlier this month. Instead of charging for format support, Nullsoft mulled including DVD playback and CD burning for an added fee - features that RealNetworks has included in its free player. Winamp3 however, includes support for Windows Media and other media formats such as OGG right out of the box.
The beta release of RealOne Player 2.0 preempts Microsoft's upcoming beta release of Windows Media Player 9 Series, which will also feature DVD playback, CD burning and instant-on stream support with Microsoft's new audio and video codecs.
RealOne Player 2.0 is available as a free download via FileForum. To purchase RealOne Player Plus or for more information on the update, visit real.com.
I always hated the interface of Real Player and this version doesn't gain any points. Full-screen video playback never works on my systems.
The Windows media player 7.1, 8.0 are both junk too.
The Quicktime player has a cool looking interface but tries to mimic a Mac interface on windows. The radial volume control is looks great but isn't as easy to use as the slider volume control found in other players. Futhermore, all open windows share a common toolbar (like Mac) - it was so darn confusing for me.
The only player I ever liked was windows media player 6.4 for video playback. I know several people who uninstalled WMP 7.1 and went back to 6.4 .
(BTW there is no need to uninstall 7.1 because the 6.4 player is always installed when you install version 7.x)
For audio-only winamp has the nicest interface. The best feature is it can be minimized to a tiny bar when it plays.
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|Ever since realstarted spying on their users I've stopped using any REAL product.....they can go bankrupt for all I care
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|I just Quicktime 6.0 and the radial volume control and the common menubar are both gone!!
I take back my comments about Quicktime.
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|It installs bunch of rubish which starts with Windows and tries to restore itself in case I remove it manually.
Unfortunately there are lots of net radios which are still emitting only in RealPlayer format. If I find another media player that supports this format, I'll immidiatelly get rid of the RealWhatever player on my machine.
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|This beta (or one of its add-ons) caused my computer to crash. I'm running XP Home, and the first RealOne version worked fine. Silly me, I decided to update to this beta and I now get an irreversible BSOD with a Stop 0x0000007e error. Uninstalling this garbage doesn't help, but I know this software caused the problem because my computer worked fine until I did install it. Whether it's a flaw in the software or a conflict with an already-installed device, it doesn't matter...I have to reformat. Goodbye Real. Even worse than Microshaft.
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|Do people actually try software before posting their comments anymore, or write reviews for that matter?
The free RealOne Player 2.0 plays the file formats of MP4 (philips, sorenson mpeg4, divx5, mpeg4ip, etc), WMV, WMA, MP3, MOV (sorenson 1, sorenson 2, sorenson 3, sorenson mpeg4, etc) files just fine without the need to upgrade to the Pro version.
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|OMG! Do they really think that people will PAY for the Plus version just to be able to watch WinMedia and Quicktime on their player when you can get WinMedia8 and Quicktime basic for FREE!!!??? Second, RealOne is nothing but a resource hog (yes I do have XP Pro with 512MB RAM and it still is slow loading RealOne) and it has a lot of AdWare on it. I say, stick to the basic/free versions of all media players and you will be setup just fine.
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|Not sure if you've even tried this latest release, however it uses very little resources - even less than Winamp2. I'm not a fan of the player in the least and wouldn't install it if I could watch Real video in some other fashion, but you're claims are not correct. The player loads in about 2 seconds and uses about 5-10MB of RAM compared to the 17MB used by Winamp2. I tested it on two P3 computers with the same result.
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|That's great if it loads fast for you but you are replying about the lesser of the two comments I made. Who in their right mind would pay for a media player just to get the ability to play a video format that you can play on other free media player. That is my main point, thank you very much. I could care less if it uses 1 MB of memory and loads up in 1.4 seconds, I'm would not pay for it.
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|I find RealOne player to be the cleanest and most efficient version yet. Yes, the internet integration of pro features sucks, but I find the interface to be pretty damn good when its in compact mode. Certainly a lot better then quicktime, and better then MP8's default interface.
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|I like the enhancements they have made to version 2. The gripes I had with getting around my libary were fixed with the new drop down menus (Artist/Album, Favorites and Genre)
The new support for every format and dvds is great! I have the free version and it plays everything fine, QT streams/downloads, Windows Media streaming and downloads fine.
Only thing is you might have save the asx or asf shortcut to your harddrive and then it will open in Real. I'm not sure if the pay version corrects that and lets you register those mime types in IE/Netscape.
Also, my friends on broadband love the TurboPlay feature that eliminates the buffering. I know Windows Media 9 Series is supposed to do that too, but haven't had first hand experience with that since the public beta doesn't come out until September.
I enjoy RealOne version 2. It manages all my gigs of mp3s, rips into any format (wav, wma, real8, mp3) , burn it to cds or transfer my ipaq pocketpc. (Also Sony netMD, would love to get my hands on one of those) I've also started using it for dvd watching :)
For something free, it sure does pack in alot of features. Of course Windows Media 8 player comes with XP and the new Corona will be for Windows users. (except mp3 encoding isn't free.)
I also enjoy the new features to turn off internet related services that people complain about. (For those who whine about Real's so called "spyware" or "adware") People forget do you make the installation easy or do you bombard new users with tons of explaining how Real will connect to the net to look up your cd title in the CD database. (Which you can click on the links and they'll explain it in no legalese) For those who are more experience users will know to do advance install and check the preferences. (just like I unchecked uniquelly identify my player in Windows Media player)
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