RSSRealPlayer 10 Beta Debuts with Music Store
By David Worthington | Published January 22, 2004, 5:44 AM
RealNetworks has let loose what it considers to be "the best media player ever." A beta version of RealPlayer 10 sits front and center at Real.com, despite the fact that the software remains incomplete.
The beta player previews a new content guide, enables support for over 50 portable music devices, performance tweaks, an overhauled installation process, and an integrated music store. RealPlayer 10 stands to be the first major revision to RealNetwork's flagship software in nearly two years.
Visitors to the Real.com Web site who intend to download RealPlayer will be whisked along to a beta version of the software. A small warning located near the bottom of the download page informs customers that they are downloading an unfinished product.
Real says it will notify beta testers when updates are available, and provides a reference link to previous stable builds of its software.
Despite its nearly autonomic push for customers to immediately upgrade to RealPlayer 10, Real has changed its practice of hawking add-ons that critics equated to spyware. Now, the modified installer's "quick install" option will not contain any software extras or marketing links without first receiving permission from the user.
Additional program settings are said to be easier to turn off and on, but Real's Message Center still cannot be switched off by default.
Users will encounter the integrated Real Guide content pane, intended to enable users to discover audio and video clips strewn throughout news, sports, music and entertainment categories. While many clips are free, premium content can only be played within a window of 30 seconds without purchase. Real Guide can be personalized with "Quicklinks" to a user's favorite content, and searched both within the guide itself and on the Web.
All of the RealOne SuperPass premium services will also be available in RealPlayer 10.
Other services include the player's integrated music store powered by the Rhapsody digital music service. Songs are priced at $0.99 USD per track with most albums available for $9.99, and encoded at 192 Kbps via RealAudio 10 with AAC. Real has included playback for audio formats found in other major online music stores as well.
RealPlayer 10 notably includes native support for music purchased through the iTunes Music Store, a move that has drawn the ire of Apple executives. This interoperability is coupled with the software's ability to manage over 50 portable music players, including Apple's iPod.
Users have reported that iTunes meta data does not display correctly in this beta build of RealPlayer 10, but the company has said that it will resolve the issue in a future release.
Songs downloaded from outside sources will be sorted through a re-designed music jukebox in RealPlayer 10 that organizes, plays and transfers music to CDs and compatible portable devices. Other core features include: drag and drop functionality; the ability to export to devices; 30 percent faster CD burning in comparison to its RealOne predecessor; and the ability to burn Redbook Audio, MP3, or mixed-mode content to CDs.
The 30 percent increase in efficiency also extends to the RealVideo 10 codec versus 9.0. Real claims 1 Megabit per second "DVD quality video" and 5 Mb per second in high definition. RealAudio 10 utilizes the AAC codec, with enhancements for home theater and audiophiles alike.
In addition, two technologies dubbed LivePause and PerfectPlay allow live and on-demand streaming video that can be paused or fast forwarded.
Hyping the new milestone, Rob Glaser, Chairman and CEO of RealNetworks said, "RealPlayer 10 is the first product ever to directly integrate finding, organizing, buying, playing, and managing digital audio and video in a single fun, easy to use product. You gotta check it out."
Unlike many rival vendors, including Microsoft, Real remains virtually platform agnostic and develops its wares across the IT spectrum.
RealPlayer 10 will be compatible with Windows, Mac OS X, Linux/GNU, and some UNIX distributions upon its completion. While the software is developed in-house by RealNetworks, a company spokesperson told BetaNews that the Linux based player is, "being compiled nightly with RealAudio 10 and RealVideo 10 in the Helix Community.
In September, 2003, Microsoft took a cue from RealNetworks and opened up Windows Media 9 video compression technology to the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) for review.
...claims to have produced the best player ever? Uh-HUH. Also, the whpole concept of these so-called "online music stores" is laughable in their current incarnation. I'm going to pay a buck a song for a LOSSY format when I can have the **LOSSLESS** CD for essentially the same price? And this makes sense to who exactly? Give me a thin non-bloated player that is sanitized of all adware and malware, ensure that it is appropriately bug free and make available *LOSSLESS** content for $0.75 a song with half of that going to the most important part of the music equation - the artist - and I might consider it. Might. As far as I'm concerned, the above completely rules out any effort by Real Networks because I don't think they are capable of the software aspect, let alone the audio quality aspect. This is just another wannabe on the whole trendy iTunes bandwagon con job - no benfit for consumers here, move along...
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|don† know anything about music store and stuff, becaue when i installed that "new" realplayer, it messed up, didn't start and didn't want to uninstall. remembering i hate realnetworks software all in all. this will be ei some amateur stuff compared with iTunes and neonapster.
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|Since you hate it already, why even post. Does the word BETA mean anything to you? How about the first step past ALPHA which is the first step after internal release. I think REAL has done a hell of a job. Yes it is BETA code and it will have problems until it is released, but they are trying to get it to a huge audience to really ring it out. So next time you install a BETA product, and it doesn't install properly or run, you might want to look at the system you’re running it on. If you are using a product like NEONAPSTER, I can imagine the rest of the sh&^ware you have installed. Try installing on a clean system. I think you will be pretty amazed. Oh yea, REAL has been involved since the beginning. sure they went the wrong way renaming the product, but they admit it, and are going back to basics with a REAL kick butt product that will definitely blow any of the competition away until uncle BILL copies it.
PS - These are my opinions, and I do not work REAL
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|Despite the rantings about how bloated the software is, and inspite of the presence of so called spware, unfazed I have been using this player for a very long time. Recently I bought a new video card from ATI and it comes with the enhanced version. I would like to point here that the new interface not in the Real 10 but the free version is very likeable and easy. When I choose my playlists, it copies the files from my music folder and displays distinctly everthing about a particular MP3, the duration, artists etc, etc,. In addition DFX has a program specially formulated to enhance the sound effects in the Real.All said and done this player is very good. Mind you, I have played around with most of the players on the net including foobar. In the end I have chosen Real Player, and I am completely satisfied with its performance. This is just my opinion.
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|actually, i was speaking about best music player ever, which hangs up immediately after installation and does not want to uninstall.
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|I agree - I hate RealPlayer too. Why is it that their RealPlayer 9 is one of the few programs that doesn't use a normal window - they have to use rounded corners and different looking buttons just to be different.
The way you control the player is rubbish. Windows Media Player is so easy to use - double-click to go full-screen and double-click or press Escape to go back to normal again. I think WM8 is the best player ever. WM9 is good but the on-screen controls when viewed in full-screen mode are far too big and slow. But RealPlayer is rubbish - I wouldn't have it installed at all if it wasn't for the BBC content (why can't they use WMV?) I hate QuickTime too - another fiddly program. We need a monopoly in the form of Windows Media !!!
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