"RealPlayer 8 Beta is awful"

This is a perfect example when marketing is placed
before USERS..........
The CEOs at RealNetworks dropped the ball big time.

RealNetworks should be spanked for this AOL like
peace of softcrap.

I AM aware of the fact the new features cost in more resources.
However, it seems that RealNetworks don't give a s$#t about code optimization of any kind.
So, RealDudes: Don't forget that you are writing a P-L-A-Y-E-R there, that should run on any PC and not on NASA servers or something.

...hmm, that's it, i feel better now ;-)

Hardly anything new in version 8. They're just panicking because of Microsoft's player and throwing in extras just so they don't get lost in the media. They should have seen this coming from Microsoft a long time ago. They should have listened to the users and made it perfect for version 8 so Microsoft wouldn't make a dent.

Gee....memories of Netscape 3-4 years ago...

Yes indeed. And you know what happens? Microsoft gets split up because they simply create software that works.. Or at least, works better than the Reals*** (tm)... So basicly nobody wins the game.

Real Player 8 is awful and so is Real Juke Box 2.
All this web integrated crap to keep up with M$.
I don't like it. No need for it. Do your own thing. You are not Microsoft thank god.

Sounds like fluff-ware to me.. ie- a bunch of useless additions designed only to bring more profits to Real Networks.. just like 7.0 was.

How about they work on further improving streaming audio quality? They claim the video performance has increased but since it was stated in a passing breath in the PR release, chances are it's just marketing crap.

And who cares about iQfx.. it just tries to mask compression artifacts but ends up just mutilating the fidelity even further. They probably just included it because of a money binding contract.

Ever since G2, releases of Real Player have gone steadily down hill and are now approaching total garbage.

its not only fluff-ware, it gets the three B rating .. Bulk, Banners, barf. It reminds me of some bulkware sludge an outfit like aol would come out with.

Everyone is integrating there players to death. Microsofts new player has lots of features, integration with my Casiopiea was nice, and is a good step, but... It big, it slow, it has problems when it tries to load any file(takes to long) and its skins, well, stink.

Music Match can rip extremely fast. I went out and bought a copy just for that fact, but I must say it can't do anything well beyond that. It crashes for strange reasons when I run other programs, but decides not to stop playing. It can't play enough formats either. It pops up so many windows, and yes they can be docked together, but there still clumsy.

Now Real is trying to do the same. The G2 and 7 had the horrible tray icon from hell. It really slowed a computer down. Yes it sped up the start time for Real Player, but Window's start time took a real hit. Now they're "Expanding" their features and integrating with Real.com so users can "quickly pinpoint the A/V programming you want." I have never found something I really wanted to watch off of real.com. I use the site to download the latest version of Real. They also integrated the internet radio feature. Thats nice, but even with a T1 connection, when you have several secretaries in your building streaming radio, your T1 acts more like a 33.6 (I know from experience).

The point of this long spill...

Features are great, but they seem to be more of what the company wants, not what their users want. I want a player that can play almost any audio format through plugins, and can be upgraded with more plugins, but I don't want it to intialize all of those plugins when it runs. It should load them as needed. Also, I don't want ANY intgration with ANY web site. A link on the About box is it. This really slows a program down. Also, if you use a tray icon, (I would prefer none) don't make the tray icon the program, make it a SMALL loader program. The program could be skinnable, but allow you to turn the feature off, or make damn quick load times. And yes visuals are nice, but again don't load them untill needed. I would also like a very fast ripper. The ripper in MM is fast. And finally, IT SHOULD BE FAST. I hate slow, CPU, memory, and hard drive hogs. It should load faster than Microsoft Word 2000. Speed is what I think all users like to see in any program. The users are asking for speed. I'm not just talking to Real and Microsoft, I'm talking to all software makers.

(No my computer is not slow. Its a K7 600 w/ 128MB

I can only concur. It seems that too many companies lose sight of the strengths of their program and succumb to featuritis. ICQ used to be a fine small very useful program but now it's bloatware full of functions no one ever uses. The same goes for the Real Player. All I want from that program is that it plays those crappy sounding/looking Real files if that's the only way I can see or listen to online files. I don't want it to install loader programs that slow down the Windows startup, I don't want it to install all kinds of other junk (Jukebox, iQfx) behind my back, I don't want it to take control of my file associations, I don't want it to send all kinds of personal information to those friendly people from RealNetworks.

Personally I'd prefer just a codec from Real that I could use for Winamp, Sonique or the Windows media player so I wouldn't even have to consider installing that Real junk. (Same goes for that awful Quicktime monstrosity...)

Hear hear. Real and Apple should just make MCI or DirectShow codecs or whatever so you can use ANY player you want.

IMO, this is what integration and competition is about. Using whatever codecs with whatever player you want.

For users of the Plus versions of RealPlayer and RealJukebox, don't rush to upgrade.

I did, and now the music that I recorded to my computer from RealJukebox 1.0 plays garbled and horrible noise in Jukebox 2.0 beta. I've written Real Networks about my problem, but no answer yet.

after downloading i discovered 300 mp3's gone from my harddrive ...... anyone have this problem ?...... or did i " clean " my hardrive a little too well?

I think...

"although reviews of the latest Microsoft creation have not been the extremely positive response the software giant had hoped for"

...is a bit of an understatement :)

Yep... that's what happens when you slap something totally new together without listening user's comments on it during development. It's not bad, but it's not good either. It's just "eh".