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http://forms.real.com/real/player/blackjack.html

Scroll to "Unix" and just see the platforms they support.

For a commercial quality media player, just go http://www.real.com/linux , to support their development if you can code real stuff will make into even 2mb Nokia 7650 running on Symbian 60, go https://www.helixcommunity.org/ , OPEN SOURCE except codecs (they don't want them end in Redmond)

I supported Real just because whatever OS I run, their player actually worked. Others like MS said simply "fsck off" (mplayer is not relevant)

Even Apple being asshole to their own mac customers, forget quicktime 7 if you don't have their latest OS (or 1 less) while they accept that awful anti multimedia OS, windows 2000!

Win2k wasn't intended for home you know :)

You can get DRMed full length movies, as many as you want, from Real and Starz now for $13 a month. The quality is excellent, and if you commute long distances able to use your laptop, it's pretty cool.

The catalog is actually pretty big, 400 titles I think. The picture is damn good on a TV as well (you'll of course need a video out).

I don't know if perhaps you got served up a different page (perhaps depending on your OS, since it is Windows-only) but there's a big button at the top of the page on http://www.real.com/ that says DOWNLOAD RHAPSODY FREE.

The actual website for Rhapsody however is http://www.listen.com/. I've tried briefly to run it in wine with little luck, but that was on a Knoppix CD so I didn't really have much in the way of options for buggering things out. A couple library replacements later I at least got an error from Rhapsody itself, not from wine.

According to Rhapsody.com's front page, you get "25 full-length songs per month - FREE". Upon further investigation you only get to 25 free song plays. You don't get to keep the songs you play, and playing a song twice counts as two songs.

In other words, it's misleading advertising (oh what's new?) and if Rhapsody thinks this is going to help them compete again iTunes, they're very wrong -- iTunes gives away at least two songs a week that you get to *keep* and play as many times as you want.

Wow, nice! I wish I had known about this, before I installed the normal RealPlayer....

The audio program CarTalk issued a similar ultimatum several months ago, and that resulted in a different RealPlayer download link.

http://www.real.com/freeplayer/?rppr=cartalk.com

It's easier (and friendlier) to download the RealPlayer, but it results in the same spyware-infested client.
What does it say about RealPlayer when their biggest clients are threatening to rebel, because of frustrations caused by their listeners trying to use Real's spyware-infested software? It's sad that Real is following the KaZaA "business model" by selling out to spyware.

(Can't resist a link to my original rant about RealPlayer 8. I'm glad that version was their nadir, and they've been (slowly) improving since then.)

No more spyware, advertising, crappy "traybarprograms" clogging your system.

Or you could download RealPlayer Enterprise.

Or go get RealPlayer Enterprise. The BBC issued an ultimatum that they were going to switch away from RA unless Real offered an no-ad, no-spyware version. Cleanest multimedia player I've seen yet on Windows, and very unobtrusive.

So do I, except it's legal.

Seriously, I tried this service a while back and it works really well. So far I belive it only works on Windows, although Real has released a DRM-enabled client for Linux for quite some time ago. I know you hear DRM and groan - the service is worth the cost however. I believe it's $13/month with unlimited viewing of as many movies as you can download. The movies "expire" but that is expected - but they offer a live feed of the Starz channel along with it.

Almost as good as Netflix or Blockbuster online. Don't even have to send anything back. When it expires, you just can't play it. I think HBO should offer the same type of service, but they are owned by Time Warner (my local cable provider). Shame too, they have the most content and offer the most channels.

• It's definitely the future. It's so much easier to click and download a movie you want to watch instead of going to the store and renting it. And it has a significant advantage over Netflix in that you don't have to plan in advance, you get instant gratification. I decide I want to watch Troy - I log in to my computer, pay the fee and can be watching it 2 minutes later as it starts downloading
  
  
• Movielink is the venture put forth by a bunch of big movie studios. As such it has the latest movies which is good. However, it is expensive ($4.99 for 24 hour watching period!). It is also very restrictive DRM wise - you only have 24 hours, and you can only watch it on the computer you downloaded. The plus side is that they have all the latest movies
  
  
• Starz Ticket on Real Movies - this one is cool because for a flat fee ($12.95/month I think) you can watch all the movies you want. A drawback is that they have a very limited set of movies (300 movies I think), most of them you never heard of, or heard of and never wanted to watch, and a lot of very, very old movies. BUT, besides that, the service is pretty cool - you can activate up to 3 computers, so you can download to one computer and view it on another. And you can view and download as many movies as you want. They rotate through different movies and always have about 300 or so in the library, so if they rotate "out" a movie you were watching, you can't finish watching it. But I do like this service, because unlike Movie Link you're not limited to 24 hours
  
  
• Digital Cable / VOD / On Demand - I have Adelphia Digital Cable, and they seem to have a large library of movies "on demand". The convenience factor is great - it's already on your TV, you don't have to plug your computer into your TV to use this. Drawback is steep price - like MovieLink its $4.95 for 24 hours of viewing time. They do let you view the movie from any digital cable box in your home, so thats a little flexibility right there. And you can obviously record it to your TiVo and watch it beyond the 24 hour period. They have a lot of new movies, I'm watching Shrek 2 using this right now.
  
  If someone managed to combine the Starz Ticket pricing and DRM model with the movie collection of the others, that would be close to a winner.
  
  After having been a Netflix subscriber for 5 years, I realized that this is really the future, once people start getting it. (The vendors AND the consumers need to get it)

Well, with the Starz thing Real is doing, you pay a pretty small price ($13/mo) to download and watch unlimited (well, within the limits of the catalog) movies at your leisure.

I will now put on my firesuit in preparation for the incoming flames.

RealPlayer files are played in linux http://www.real.com/linux/?rppr=rnwk&src=040%20104 freeplayer just fine. I think torrent would be overkill. I'd expect mpeg files to start floating around soon, Hell, even Knuth's lectures on his Christianity are online http://technetcast.ddj.com/tnc_program.html?progra m_id=50

real is played in linux
i wish people would get over the open-sourced-ness of apps on linux. you should have learne by now that the only shit open source is good is for ripping off people, and when somebody rips someone off they usually inherit the bug list from the original.

I sure as hell dont want to see a million players for real player and whatnot, i just want one who works.

(talk about -5, offtopic)

Eh? I regularly watch BBC TV or listen to BBC radio on my nava-t digital tuner card in my gentoo box, and before that I used to use the helix-based realplayer to listen to BBC radio.

I also understand realplayer is available for both OSX and older macs.

Admittedly, realplayer is still somewhat of a pain in the neck, and I'd much prefer vorbis streams, but which content particularly isn't available for non-windows platforms?

Are you referring to the broadband streamed versions of BBC 'broadcasts' that they assume will be common by 2017? (As opposed to the handful of realplayer clips they currently make available on BBC broadband)

If so, don't worry. The BBC has stated in the past that the main reason they use realplayer is because it's cross platform. Given their public-sector remit, they are certain to ensure that it won't be some windows-only service in future.

Eh? I regularly watch BBC TV or listen to BBC radio on my nava-t digital tuner card in my gentoo box, and before that I used to use the helix-based realplayer to listen to BBC radio.

I also understand realplayer is available for both OSX and older macs.

Admittedly, realplayer is still somewhat of a pain in the neck, and I'd much prefer vorbis streams, but which content particularly isn't available for non-windows platforms?

Are you referring to the broadband streamed versions of BBC 'broadcasts' that they assume will be common by 2017? (As opposed to the handful of realplayer clips they currently make available on BBC broadband)

If so, don't worry. The BBC has stated in the past that the main reason they use realplayer is because it's cross platform. Given their public-sector remit, they are certain to ensure that it won't be some windows-only service in future.

• "
• A legal loophole highlighted by the communications regulator Ofcom means that viewers could watch television and listen to radio over the internet and mobile devices free, potentially costing the BBC millions of pounds in licence fees"

• Broadband video news from the BBC is only available to international users by subscription. Find out how to get the latest broadband video news from the BBC here.

Speaking of hamster projects, check this one out:

Hamster project shows a symbiotic exchange of hoarded energy in aiming to establish a symbiosis between a population of hamsters and a group of vehicles with intelligent steering units. It is a documentation about the development of the project. There are photographs and a few streaming Real videos. The installation was part of the "Cyberarts 1999"-exhibition in the "OK- Museum of Contemporary Art" during the "Ars Electronica 1999/ Life Science"-Festival in Linz/Austria (September 4-18). /. rejected my submission. :P

Have a look at this site.

HTH

Or get real enterprise player. Corporate version of realplayer, more compatible than real alternative and no crap.

Considering the question was about the broadest support...

Players supporting MPEG1&2 are available on every OS that I can think of (even Plan9).
The RealPlayer or Helix player is available for most platforms (Win, Mac, *nix). Note: the RealPlayer is really only bloated on Windows. You can get Real's Enterprise player if you want a stripped down version. There's also RealAlternative (for Win); MPlayer and Xine support the older Real Codecs.
AVI can be a problem because of the Codecs. Since its basically a wrapper format (as is the RealMedia format btw), some codecs may not be available on all platforms (as many a Linux user will attest).

A side note: The RealMedia format is also just a wrapper (similar to AVI or QT) for other codecs. The reason I place it above AVI is because of the multiplatform player supports *most* of the codecs that would be used with the Real/Helix Producer. And there is decent documentation of the rm file format on the helix website.

Disclaimer (should have been in my first post): I am an ex-employee of Real.

We recommend two solutions for players:

- QuickTime Player, for Mac OS and Windows
- VideoLan Client (VLC), for Mac OS and Windows, but also many other operating systems

I love and use VideoLan Client (VLC), but are you sure it's legal to use VLC to play MPEG-4 with AAC audio without paying additional licensing fees? I haven't tried it, but I'm pretty sure Real Player 10 for Linux/Unix will play MPEG-4 with AAC legally.

From the "Legal concerns" section of the VideoLAN FAQ:

3.3. Is libdvdcss legal?

The use and distribution of the libdvdcss library is controversial in a few countries such as the United States because of a law called the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act). If you are unsure about the legality of using and distributing this library in your country, please consult your lawyer.

Note
Beware: VLC media player binaries are distributed with the libdvdcss library included.

3.4. What about personal/commercial usage?

Some of the codecs distributed with VLC are patented and require you to pay royalties to their licensors. These are mostly the MPEG style codecs.

With many products the producer pays the license body (in this case MPEG LA) so the user (commercial or personal) does not have to take care of this. VLC (and ffmpeg and libmpeg2 which it uses in most of these cases) cannot do this because they are Free and Open Source implementations of these codecs. The software is not sold and therefore the end-user becomes responsible for complying to the licensing and royalty requirements. You will need to contact the licensor on how to comply to these licenses.

This goes for playing a DVD with VLC for your personal joy ($2.50 one time payment to MPEG LA) as well as for using VLC for streaming a live event in MPEG-4 over the Internet.

Wow, talk about some lousy responses. I'm guessing you want to avoid making users install extra software, right? So BitTorrent and DivX might not be the most favorable solution. Although I think DivX would work well, I think you'd best be served by creating HTTP streamable videos with either RealPlayer or QuickTime. I think most Linux users are savvy enough to play any format, and Mac users will be comfortable with either format. Real has a player available for Windows, Linux, and Macintosh. If you think Real is evil like 95% of the Slashdot community, Quicktime would be a great alternative.

And Real does have an annoyance-free version of their player available for Windows:
http://forms.real.com/rnforms/products/tools/red/

Try the following:

• 3ivx Codec
• DivX Codec
• Xvid Codec
• Real Export Plug-in

Enjoy!

Yaz.

May I ask why you prefer a godless, warez version of RealPlayer over the malware-free Enterprise Edition?

Sincerely,
AC

Don't forget the malware free version of RealPlayer.

*puts on flame-retardant suit*

(try it before you bitch)

They put the effort into promoting the "Music Freedom of Choice" site, and the thing hasn't been updated since AUGUST. musicfreedomofchoice.com.

And their Harmony page still advertises Harmony as being compatible with iPod: RealPlayer with Harmony Technology.
So in short, fuck Real.

If you're going to do something, then fucking do it. Otherwise go the fuck away.

And whose fault is that? Say you had an RCA Lyra player, and you bought tracks from the iTMS in protected-AAC format. Apple provides the ability to convert those songs into a format that the Lyra can play. RCA doesn't have to provide that ability for you, it's Apple who sold the tracks, and Apple who's under the obligation to make it work for you... and they do.

Now, who is under the obligation to let you play tracks from Real on any player? Including your car CD player? Hint: it's not Apple, nor is it Kenwood.

disclaimer: not a true obligation, since Real never promises that you can play your purchased tracks anywhere. In fact, they're selling you something that they know you can't play anywhere since they don't let you burn the tracks as Redbook CDs, or convert them to any other format. See here for all of the devices "not supported by Real".

Its possible to IRC semi-anonymous. Its possible to use encryption between IRC clients. Real Criminals know this ;)

Whoa, Real is making its own OS now? Is this some new marketing strategy?

Adware free version

OEMs will probably just take the version with media player attached, since otherwise they'd have to research other players to bundle instead and that's probably a lot more effort than they want to put in.

Or the OEM will choose between RealPlayer and QuickTime based on whether RealPlayer Music Store or iTunes Music Store wants to pay more to get new customers.

With this device, I don't have to download software I don't want to be able to listen to my favorite public radio show when I miss it.
I spend a lot of time on the road. Radio shows that I like are not always available where I am. I'll be looking at this a bit more closely.

(tig)

Link for http://www.real.com/linux/?src=092804realhome_1_1_ 2_1_1_1,021204r1cp_home_dlrhap_bb
RealPlayer 10 for Linux

What to do if you find yourself with a computer that's unable to play Realaudio, and you're at your wits' end with no hope of HHGTTG:

Consider how lucky you are that life has been good to you so far.

Alternatively, if life hasn't been good to you so far, which, given your current circumstances is more likely:

Consider how lucky you are that it won't be troubling you much longer.

Real Alternative. Play real without installing the evil real

If you're out of reception range of BBC Radio Four, then you can listen online:

BBC Radio Player

It requires a Real player of some kind.

Greetings. Like Kevin, I'm a RealNetworks employee, specifically the Group Program Manager for the RealPlayer products.

The problem you found with Starz downloads being interrupted due to inaccurate disconnection messages was recently fixed in RealPlayer 10.5 (Windows). The latest version (which includes the mentioned fix) will be available for download later this week from http://www.real.com/ (and by selecting Check For Update from the Tools menu in RealPlayer). We're also looking at ways to make downloading of large content more robust in future versions.

The cancellation issue you encountered wasn't planned - more likely, there was a failure of the account server or some other technical glitch at that time which prevented your action from completing successfully. Regardless, I'll pass your concerns on to our Services team to ensure that they're rectified in the future.

Chris Rimple, Group Program Manager - RealPlayer, RealNetworks

For those who don't want to dig it out for themselves, here are the numbers and, yes, they are NOT profitable.

Without media player classic picking up where microsoft left off, I would be using crappy media players to watch movies.

http://www.real.com/linux will take you to the linux page.

That has long been proven false. Here is the real (pardon pun) crap-free version: http://forms.real.com/rnforms/products/tools/red/

You took great pains to make it hard to find the free version of your player on your website.

First hit on google.

You made an application that ignored my wishes and took over the playback duties for certain file formats, when I specifically chose otherwise.

True, but it doesn't do that anymore.

You made an application that sneakily hid pre-checked subscription boxes, to trick people into getting on your junk mail lists.

I don't think it's done that for quite awhile.

http://forms.real.com/rnforms/products/tools/red/

You took great pains to make it hard to find the free version of your player on your website.

First hit on google.

You made an application that ignored my wishes and took over the playback duties for certain file formats, when I specifically chose otherwise.

True, but it doesn't do that anymore.

You made an application that sneakily hid pre-checked subscription boxes, to trick people into getting on your junk mail lists.

I don't think it's done that for quite awhile.

http://forms.real.com/rnforms/products/tools/red/

As has been posted in countless other Real discussions here on Slashdot, Real has a malware-free version of their player available:
http://forms.real.com/rnforms/products/tools/red/

Get it, try it, quit bitching.

As has been posted in countless other Slashdot bitch-sessions, Real has offered a "cruft-free" version for quite some time now:
http://forms.real.com/rnforms/products/tools/red/

http://www.real.com/products/player/bbc.html

Completely spyware free. Doesn't install any System Tray icons - in fact I can't find much wrong with it yet.

I wanted to watch the BBC Olympics coverage, so I took the risk of downloading it and it seems to have paid off.

1. It's more than one click away from the main website.

2. It tries to take over your system as a default media system and sign you up for all kinds of spam on install.

3. It's BUTT ugly. It looks like the rejects from the XP UI team were hired to design it, when the rejects from the QuickTime UI team would have been a better choice.

4. I can't DL the content of RealMedia, like I can with mpeg or quickTime.

5. It's a bit [buffering 10%] too eager [buffering 25%] to send media [buffering 40%] before it's [buffering 75%] ready. And scrubbing [buffering 85%] is nearly [buffering 95%] impossible.

WHEN are you going to fix these OBVIOUS deficiencies that have plagued the player for YEARS?

Er, they have. RealPlayer 10 for Linux is a simple stripped-down client, and doesn't install anything else. I've had it installed for some time now.

It's just MS's WMA format that iTunes can't play, but neither can any other player anyways.

That's not exactly true.

Well I'm now better off buying CD's then using DRM telling me how many computers I can put it on. Here are a few things I found interesting from their privacy policy...

"Microsoft also provides a service that lets you move your own secure content..." Gee thanks M$ for letting me put the content I purchased where I want to

"Unless the migration limit has been reached, a new license will be returned that enables use of the content on your new computer. Microsoft keeps track of the number of migration licenses granted for content that was first licensed on your original computer and allows a limited number of license migrations."
Great so if I move it to my work, laptop and home computer I might not be able to play what I purchased? Furthermore, how does this work since my laptop / home run Gentoo Linux?

I'll be sticking with ANYTHING BUT THIS.
Thanks for deciding to licence my music for me, M$ how nice of you. Not even Real does that, come on!

Actually it's a contradiction in terms.

I mean, Real and "Open"? I don't think so.

(for all you Helix fans, I'm talking about the binary codecs)