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NPR's Car Talk Dumping RealMedia
olcrazypete writes: "Click and Clack are apparently fed up with Real Networks. They have switched to Windows Media Player format. 'Why? Because, for a long time, we've had tons of complaints about RealNetworks. And the one that ticks us off the most is the perceived trickery they use to sell their premium products. This is just our opinion, mind you, but it's shared by enough of our listeners, that we
finally decided to take action.' The whole story is here . My favorite line: 'It stinks so much that it even makes Microsoft look good by comparison. That's something, huh?'"
Switch to something a little more open minded... like Nullsoft's Shoutcast. I listen to some pretty nice UK radio stations from across the pond with KDE's Noatun whilst I code thanks to Shoutcast. I don't see any reason why its not usable for radio broadcasts like Click & Clack.
-- Stu
/. ID under 2,000. I feel old now.
For those who don't know already, both mplayer and xine play streaming windows media just fine on Linux/FreeBSD/etc.
Go here to get Real Alternative.
a ti ve.htm
It plays Real Audio crap without the need for Real's crapware.
Windows only, I do believe.
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Real_Altern
no they did not. they are still playing games.
1 2904realhome_1_3_2_1_1_1
go to http://www.real.com/.
the headline reads: Introducing RealPlayer 10
subheadline: New Powerful Free
with a big image with a big, bright "Free" logo.
click on the free logo takes you here:
http://www.real.com/realplayer.html?pp=home&src=0
there are two big "Download Now" buttons on this site. both lead to the non-free premium player. in the margin on the right, with grey text over a grey background, there is a link to the free player.
that is bullshit. i know the free player is there, and that real plays tricks, so i specifically look for it. the average internet user, on the other hand, may not be that aware.
real are still assholes, and i am glad cartalk is moving away from their format because of their shitty tactics.
Actually I think he's referring to the excellent "Media Player Classic" a GPL "re-write" of mplayer2, it has all of features that the original did (small size, clean interface) and a heap of extra's such as Realmedia/Quicktime and even flash playback support using the IE plugin controls. http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli/
I think though that real has lots of issue.
:D Real player was always better on the mp3s though.
1. its HARD to find the free player. They keep saying "free player here" but then nothing be for sale ones show up, then you find the little link hidden in the corner somewhere.
2. they want email for download. I know you can enter a fake one. But I get tired of it all.
3. They will install loads of *extra* garbage that MS wont. (Or MS is much better and covert-ops)
4. It will take you weeks to learn all the tons of things you need to turn off to keep that thing from harrassing you.
5. if you don't register, it keeps asking you each time you try to play a file. You get choice OK-Cancel (among other issues) which implies either register, or don't play. Quicken does the same horrible thing with their update feature...
I used to like realplayer better than MS. But if they are going to be equally as corrupt, I'll stick with MS since I already have it