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Real Problems

Posted by michael on from the monetization dept.

Universal Nerd writes "Could Real be its own downfall? According to 'Find the Download in a Haystack', it could be. The difficulty folks have in reaching the free version of RealPlayer is forcing Minnesota Public Radio to look towards Windows Media Player as an alternative. I prefer good old MP3 or OGG streaming like the feeds offered at WCPE but I'm sure no 'serious' company would consider it because they don't have their digital rights preserved." See the CarTalk story from yesterday.

4 of 481 comments (clear)

  1. Correct by broothal · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Real is indeed its own worst enemy. The technology behind the product is great! But:

    The hiding of the free player

    The non-standard installer

    The annoying "messages" that cannot be turned off
    are all reasons why people don't use their product any more. If they woke up and smelled the coffee, they could easily win back market shares.

  2. Re:Good... down with Real by tepples · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Adobe Reader development is subsidized by sales of Adobe Acrobat software. RealPlayer seems to be subsidized by advertising sales. What business model would you suggest?

  3. Re:Good... down with Real by MrChuck · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Yeah, I dumped Real when it turns out that my illusions of privacy were clearly illusions.

    Windows? Nien, danke.

    Open Format with Open Tools and I'll be there.

    Stream it with multicast? Great, I'll be all over it.

    Sell my information to anyone with a quarter? Thanks Real, but no.

  4. Digital Rights Management Management... by pla · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I prefer good old MP3 or OGG streaming like the feeds offered at WCPE but I'm sure no 'serious' company would consider it because they don't have their digital rights preserved.

    Do a Google search for "Net Transport". Only runs on Windows, AFAIK, but it allows you to download almost all MMS (WM) and RTSP (Real) streams. Not exactly easy to use (unless you use MSIE, in which case it integrates seamlessly - But personally, I'd rather suffer through it's awkward interface than use MSIE), but it works.

    Also, you might want to look into Real Alternative and QuickTime Alternative. These don't always work, but when they do, you get to play the content through WMP classic (6.something), which doesn't disable the "save" option.

    Finally, for those difficult newer QuickTime streams, set your TMP and TEMP environment variables to a network share on a Linux box - Although Windows will lock the files so you can't copy them, Linux won't honor that lock (meaning, from a shell on the Linux box, you can just watch as the file appears, wait for it to finish, then copy it to "blah.mov" to keep a copy.


    And, AFAIK, none of these violate the DMCA. Simply by virtue of having the ability to play such files over the net, you already have "access" to them. This just enhances the flexibility of what you do with that access.


    Okay, I've shared my Tips of the Day... Now, anyone know a way to save RealOne streams? I have yet to find a way to do so...