RealPlayer 11 Is a Real Rip Contender

rishimathew writes to tell us TechNewsWorld is reporting that the new RealPlayer 11, not even out of beta yet, has a lot of great new features including the ability to easily rip streaming videos from sites like YouTube, Revver, and Heavy.com. "With the release of RealPlayer 11, the company is boldly moving into another dicey realm: ripping streaming video. Sure, there are lots of means out there to capture video from sites like YouTube Latest News about YouTube, Revver, Heavy.com and such. There are programs like WM Recorder (US$49.95) and Replay A/V ($49.95), as well as Web sites like Keepvid.com and Mozilla Latest News about Mozilla Foundation Firefox add-ons like VideoDownloader. I've tried some of them. Few, though, can match the slick ease of use of RealPlayer 11 -- and it isn't even out of beta yet."

Comments

Holy Fucking Slashvertisment, Batman!

[Anonymous Coward]

I've tried some of them. Few, though, can match the slick ease of use of RealPlayer 11 -- and it isn't even out of beta yet. Alright, alright, I get it, I should buy RealPlayer 11. Enough already, Salesman! You've won. I submit. Here, I will tender all my cash to you. Give me one ... no, two ... no fifty licenses! I need them. I want them all, I don't care if it isn't out yet, I want it. I need it. I have to have it.

MY LIFE IS NOTHING WITHOUT REALPLAYER 11!

What? Limited supplies?

Holy shit, give me the license now or I'll kill you. I'll kill you just like I killed that mother of four for my son's tickle-me-elmo doll. I'll do it. *makes stabbing motions* Ha-HAAAA! *stab, stab, stab* Ha-HAAAA!

I'm a sick man ... daddy ... needs his ... RealPlayer 11!

Re:Holy Fucking Slashvertisment, Batman!

[Propaganda13]

I was going to download, but then I realized that the rip would be in a native proprietary format. Unless, of course, you pay them.

Re:Holy Fucking Slashvertisment, Batman!

[fm6]

Not only a proprietary format, but Real has always been very aggressive about going after people who try to interoperate without paying for the privilege. Which makes the fancy ripping features of RP 11 just a little ironic.

Yea but if history tells me anything

[DustyShadow]

...it will be the worst hijacking player of all time. I've never used Real Player because of the sole reason that it would never let me disassociate it with file types. Don't play nice, fine...you don't get installed...ever...again. Some reputations just can't be fixed, and Real ruined theirs long long ago.

Re:Yea but if history tells me anything

[Otter]

From TFA:

With the latest version, installation was trouble-free and surprisingly well-mannered. In the past, Real had an irksome habit of planting icons on the desktop without an owner's permission, as well as making a power grab to associate all multimedia file extensions with the player.

This release of the software is very scrupulous about modifying a system that it has been invited to enter. What's more, the program, by default, will only claim as its own files not associated with any other applications on a computer.

Re:Yea but if history tells me anything

[Angostura]

"What website uses real media these days anyway?"

The BBC for one. And the free version for the Mac is excellent. Don't know about the Windows version.

Re:Yea but if history tells me anything

[cbhacking]

As somebody who, back in the Win9x days (I forget, 95 or 98) installed a early version of RealPlayer that hijacked my entire sound card while in Windows (neither system sounds nor sound from other players would play, whether RP was running or not, although I could get sound in other programs like Warcraft 2) I can certainly appreciate your view on this. That was, however, roughly a decade ago, and while I still don't care for the company and certainly won't claim they've been perfect angels since then, every now and then you should give somebody a second chance.

RealPlayer 11 is actually a pretty good product, considering its beta status (the version I downloaded had a couple showstopper bugs on Vista, mainly involving volume control, so I don't use it much). RP10 is absolute garbage on Windows - huge, slow, bloated, ad-filled, and aggressive system changes set by default (although they can be unchecked) that I really don't care for. The version for Linux is actually a good product though - I prefer Amorak for casual listening, but for some video formats RP is a better bet than anything else I have installed.

Also, Real has recently begun selling DRM-free MP3s through their Rhapsody online music store. The tracks are ripped at 256kbps (same as their DRMed versions) and cost the same as well. Most of their catalog is still DRMed, and the Rhapsody player itself isn't going to win any awards from me for being great software, but moving even a little away from DRM earns them big points IMO. Now, if only they would make it possible to purchase MP3s on Linux it would be even better...

Re:Yea but if history tells me anything

[Oktober Sunset]

well, the commonly held belief that real play farts in your face while you are asleep is totally false.

Obligitory

[Ralphus Maximus]

Buffering........... Cheers, RM

If it's from Real I won't use it.

[casualsax3]

It's unfortunate, but I'm among those users so horribly scarred by Real so long ago that I'll just never use another product by them. I think it's the name - it just makes me nauseous now. It could be the best app on the planet - but unless they change the name I just won't go near it. End of story.

And the company are still die-hard spammers, no?

[seebs]

So, back in the day, Real spammed. A lot. They spammed constantly, they spammed everybody (like IETF role accounts), and they did so unrepentantly, with forged addresses in the headers and everything.

Has anything changed?

I somehow don't think so.

Change in tactics?

[jma05]

Amusing, given that they sued companies which made software that ripped real streams back in 2000.

Re:Change in tactics?

[evilviper]

Yes, that's why it's news... The sheer irony of it all.

If Real would have endorsed or adopted such copying capabilities into their player circa 2000, they might have had a chance of staying relevant through the years. Now, when there are hundreds of other programs that can easily do the same thing, it's not even a notable feature, except for the ironic aspect.

Alternative:

[UncleTogie]

Wait for Gutsy and use clive...

Re:What's the second generation of YouTube video?

[nocomment]

So basically the same way we watched pornos in 8th grade?

Re:It's closed, so it's dead

[Constantine XVI]

https://helix-client.helixcommunity.org/
I rest my case.

RealPlayer.... Isn't that a virus?

[MarkToronto]

I treat RealPlayer like a virus or mal ware. Everytime some jackass installs it on my computer I immediately get rid of it. That and Adobe Reader. Down with bloated software !!!

Someone saying something nice about Realplayer?

[jollyreaper]

Is this another Dvorak troll masquerading as an article?

Saving YouTube videos

[ThePyro]

Am I the only one who just copies the videos directly from the FireFox cache folder? It's pretty easy to find them - they're huge compared to the other cached stuff. Just copy the file, rename to .flv, and you're ready to play it.

So......

[demachina]

...you work for Real don't you rishimathew. It looks like all three of your Slashdot submissions are about Real. Nice free advertising for them, good work /. editors.

All is not well...

[Herms]

Few, though, can match the slick ease of use of RealPlayer 11 -- and it isn't even out of beta yet.

Also, few can match the problems caused to completely unrelated software by simply installing it. The mechanism they use for flash video ripping is (as far as I've been able to tell) pretty much undocumented and, as it currently stands, breaks lots of stuff. My company's product breaks in a couple ways, even though our product has nothing to do with Real Player and doesn't serve video. Here are some links with info on the problems:

• Adobe employee (engineer?) bringing up some of the issues: http://weblogs.macromedia.com/jd/archives/2007/07/ real_problem.cfm
• Real's response to the above post: http://rws-blog.rhapsody.com/realplayer/2007/07/re alplayer-beta.html
• Flash/FMS communication details: http://blog.jaycharles.net/?p=9
• Other details. From comments here it suggests that RP11 is installing some kind of proxy for the Flash communication: http://www.flashcomguru.com/index.cfm/2007/8/1/rea l-bug

I also created a wiki page on the osflash site to document them and workarounds/fixes if they're found: http://osflash.org/flashcoders/realplayer_bugs I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Real gets sued by someone over RP11. Either for stream ripping or simply for breaking Flash related products.

Re:And the company are still die-hard spammers, no

[seebs]

Ahh, yes. It was "her" address (actually, a /dev/null box, as they later confirmed) that was put on all the spam, to give the impression that they gave a fuck whether it was bouncing or not. They didn't. I think it's funny that they apparently never complied with the law that she claimed was a good anti-spam law. I mean, it's bad enough that she was involved with legislation that was utterly worthless; so far as I know, their spam never even complied with that worthless legislation. Insult to injury, that.