Realplayer… real evil?

I’ve never been a fan of content published in the RealMedia format, partly because the quality usually isn’t very good but mostly because the Realplayer is just plain evil.  It tries to take over everything on your computer, refuses to relinquish control without a big fight once it has that control, and ferreting out the free version of the player on their site has always been a nightmare.

Well, it appears that the BBC had much the same feeling and they did something about it by offering a links to non-crappy versions of the software:

“The BBC made a unique deal with Real Networks which disposes of their spyware tactics. Basically, if a user clicks on a link to download Real Player from a BBC website, the referrer script sends them to a page where they can download an expiry-free, spyware-free and nuicance-free version of the player. It’s because the BBC have such a stringent public service remit, that it was offensive to charge people a license fee for BBC content, then make them pay all over again for the facility to view/listen to it.”

Interestingly, Boing Boing also has another recent link dealing with Realplayer.  It seems that “Car Talk” (a show on NPR) recently ditched RealMedia in favor of—get this—Windows Media Player.  From their explanation:

Here’s the problem. In order to hear our audio, you have to go to Real.com and download their “free” RealPlayer. But when you get to the web site, the free player is harder to find than Osama Bin Laden at night. And the site seems to do everything it possibly can to get you to “buy” a player instead. You have to work very hard to get the free player. And we think that stinks. And get this. It stinks so much that it even makes Microsoft look good by comparison. That’s something, huh?

With the possibilities from that first link, though, maybe I’ll actually install a Realplayer on my computer for the first time in years… (Both links via Boing Boing)

Posted Tuesday February 3, 2004 in Around the Internet by Chris Curtis

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Comments

I listen to Car Talk every week, and I was thrilled last week when I went and discovered that they finally ditched Real.  I was hoping for another choice besides WMP, but oh well.

Good call, BBC, though.  Makes me wonder if the British Parliament might actually be able to get Apple to release cheap, in-stock batteries for iPods. wink

By Derek Jones on February 3, 2004 at 03:17pm link

*sigh*

Ever heard if Quicktime? Solves all of life’s difficult problems.

By Mays on February 3, 2004 at 03:27pm link

Yeah, quicktime is generally a great format.  But it’s still basically proprietary and I hate how the player keeps popping up that annoying “Do you want to upgrade to Quicktime Pro?” message nearly every other time I open a MOV file.  If I’ve said “no” the last 50 times… <sigh>

For things that involve distribution among a wide audience, I would almost always prefer a non-proprietary (and preferably open) format.  But, no… content authors want to have their :DRM: and other crap.

By Chris Curtis on February 3, 2004 at 03:36pm link

Not that surprising, all of this. There are some apps that will never make it onto my machine. Real One player is one of them. Resource Hog, File association Hog, personal info Hog, Desktop space Hog, and just plain F*ing annoying. As a matter of fact here are some others: The Quicktime Player; Symantec *anything* - those extortionists; Kazaa *anything* - even cracked shit; *Any* cracked shit for that matter; any Spyware shit for that matter; and Ahh Hell! How bout some apps I love, eh?
MyIE2 - Been my default browser for close to two years. phenomenal.
2xExplorer - I am still figuring out what this can do after a year and a half.
Ghostzilla - oooh, it’s sneaky!!
Netscape 7.x - this damn thing has never crashed on me, not once!
Winamp 2.91 (ok 5.01 too) - Plugins from Hell or from llama Heaven?
Keynote 1.6.5 - I know every bug by name. When the bajeezus is 2.0 coming out? damnit!
Cdmenu Pro BE - I used to create stupid little autostart .ini files for my burned cds, but not anymore baby, this thing rocks!
Guitar FX Box 2.6 - This effects processor sounds better than some high end models from the music store. Btw, it also records better than some engineers I’ve known.
Cool Edit Pro 2.0 - The last badass sound and video editor version before Adobe bought out the co.
Nero 6 - nuff said.

Oh and I still won’t download no BBC Real One Player either. And I guarantee British Parliament won’t either, those Apple munchers.

By caesar on February 3, 2004 at 04:10pm link

Well that’s the problem, isn’t it Chris?  I don’t know of any *good* widespread open source streamable media format.

By Derek Jones on February 3, 2004 at 04:33pm link

Truth be told, WMP isnt so bad for streaming radio. Ive used it many times with no trouble.

RealPlayer has been craptacular since the day it came out.

Im happy the brits are dissing it, and we [the US] should too.

By Greg Ferrell on February 3, 2004 at 07:51pm link

Well if audio were the only concern, then OGG would be the whatever de jour.

By Derek Jones on February 3, 2004 at 09:59pm link

Naw, I think it is preference really. Personally (though scientifically proven otherwise) I could never tell the difference in sound quality between OGG and Mp3. Even with the 5.1 sound system cranked. They both still sound digital to me either way. And some people enjoy the .wma sound, which is trebly or tinny. The truth is, every media listening person is not an audiophile, so present formats make do for, I would say, the majority of listeners. I like WMP streaming radio, though MS/MSN has reduced the accessibilty of stations you used to get for free. Shoutcast on the other hand seems to be a good alternative, for now. Aol has their fingers in Winamp now, so shoutcast accessibilty may be hampered too, if not through Shoutcast itself then possibly the player. So streaming media in general is in flux. Divx still never has hit as strongly as predicted, though that doesn’t make it a bad product. Personally I think Real One, and a bunch of other *Programs*, need to quit the everything and the kitchen sink mentality. Just gimme an app that is simple and easy to use, does one or two things well and nothing else. And screw all the marketing.
....Somewhat Lethargic

By caesar on February 4, 2004 at 07:42am link

yeah, ogg vorbis is awesome, definitly superior listining quality.

By Greg Ferrell on February 4, 2004 at 09:29pm link

Try JetAudio with G-Force visualization, Absolutely Amazing with no bs or extra crap.

By Rundy on May 25, 2005 at 12:56am link

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