RealPlayer is Evil

braincell · Post by **braincell** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 7:09 pm

Way back when we used dial up it made sense to stream audio because downloads took so long. That's when Real Audio invented a technology for streaming. They gave the players away for free but they charged thousands for the server software which made streaming possible. This took content out of the hands of ordinary people.

Skip ahead to 2005. Now MP3 players are popular but a lot of content is RealAudio. They don't want you to save anything because then the people who own servers wouldn't need to buy the expensive streaming software. There is no option to save a file to disk. You can find other software to do this with RealAudio files but then you need to convert the files to MP3 files so your player will play them. I hate this company. I hope they rot in hell.

symbiote · Post by **symbiote** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 7:29 pm

Time to get Real Alternative =P

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Rea ... native.htm

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 7:41 pm

it's those owners who don't want their content be saved by someone who intentionally buy such servers and software...

and thank god or whoever may be responsible that not all the 'ordinary' people can stream their BS...
switch on your telly and realize the mental niveau of the 'average'

cheers, Tom

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: astroman on 2005-01-25 19:42 ]</font>

Spirit · Post by **Spirit** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 12:46 am

Real is OK so long as you are very careful when installing to see what is "ticked". But this time I'm using the Real Alternative (above link) and it works fine.

And if people want to stream their stuff, well, that's up to them. There are advantages to that method as well: if the piece is extremely long you can jump to wherever you like in the track

braincell · Post by **braincell** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 9:27 am

What is the advantage of Real Alternative? More privacy?

Counterparts · Post by **Counterparts** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 9:36 am

Somebody told me today that they tried it, but it broke Windows Media Player.

*installs with glee*

Liquid Len · Post by **Liquid Len** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 1:23 pm

On 2005-01-26 09:36, Counterparts wrote:
Somebody told me today that they tried it, but it broke Windows Media Player.

*installs with glee*

That's exactly why I won't install Realplayer. A number of audio-related things stop working on my machine when I've installed it in the past. I didn't think it was worth even figuring out because of the aforementioned fascist policy of charging only for encoders.

krizrox · Post by **krizrox** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 1:49 pm

I refuse to install RealPlayer on my computer. Had it once before and hated it. Worse than Norton when it comes to interfering with other software not to mention the ads and whatnot. Maybe it's improved over the years but I don't care since I have no need for it anyway.

braincell · Post by **braincell** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 2:24 pm

I agree, and I have type of issues Quicktime.
A problem is that many people have Quicktime as the only format for their content. Now Apple has hidden the stand alone Quicktime player because they want you to use itunes instead

.

symbiote · Post by **symbiote** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 2:36 pm

There's also Quicktime Alternative =P

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Qui ... native.htm

symbiote · Post by **symbiote** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 2:40 pm

Hmm, sounds like Apple offers a standalone iTunes-less installation of quicktime too:

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/standalone/

darkrezin · Post by **darkrezin** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 3:36 pm

QT/RP Alternatives are free of Spyware and bloat. The files play in Media Player Classic.

braincell · Post by **braincell** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 4:34 pm

Hey this is great. Thanks!

Immanuel · Post by **Immanuel** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 4:35 pm

Looking forward to getting rid of two of my most hated programs. Real Player is the worst in my opinion. Over the years I have for some unknown reason keeped giving it second chances and seen my PC go bad. Quick time is also rather annoying and feels buggy - not to the extend, that I have choosen to live without it, as I have with Real Player, but still a bad program.

Thanks for the tips. I will try them out very soon.

Post by **garyb** » Wed Jan 26, 2005 4:39 pm

hooray!

Counterparts · Post by **Counterparts** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 4:39 am

Counterparts wrote:
Somebody told me today that they tried it, but it broke Windows Media Player.

I think that I need to clarify that the installation mentioned above was the *alternative*, not RealPlayer.

edit: I've installed RP before without it breaking anything, it's just bloody annoying.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Counterparts on 2005-01-27 04:41 ]</font>

darkrezin · Post by **darkrezin** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 5:48 am

Realplayer/Quicktime Alternative have never caused anything to break here, and I've been using them pretty much since they were released. What did your friend mean by 'broken'? Maybe he was referring to the fact that it uses Windows Media Player Classic (the old one without all the fancy graphics and visuals)?

Counterparts · Post by **Counterparts** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 11:11 am

dArKr3zIn wrote:
What did your friend mean by 'broken'?

Got an answer now. Apparently, he installed it about one and a half years ago, and every time he tried to play a "Real..." media file it crashed his system. I think that he said WMP was on v.8 at the time.

So, possibly an issue with an old version of the alternative and/or v.8 of WMP?

Royston