Down with RealAudio, die, die, die

[Ben]

[rant]
-I'm at a site that only uses RealAudio to play audio.
-I go to the RealAudio site to download the "free" player.
-I immediately noticed that "free" has become "free trial".
-It won't let me download jack without a credit card number. For a free player, go figure.
-Then they tell me my "free trial" will expire in 14 days at which point I will have to cancel if I don't want to be charged.

Is this a joke? Does AOL own real.com?

I dug for a few minutes trying to find a previous version to download so I can listen to some fricken music samples at buy.com. Never did find any.

Anyone know where I can download a RA player?

I don't have fond memories of RA anyway. I remember last time I installed it, it put shorcuts and TSR's in every conceivable corner of my OS that wouldn't die.
[/rant]

 

[Bglad]

I downloaded it and wasn't asked for a credit card. It says free player all over the place but the links take you to the full purchase download. The link to the free player is very tiny and hard to find. It is in the middle of the page and says free real player or something. But your rant stands, the new version sucks. It runs something in the background that is connecting to the net all the time. I can't figure out how to turn it off short of blocking it with the firewall.

free player

 

[Ben]

AACK! Your right. I didn't think to check that link to see if it went a different place.

And thanks for the heads-up about the TSR. Looks like I'll be uninstalling it as soon as I'm done, just like last time.

 

[Ben]

Geez, did you read the license agreement? This is a good part:

<< The Software consists of interactive Internet applications that perform a variety of communications over the Internet as part of their normal operation. A number of communications features are automatic and are enabled by default. By installing and/or using the Software, you consent to the Software's communications features. Once you log into the Software, user information including your user id will be sent in communications with RN's servers. This information is used to access your regular account, premium content, non-premium content, services, features, and other personalized services. RN may match the user id to personally identifiable information in order to provide you with products, services, and software that you're entitled to and to provide you with relevant information. You are responsible for any telecommunications or other connectivity charges incurred through use of the Software. >>

 

[manly]

Ben,

Almost all software EULA are similarly onerous. UCITA is legislation that the software industry was pushing through states that legalizes the BS license agreements we never read.

It passed Virginia and Maryland, but I believe has since lost steam. In fact, there may eventually be a counter-movement for software liability laws.

As far as Real goes, they've never been considered good corporate citizens. However, look at their main competition, Microsoft, and you'll see no better.

 

[Ben]

I hear ya Manly.

And real.com isn't the only software company that's heading this direction claiming that this is the only way they can make money now.

I got another discovery to share real quick.

I got in the habit of watching news on cnn.com after 9/11. They're always advertising their cnn.com/real site. Well now that I've download the real player I headed over there to see what all the fuss is about. The site just dumps you back into real.com and you can't watch any news without giving them a credit card number (unless I missed the link again ).

So I head back to cnn.com and click on the audio/video link. Instead of getting the video window I get this pop-up that says you can only watch video now with a subscription. So I click on the "join" button and it dumps me at real.com!!!!!!!!!!

This is hilarious.

 

[Epsil0n00]

One vote for Real Audio's Death here!

 

[RalfHutter]

Real friends don't let friends use Real Players.

 

[stingbandel]

I still use the older Real Player 8 rather than real player one cause it always wants to connect to their server to get some ads.




anyway what's the alternative to run real player stuff if we don't use real. I know I was able to get media player to work but I can't do it anymore.





thanks

 

[Ben]

<< Real friends don't let friends use Real Players. >>


LOL! Good one.

I sent an email to buy.com about my experience. This morning they responded with an apology email that was so polite I felt bad about complaining.

 

[Bglad]

They must get a lot of complaints about this. It is REALLY hard to find the right link. I have trouble finding it even knowing the problem.

 

[RSMemphis]

It sucks. Realplayer 8 basic was the last of the really free ones.

 

[Bglad]

I found how to shut off that stupid real player messenger that pops up all the time.

Open real player. Goto internet settings in preferences.
Put a check by "only perform automatic services while real player is in use"

It still runs when you use real player but it won't load with windows.

 

[Lint21]

Realplayer sucks, as does Real as a company. I can't wait until they go out of business. It's a nightmare to remove the 10+ background things they run on your computer... services, registry entries, everywhere possible. Bastards. You'd think they would pick up on the extremely negative sentiment toward them on the net.

 

[Crackabot]

<< . You'd think they would pick up on the extremely negative sentiment toward them on the net. >>



Why would they figure that out? there are some things you can only play using realplayer, so alot of people use it (OK, not the smart ones) there is no ther way to play stuff (other than I think Irfanview will play one of thier file formats) awhile ago some one cam up with a player that could do it, and they were sued out of existance

 

[DrMoreau]

<< Real friends don't let friends use Real Players. >>



LOL, that's a really good one!

I knew Real Player was bad but reading all this makes me wonder if they are run by the devil himself! Who'd use this sh!t? Not me, I made the decision long ago that I'd never install Real on my computer ever again.

I think there is a Winamp plugin that will play Real Media files. I can't remember its name though.

 

[RalfHutter]

I copied this from a webpage but haven't tried it yet. It talks about 2 things: dealing with Real Player plugins for Winamp, and uninstalling Real player but still being able to play real player media. Reghacking is required.

***************************************************************************

"Tthese plugins sometimes crash Winamp because they process audio through the Winamp controls, and some of the plugins disable this to enhance stability (although, this won't allow you to use the Winamp EQ, visualizer, etc. with the sound). But the plugins I've seen DO allow you to convert them to *.wav.

Secondly, the top two plugins (both for WinAMP) that support RealVideo/RealAudio seem to be Innover and Tara. Go to Winamp's Forums (the Plugin Developers forum) for several threads on these. I chose Tara because it's in continuous development and seems much more polished than the competition. The latest version is 1.0.2b.

Finally... for those who are interested... I found out the way to UNINSTALL RealPlayer, yet still have the ability to play their files! All of these plugins rely on the Realplayer decoding engine to do the gruntwork. So if you want, basically just make a copy of the CODECS, COMMON and PLUGINS folders in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Real.

Also make a copy of pncrt.dll, and then make a registry file containing the following:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Software\RealNetworks\Preferences\DT_Plugins]
@="C:\\Program Files\\Common files\\Real\\Plugins\\"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Software\RealNetworks\Preferences\DT_Codecs]
@="C:\\Program Files\\Common files\\Real\\Codecs\\"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Software\RealNetworks\Preferences\DT_Common]
@="C:\\Program Files\\Common files\\Real\\Common\\"

Once you've done this, uninstall Realplayer, and copy all the files back to their original places (and run the .reg file you created). Once you do this, you will never have to install Realplayer again... ever! You should probably create an .ace or .rar archive of the folders you copied above, so you can redo this on other machines, etc."

**********************************************************************

 

[DrMoreau]

hehe, sounds good. how about offering those archives of the codecs for download so nobody else has to go through the hell of installing Real in the first place.

 

[Miramonti]

Real friends don't let friends use Real Players.

LOL, that is a classic.

No need to sign their death warrant tho, their doing a fine job by themselves.

 

[joinT]

If anybody wants - I have a copy of RealPlayer Basic 8 installer...
I just installed it so i could view Real Media files..
when I close it - it asks if i want to upgrade - but the program itself isn't that bad (i configured it to ONLY play Real Media & nothing else)

 

[Gos]

Can anyone suggest any other alternatives to real player? I was thinking of downloading it, until I read this thread.

 

[fingerprints]

Get the plug-in for Winamp that will play Real audio and video files HERE and you don't have to use Real anymore. There is a way to hack the registry where you don't even have to have Real installed but this is much easier. Just dowload it to your Winamp directory and you never have to use Real Player again. It will just sit on your hard drive like the loser it is. If you really want to get rid of it then the directions for hacking your registry are HERE by Ralf Hutter. Thanks to Ralf Hutter and Red Rooster for this.

 

[Gos]

Thanks for the information on the Tara winamp plugin. I have Real player 8 installed. I cannot the plugin to do anything. I do not know much about plugins. I have to use windows explorer to find it since I do not see an icon, and it is not available in my program list. If I use explorer, I find it in my program list. If I open it, a winamp screen appears with 3 icons beneath it. The screen states that no preview is available. What am I doing incorrectly? Thanks for your help.

 

[fingerprints]

All you do is install the plug-in into your Winamp folder. Open Winamp, right click in the top window and go to Options then Preferences. Now go to file types and choose all the files including RAM and RA files etc. that you want Winamp to play. Now whenever you click on a link that is a RAM or RA file Winamp will play it.

 

[AaronP]

I fing hate quicktime (how much does apple pay movie companies for "exclusive" trailers? I also hate real! DEATH TO THEM ALL.