RealPlayer is spyware, and it pollutes your registry, and it takes twice as long to initialise than the Windows Media Player. Apart from that, it is full of bugs.
Why do people still produce *.ra format files, when there are so many formats available that are compatible with more decent players than Real? Since many people refuse to install Real on their machines, why would someone choose a format that a portion of possible listeners would be unable to open?
If you want to know why I’m in such a ranting mood today: my RealPlayer suddenly started producing access violations with krnl386.exe. It became inoperable, and reinstalling didn’t help. Not even installing the newest version as well as two older versions helped. :mad: To top it, there is no solution known other than reinstalling windows.
Is there really no other player that can read *.ra format?
There is a converter out there which can change an real file into an avi file. It’s called TINRA as in This is not real anymore. Of course that wont work for streaming files. Best I can do.
I wish I could play everything on my irfanview. That’s the only player I like.
Search for Media Player Classic. It’s a clean, single-executable program that can play Real, Quicktime, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, Shockwave, wave, mp3, and a bunch of other formats. It really has to be seen to be believed.
A great alternative to RealPlayer and Quicktime Player.
Thank you transitionality and Mr Urt! I owe you a beer!
Thank you Fern Forest as well, though your alternative works only when RealPlayer works, which isn’t the case in my er… case.
From what I’ve read, the only programs that will convert RM files are TINRA and EO Video, both of which are available only for Windows. Hopefully someone will come along and prove me wrong.
Could someone please clarify… Do these ‘alternative’ players work independently, or do you still need the Real codecs installed?
The reason I’m asking, is that there is another solution, mplayer, which works under Linux as well as under Windows, but only if you have the codecs installed.
I’d be interrested to know if there are other codecs available. I would have thought that it would be impossible in the states with all the DMCA and similar laws.
Any clarification would be welcome.
(And, please guys, remember that this is GQ. While it may be your (and mine) opinion that RealPlayer sucks, that’s an Opinion, not a Fact.)
An answer to the question in the OP might be that the sales people at Real have managed to convince management on several radio stations that using their format gives them more possibilities to manage their content rights. Remember that many of them probably believe what Real salespeople claim, i.e. that the contents can only be listened to while connected to their site, and cannot be stored by the ‘listener’ (unless explicitly enabled by the ‘content provider’.
Most of them require RealPlayer, but there’s at least one that allows you to simply copy the the codecs to a certain directory and run a registry patch file without having RealPlayer installed.
Media Player Classic includes its own reimplementation of Real and Quicktime codecs. I’ve seen MPC distributed under a bunch of names, including “Quicktime Alternative” and “Real Alternative”. It’s the same program in every case.
It’s not impossible, just illegal. That discourages some developers, but not all.
There are no software packages available that make it easy for the casual user to download and store Real content. Streambox Inc. once released a package called Streambox VCR that enabled this, which Real Networks quickly sued out of existence. As far as the radio station etc. is concerned, it is practically impossible for the casual user to store Real content.
While it requires more from the user than a doubel-click, I used to have a set-up with mplayer on my linux box, where I could do this. With the correct codecs and patches mplayer plays streamed realmedia, and can also store the output locally. I only ever used it for streamed audio, but I believe that it ought to work for video as well.
I have since upgraded my system, and now it doesn’t work anymore. (So yes, maybe it is ‘practically impossible’. :()
Both Real Alternative and Media Classic are independent. I tried them both, after completely removing Real Player. They both work perfectly, take much less time to initialise than Real Player, and they are not invasive at all.
I believe there’s a simpler way. I use the free version of RealOne Player, and I also use Spybot Search and Destroy. SSD apparently disables the spyware parts of RealOne without disabling the part that plays MLB ballgames for me.
I’ll be right over.