• Recommend:
• 0 Comments

A RealPlayer Update, Plus Reels

From RealNetworks, a portal full of video and media to play on RealPlayer 7.

By Cameron Crouch, PCWorld   

On Monday, RealNetworks launches the Real.com network Web site as a source of streamed music and video. Like entertainment portals, Real.com and the personalized Myreal.com offer multimedia news, entertainment, and products from RealNetworks partners.

To play everything, you need the latest RealPlayer. RealNetworks also launches Monday the free, downloadable RealPlayer 7. RealPlayer Plus, which provides sharper video, better audio quality, and MP3 support as well as bundling RealJukebox, is available for $29.95.

RealNetworks recently drew consumer flak for its RealJukebox player, when the company was caught doling out user information to marketing partners. RealJukebox--now available in a version that doesn't collect and report your music habits--is also built into the new Real.com Network through Get Music. The program provides playback and organization controls for your CD and compressed music files.

Current RealJukebox users can get a patch to block the release of personal data in the digital music software.

Real.com Redux

RealNetworks presents Real.com as an easy way to find, organize, and play audio and video on the Web, says Dave Richards, vice president of consumer products.

As a replacement for the Realguide site, Real.com offers material to play on your RealPlayer 7. Note a few preferences and you can create a MyReal.com site that highlights content that interests you most, be it hip hop music or action movie trailers.

Real.com is an aggregator. It pulls content and products from media companies like Fox News and MTV as well as Web radio stations. Partner Global Media is offering its ten genre-based radio stations through the Live Stations tab on the new RealPlayer 7.

The RealPlayer 7 moves beyond a mere audio/video player to bring media programming to your desktop with new functions, Real.com Take 5 and Real.com Messaging Service.

Real.com Take 5 provides a daily showcase of Internet audio and video, Richards says. The Take 5 button in RealPlayer launches a list of 25 headlines that lead to a full story or video.

Take 5 is designed to be the simplest way to get audio and video from the Internet, says Lucy Mohl, programming director for Film.com at Real Networks. "It plays 25 pieces of material we select from over 100 content providers," she says.

If you need more than daily summaries, the Real.com Messaging service can alert you to breaking entertainment and news.

New Role for Real

By providing the player, RealNetworks steps into the role of a content guide, says Mark E. Hardie, senior analyst at Forrester Research.

"With automatic updates for the RealPlayer, there's no need for Real.com to be a download site anymore," Hardie says.

RealNetworks may run into problems by giving people two places to go--the player and the site--but Hardie sees the two as compatible, with RealPlayer becoming the main window.

"We're more likely to launch our RealPlayer if we know it's customized to show us what's happening," Hardie says. "Take 5 shows that a player shouldn't just launch because you're at a site . . . it can be used it as a guide."