New RealPlayer Announcement

By Ben Rotholtz, General Manager, Web Services & Syndication & Matt Spragins, Director of Product, RealPlayer

On May 31^st at “D” we announced the new RealPlayer. The beta version of the new RealPlayer will be available by the end of June. That’s ’07.

How is the new RealPlayer different from previous versions? Let’s touch on a few highlights: The most notable difference is visible across tens of thousands of web sites immediately after installation. On-demand and live streaming and progressive video in the four major formats – Flash, Windows Media, QuickTime and Real – is now downloadable through a very simple download button that temporarily hovers near video content as it plays. You don’t need to worry about format. You don’t need to worry about the media player. Just hit the download button and your own Internet-wide personal video recorder from within Internet Explorer and Firefox (Safari and Firefox on the Mac to follow this year) will download or record non-copy protected Internet video directly to your hard disk, enabling you to watch the video content in wholly new ways – when and how you want to view it. What’s that mean? Full screen playback, playlists immersive video that allows you to lean back and discover video on your PC or burn it to a CD or DVD to rediscover web video through your television. By the end of the year we’ll also provide direct transfer to portable devices so that web video content can become part of your lifestyle no matter where you are you’ll have your own collection of Internet Video as you want to see it.

The new RealPlayer rationalizes multiple formats, multiple players and multiple playback experiences into one very simple interface that gives you the power to build, organize, view and transfer your own personal video clips. It’s that simple.

The new RealPlayer is completely easy to use. Install the new RealPlayer. Open your browser and find a site with video that interests you. If the content is not protected and the video is available in a format that the new RealPlayer understands then a download button appears. Sample a few seconds of the content to see if it’s something you might be interested in and then hit the download button and move on to another piece of content, to another site or close your browser to start another task. The video is rapidly copied or recorded to your library while you surf, play or work. Once the video arrives you can easily watch offline without internet bandwidth congestion (goodbye buffering), watch full screen (hello quality and detail) on your PC, television or portable device (welcome flexibility).

Add your own ratings and comments to your video downloads and recordings. If it’s a video clip you like you can easily share the links to original content you found so your friends can play it back with whatever player it was originally created for – they don’t need the RealPlayer (of course we think they’ll have a more rewarding experience if they’ve got the new RealPlayer so they can also download or record a copy for their own personal use as well).

There are numerous fine details across the new RealPlayer that make this one of the most exciting pieces of software to hit the Internet in a long time.

Please join us on this blog to talk about RealPlayer. Feel free to discuss features, industry trends and product direction to help us build a better experience for you.

Thanks for the feedback, the recommendations, the tirades and the non-stop encouragement that has driven us to create the new RealPlayer. We can’t wait to turn you on!

Comments

[Galley]

Man, I thought RealPlayer 11 would never be released!

[Brian Johnson]

Please release a Mac version of what looks like an awesome media player soon - before the end of the year. I really hope that this version when brought to the Mac, will actually be good and have feature parity. Previous Mac versions of Real Player sucked!

But nice work Real! Version 11 looks really cool (I just hope, like most people, that it will be as good on the Mac).

[Steve]

Looks good.

I can't wait for a Mac Version. Any Mac related release details you want to share?

[Matt Spragins, Dir of Product, RealPlayer]

We are working on the Mac version. We will have one out before the end of the year. Thanks for the input.

Matt Spragins, Dir of Product, RealPlayer

[Kriptical]

Will this player support xp pro x64 and Vista x64 OS's? We use the Rhapsody service at work and love it. But not being able to use it at home b/c I run xp pro x64 is kind of a bummer.

[Charles Abrahams]

Hey there. I was on softpedia.com and I saw that there is a new RealPlayer coming out. That's great because I have been waiting forever for a new version to come out. I would like to know when exactly it will be released (when in June? - Maybe 2 weeks from now) and what the name of the new player will be. Can the software work with tv tuners like J River Media Center 12? Can you provide me with any good quality screenshots of the new program, better than the ones leaked to the net? I would also like to know if when I am playing an audio or video file I can be editing mp3 tags (the same one that is
playing and also another tag as well)? What is the program going to be like? What formats can it play?

Please respond soon as I would love to know the answers. PLEASE!

[Bill Dettering]

The technology looks interesting, but I wonder how Real's content partners feel about this? All the Media companies HATE anything to do with recording. This is a big shift in Real's business model.

[Daniel Aleksandersen]

Make a Linux version too, please! And follow the hype folks! There are so many Debian based Linux distributions (Ubuntu, ..) that you should offer an official .deb package as well as the .rpm.

[gfvdfgd]

thanks

[Charles Abrahams]

Hello to all. I have been reading about this new RealPlayer software and all I hear about is ripping and streaming internet video from sites like youtube. Does it have the ability to "PLAY" mp3s and video files like AVI, MPEG, WMV, MOV and others. Because I think all this streaming and ripping is getting to be a bit confusing. I would like to know if the software can play and edit mp3 and other video file tags. Can it rip mp3s from CDs like in Realplayer version out now? What else, specifically can Realplayer next version do that Windows Media Player 11 or J River Media Center 12 can't? What aside from streaming video can this new player do that will blow people away?

Please reply soon?

[Matt Spragins, Dir of Product, RealPlayer]

Charles,

Thanks for the questions. Yes, RealPlayer still has the ability to playback all the major audio and video formats, including WMV, QuickTime, and now Flash video (the first major player to do so). It still supports ripping of CDs and other audio features from past versions of the RealPlayer. What will blow people away in the new RealPlayer? The ability to download and record video from thousands of sites in any major format. It lets users watch video when they want and where they want.

Matt Spragins, Dir of Product, RealPlayer

[Matt Spragins, Dir of Product, RealPlayer]

Daniel,

We are a planning on releasing a version for Linux as well. Unfortunately, it won't be until later in the year. It will come out the same time as the Mac version.

Matt Spragins, Dir of Product, RealPlayer

[Matt Spragins, Dir of Product, RealPlayer]

Kriptical,

We do support the RealPlayer on 64bit Windows Vista. However there are a few caveats since many device drivers do not exist for Portable Devices and DRM support is TBD.

Matt Spragins, Dir of Product, RealPlayer

[Christian]

All those fancy new features but nothing about the things that every other major media player has but not RealPlayer: Global keyboard shortcuts which makes it possible to control the player while other programs have focus. And also ability to minimize to system tray. Both those are showstoppers for me when it comes to my media player which always runs and always needs to be accessible without having focus.

[Matt Spragins, Dir of Product, RealPlayer]

Christian,

Those are good features. We agree that controlling your media while balancing your window clutter is important. We have these items in our roadmap. Stay tuned for continued user experience improvements.

Matt Spragins, Dir of Product, RealPlayer

[Christian]

This is good news! RealPlayer has always been my favorite (regardless of all the gripe about system hijack etc.). So if it now could become an efficient player also when it comes to usability it could very well end up being my default player.

[nove]

i want to download real player

[;-)]

will the new Real Player have a podcatching feature? I'd like to be able to watch videocasts using RSS feeds.

[Matt Spragins, Dir of Product, RealPlayer]

We have had several requests for a podcatching feature and have it in the roadmap. However, we don't have a specific date for it yet.

Matt Spragins, Dir of Product, RealPlayer

[Claudia]

I am very interested to know what (if any) enhancements exist for people who use RealPlayer for music?

[Matt Spragins, Dir of Product, RealPlayer]

Claudia,

We have not changed the music experience within the RealPlayer. While there are no new features around music, the new download feature does allow you to download some embedded music clips on the internet.

Matt Spragins, Dir of Product, RealPlayer

[islam]

i need sir to run over over recording one on my computor.

thanks

islam

[flamenco]

This sounds good and all, but what is your definition of "copy-protected". Sounds like it's a good time to short Real stocks; I smell law suites.

[Frankie Brooks]

I am trying to install the realplayer program but, I cannot find it in my list of programs. I can recieve e-mails but. I can't pull up school assignments. Any help that you can give me will be helpful.
I can be reached at (202) 378-3167

Thank you and may peace be upon you.
F.Brools

[Rafael Lucas dos Santos Vieira]

Aparentemente a nova versão do Real Player está excelente, estou muito ansioso para poder baixar e desfrutar de suas novas ferramentas, queria saber quando ele será lançado no Brasil??