by Rob Glaser
Last week, Rafat Ali posted a number of questions to me on his site (http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-dh-some-open-questions-to-rob-glaser/). Here are my responses (for ease of reading, I’ve included the original questions below verbatim).
Rafat Ali: Just because a piece of streaming online video doesn’t have a DRM protecting it, doesn’t mean it is not copyrighted. How do you address that?
Rob Glaser: The new RealPlayer is just like a VCR, a DVR, or a photocopier: It knows nothing about whether or not a piece of content is copyrighted. Like these earlier video players, the new RealPlayer facilitates many legal and appropriate uses, for instance downloading public domain content and content for which the owner has given permission.
Rafat Ali: 1.5 million RealPlayer downloads daily? Really? Where is the growth coming from, and what's the real breakdown in terms of growth subscribers?
Rob Glaser: We don't breakdown these numbers, but as your question implies, there is growth in many parts of the world. In 2006 we had the largest number of RealPlayer downloads in history. We're hoping that the new RealPlayer helps make 2007 even more successful. We also think people will use the new RealPlayer even more than they’ve used previous versions. Others seem to agree. (for instance http://www.abiresearch.com/blog/digital_home_blog/368).
Rafat Ali: What’s the future of RealVideo and RealAudio format? No major media company is planning anything new with those formats, and in fact tons are moving away from it....why should we care about the new RealPlayer when we are not even using any of those formats?
Rob Glaser: Formats are important, but delivering great products to consumers is even more important. RealPlayer is a multi-format player that adds value to content in many formats, including Real, Windows Media, QuickTime, and Flash. That said, Real remains committed to developing world-class codecs for content providers. Indeed, we have some interesting format-related products in the pipeline, but that’s for another day….
Rafat Ali: Sharing in the new player: you mean we install the new RP11, need to download the video first (say from YouTube), wait for that, then play it in RP11, then share from that software, and then the friend at the other end gets an e-mail linking back to the original online source? Why not just use YouTube’s (or any other site’s) sharing functionality to share it, and that’s 50 times faster.
Rob Glaser: This is not about replacing the on-line experience YouTube and others offer; it is about giving consumers more control over their web video experience. The new RealPlayer gives the users lots of control over Internet video -- watching it offline, burning it to CD or DVDs, storing it in a library, etc. Sharing content links directly from the RealPlayer library can be really useful. A number of people who’ve tested the pre-beta have told me that they love watching a few seconds of a video on a web site, then using RealPlayer to download a copy for later viewing. Then if they like it they go ahead and share the link with friends.
Rafat Ali: What’s to prevent YouTube and others to offer the download functionality? They will when they can do it legally.
Rob Glaser: RealPlayer enables downloading across thousands of sites on the entire Web. Two weeks ago I was in Japan and Korea and I tried it on a few major local video sites. Guess what – it just worked!
Because the new RealPlayer is not limited to a single site or format, it’s far more valuable to consumers than something that's limited to one Web site or format. The new RealPlayer makes downloading easier for site designers and for consumers, thanks to the simple one-click feature built right into RealPlayer.
Rafat Ali: In the end, RealNetworks has more fundamental issues to address than a software update here and there. Yes there’s the games part, yes there’s Rhapsody, but the format war was lost by Real a few years ago. Microsoft money can only carry them so far.
Rob Glaser: With all due respect Rafat, I don’t understand what you’re talking about. Our first quarter revenue was $129.5 million, an increase of 50% from last year. We’re very focused on continuing to develop new products and services that deliver great digital entertainment experiences to consumers. Based on the initial reaction to the new RealPlayer as well as the continuing success of our other products (including the ones you mention), we think we’re on the right track.
every bit of your company smells microsucks, the two companies share exactly the same genetic features-- thanks to your service at your former employer, ... your technology is restrictive, your player is clumsy, users can't even save the temp files used by your player, it's very creepy, you may be honest in saying that there are 1.5m downloads of your players, but that's not because it's a great product, it's because you locked up your codecs and people have to use your player to view certain contents that are ignorantly based on your codecs.... i'm not a maniac, but I can assure you your company will not go far....
Posted by: newyorker | June 20, 2007 at 04:45 AM
All of Real's competitors are moving aggresively into advertising supported models. Real is not and this could be a tragic mistake.
Check out the Ad-Supported Music Central blog:
http://ad-supported-music.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Marc Cohen | June 20, 2007 at 07:04 AM
Rob Glaser is an innovator. The free model is what works on the Internet.
In 1995 nobody knew how to make money on the Internet (WEB). I went on AM radio when Internet America out of Dallas was just starting up that year. Prior to this broadcast the few million Internet Web users were racking their brains to figure out how to make money. I announced publicly for the first time that selling advertising is the way to make it all work. Immediately the "ahhhhhh's" were very vocal. Within six months the first book came out demonstrating and backing what I suggested.
Video is a powerful medium, and giving it away for free moves it to the masses. By having advertising tied to the product (not the medium)money will be made. Through additional innovation (i.e. audio recorder, etc.), the product will continue to grow.
However, the product will eventually fail if all video is converted and stored into a proprietary codec. Only continuous advances in innovation and service will keep a product at the top. That is what competition is all about. We don't always see great competition (i.e. operating systems), but through time eventually the consumer wins in a free market.
Did I mention I'm a consultant?
rgletter at hotmail dot com
Posted by: Rob G | June 20, 2007 at 11:05 AM
Rob Glaser, you are focusing on entertainment and getting criticized for possible copyright violations. But remember that it's not just about downloading YouTube videos. Community, academic, and government events are often streamed live but not stored. Now, if I want to know what happened at the Senate Budget Office hearing, I don't have to clear my schedule during the hours that it's happening. I can play it back later. (Unfortunately the hearing I care about is tomorrow, I have another meeting at the same time, and RealPlayer 11 isn't available yet!)
Posted by: Anon | June 20, 2007 at 02:42 PM
First, I don't think there is any problem for Real Networks to charge money for some of its services like Rhapsody (i'm a long time subscriber, even after its recent fee hike), advertising, in most cases, are not enough to support an enterprise, but the problem with Realplayer is that, it's not compatible with any other players, which is so microsoft! -- with other media formats(mp3, wav, ...), you can pretty much play them in one player (say, winamp), but not with rm or rmvb, and that Realplayer behaves just like microsoft windows -- it will miss no chance to remind you that you need to update your program or keep pushing ads at the user at each startup, its real scheduler component start automatically in the background and eats up the ram, that whole clumsy 15megabyte player does nothing more than play its own rm or rmvb files, and pushing ads.... mr. glaser needs to rethink his strategy -- open up their product and provide something useful to the users other than trying to lock down everything....
Posted by: newyorker | June 20, 2007 at 09:03 PM
Excerpted from my blog post on the impact of the new RealPlayer (http://www.learningapi.com/blog/archives/000124.html)
If Real's new player is something that a) is a no-brainer to install and use; and b) provides truly useful functionality on top of the enormous-and-growing world of online video content, it may just become relevant again to online users. And that's good for Real's existing customers, for sure. How that helps Real acquire new paying customers isn't clear to me, but I'd guess that anything that makes RealPlayer more relevant in the marketplace has to be a good first step.
Posted by: lbouthillier | June 21, 2007 at 08:35 AM
I love the idea of being able to program a live stream in advance. Now we are getting closer to real on-demand.
There are many exxamples of having a lock-down system that eventually does poorly or fails. Hopefully, Real has learned from this and their mistakes. Otherwise, competition will swoop in and change the game without notice.
RG
Posted by: Rob G | June 21, 2007 at 08:40 AM
What about the Linux users? Do we get anything from this? RealPlayer 10 doesn't even work correctly when Beryl or Compiz Fusion is enabled (yes, I am calling Compiz by its new name). This really impedes on the usability of the browser. Secondly, I want to see the Windows RealPlayer and the Linux RealPlayer ON PAR!!! Is that too much to ask? Really? Is it? NO! It is not! The Linux user base is growing, and you have the potential to become the most sought after mediaplayer for Linux if you can take advantage of the current problems regarding media formats for Linux. The currently RealPlayer 10 for Linux does NOT address this. It gives us the RealMedia codecs yes, but it also borks up RPM installers by reassigning it to RealPlayer! RPM != RealMedia. FIX THAT!!! Please!!
Posted by: King InuYasha | June 24, 2007 at 12:13 AM
June is almost over. Is the video recorder ready for Prime Time beta or is it riddled with too many bugs?
Posted by: rob | June 24, 2007 at 02:14 PM
re-size in video player is horrible ... and the recorder plug-in is bad with people who write using Arabic language and I can't write Arabic when the plug-in is unabled
Posted by: mohamad tayara | June 25, 2007 at 09:25 AM
As someone who has used RealPlayer since 1996, I am getting sick at the comments above. Consider:
* YES, RealPlayer hi-jacked your system and installed items in your taskbar, took over file associates, etc. But guess what? SO DOES EVERYTHING ELSE. Try clicking "custom" installation option and DE-SELECTING WHAT YOU DON'T WANT IT TO DO! And then install WinAmp...or Windows Media Player...see how they try to hog everything and put icons everywere? Just as bad as RealPlayer 10.
INSTEAD OF BLAMING THE SOFTWARE, TRY LOOKING IN THE MIRROR. All software is built the same way, my friends. Click "Custom" for maximum control and READ what the defaults are. Change to suit.
* Real's video codecs are not irrelevant, Rafat. The fact that you would state this shows how technically inept you are. Do you have any clue how many governments and private instituitions still have Real content archived? RealVideo is still being developed, and I am sure the next generation codec will be something to behold.
* Real's player is not irrelevant. Do you know of ANY other player that can play Real, Windows Media, Quicktime and FLV video under one roof? No? Because there is none.
* RealPlayer stacks up well with other players. Try installing Yahoo Media Jukebox, Winamp, etc and compre functionality...they are functionally eqivalent, but notice that memory/CPU useage for RealPlayer 11 is MUCH lower than everyone else. It is the player for you if you've got tons of content in different formats.
* RE: Copyright issues - RealPlayer can't download videos that have DRM applied. If there is a video posted without DRM, then SORRY, but you could grab this video even without RealPlayer. RealPlayer is like a VCR - it lets you record, for personal use, anything without DRM.
* RE: Video quality. The video quality relates to how the video was encoded, and NOT RELATED TO THE PLAYER. Why not visit http://www.realnetworks.com/products/codecs/realvideo.html and try some of the high-bandwidth video to see what RealPlayer is capable of?
Damn. End rant.
Posted by: Robin | July 03, 2007 at 02:15 PM
Debating this type of stuff just makes all of you guys just too http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xEzGIuY7kw
Posted by: Weird Al says it best... | July 11, 2007 at 05:01 PM
I am dissapointed by the fact that the player volume adjustment slider still modifies the "wave" slider from the global audio properties (I'm using Windows XP SP2) - which is quite annoying when you exit RealPlayer and find out the volume setting remains too low/loud for other applications.
Also, the "Download" functionality doesn't work in Opera (tested with v
9.21) which is a big thumbs down for me. On the other hand, the player seems to handle pretty well the flv files downloaded from YouTube - I can't say the same thing about other players, even VLC.
It will be nice to see a video "image crop" function - for those of us who are playing the video content on wide screen displays.
Posted by: Andrew | July 13, 2007 at 12:29 PM
Sorry, please delete the previous comment - added on the wrong post.
Posted by: Andrew | July 13, 2007 at 12:33 PM
Reply to Robin:
>>> YES, RealPlayer hi-jacked your system and installed items in your taskbar, took over file associates, etc. But guess what? SO DOES EVERYTHING ELSE. Try clicking "custom" installation option and DE-SELECTING WHAT YOU DON'T WANT IT TO DO! And then install WinAmp...or Windows Media Player...see how they try to hog everything and put icons everywere? Just as bad as RealPlayer 10.
RealPlayer 10 is WORSE. It goes back even after being unselected sometimes, so I consider that a big problem.
>>>>INSTEAD OF BLAMING THE SOFTWARE, TRY LOOKING IN THE MIRROR. All software is built the same way, my friends. Click "Custom" for maximum control and READ what the defaults are. Change to suit.
True, but most people are idiots and click Next, next, next....
>>>>Real's video codecs are not irrelevant, Rafat. The fact that you would state this shows how technically inept you are. Do you have any clue how many governments and private instituitions still have Real content archived? RealVideo is still being developed, and I am sure the next generation codec will be something to behold.
The BBC uses Real along with Windows Media. And unfortunately, for us Linux users, the RealMedia support aint so great... I wind up jumping through hoops to get mplayer to play RealMedia 2.0, G2, 8, and 10 instead of using RealPlayer 10 because it doesnt work well at all...
>>>Real's player is not irrelevant. Do you know of ANY other player that can play Real, Windows Media, Quicktime and FLV video under one roof? No? Because there is none.
MPlayer. Totem. Xine. VLC. And MPlayer and VLC work on Windows and Linux.
>>>>RealPlayer stacks up well with other players. Try installing Yahoo Media Jukebox, Winamp, etc and compre functionality...they are functionally eqivalent, but notice that memory/CPU useage for RealPlayer 11 is MUCH lower than everyone else. It is the player for you if you've got tons of content in different formats.
Given, but VLC, MPlayer, and Xine have lower memory usage than RealPlayer. Though I don't like using VLC or MPlayer. Xine i prefer for DVDs, but the method to get them play is questionable. I want to see RealNetworks offer a legal and free way to do everything in Linux. They would grab marketshare just from that.
>>>RE: Copyright issues - RealPlayer can't download videos that have DRM applied. If there is a video posted without DRM, then SORRY, but you could grab this video even without RealPlayer. RealPlayer is like a VCR - it lets you record, for personal use, anything without DRM.
Exactly. RealPlayer just provides a convenient way to do it.
>>>RE: Video quality. The video quality relates to how the video was encoded, and NOT RELATED TO THE PLAYER. Why not visit http://www.realnetworks.com/products/codecs/realvideo.html and try some of the high-bandwidth video to see what RealPlayer is capable of?
Nope.... RealPlayer also has to provide an efficient way to decode. Some high quality streams I have seen there look terrible because RealPlayer cant decode properly.
===================================
I want to see RealPlayer become the greatest media player for Linux and Windows. I want to see full Windows Media, RealMedia, QuickTime, AAC, DVD, MP3, DivX 6, etc. support for the Linux version and the Windows version. But I want to see RealNetworks do it RIGHT. The most important step, especially in Linux, use the right backends. GStreamer PEOPLE!!! GStreamer supports everything! It can do A/V capture, A/V playback, and supports codecs just by dropping them into the gstreamer framework. ALSA, OSS, aRts, etc. all work under it. I want to see a truly powerful and fully functional Linux version of RealPlayer. I currently use 5 or so different media players on Linux while on Windows I only use RealPlayer for everything. I want the same kind of support on the Linux RealPlayer as on the Windows RealPlayer.
Posted by: King InuYasha | July 16, 2007 at 11:21 AM
And GStreamer also works on Windows, with the DSound and the VfW i think. It might support DShow, but I dunno...
Posted by: King InuYasha | July 16, 2007 at 11:23 AM
Which video player is activated on Youtube? My RealPlayer works very well every place but Youtube where I get a herky jerky playback. Can you help?
Posted by: jazzman | August 20, 2007 at 03:30 PM
Hello... I'm Googling for more information about REAL PLAYER, and that's how I came across your blog. I'm not sure if others agree with me, yet personally, I actually prefer viewing web sites on REAL PLAYER browser! I'm studying web design, and I'd like to know if anyone knows of a way to have a web site that I design open up only/exclusively with REAL PLAYER?
Perhaps there's not a way that I can do this initially when the site is called upon in a visitors browser window...yet I did an experiment by selecting an I.E. file and went into Properties, then I changed it to open up with REAL PLAYER, then saved it. Afterwards, when I clicked on it...it indeed launched/opened as a web page within REAL PLAYERS browser!
I'd like to know if there's a way to insure that happens for others when my site is finally posted online. Even if the site must open as an html intro page with embeded link first. The bottom line is... I want visitors to view my site in REAL PLAYER only. And I'd like for visitors to get instant notification to download REAL PLAYER if they're unable to view my site.
Any suggestions on how to make this function work? If so, please email me (kw.grafxpro@gmail.com).
Thanks!
Keith
Posted by: Keith Welch | December 15, 2007 at 11:02 AM
Hello... I'm Googling for more information about REAL PLAYER, and that's how I came across your blog. I'm not sure if others agree with me, yet personally, I actually prefer viewing web sites on REAL PLAYER browser! I'm studying web design, and I'd like to know if anyone knows of a way to have a web site that I design open up only/exclusively with REAL PLAYER?
Perhaps there's not a way that I can do this initially when the site is called upon in a visitors browser window...yet I did an experiment by selecting an I.E. file and went into Properties, then I changed it to open up with REAL PLAYER, then saved it. Afterwards, when I clicked on it...it indeed launched/opened as a web page within REAL PLAYERS browser!
I'd like to know if there's a way to insure that happens for others when my site is finally posted online. Even if the site must open as an html intro page with embeded link first. The bottom line is... I want visitors to view my site in REAL PLAYER only. And I'd like for visitors to get instant notification to download REAL PLAYER if they're unable to view my site.
Any suggestions on how to make this function work? If so, please email me (kw.grafxpro@gmail.com).
Thanks!
Keith
Posted by: Keith Welch | December 15, 2007 at 11:03 AM
Hello... I'm Googling for more information about REAL PLAYER, and that's how I came across your blog. I'm not sure if others agree with me, yet personally, I actually prefer viewing web sites on REAL PLAYER browser! I'm studying web design, and I'd like to know if anyone knows of a way to have a web site that I design open up only/exclusively with REAL PLAYER?
Perhaps there's not a way that I can do this initially when the site is called upon in a visitors browser window...yet I did an experiment by selecting an I.E. file and went into Properties, then I changed it to open up with REAL PLAYER, then saved it. Afterwards, when I clicked on it...it indeed launched/opened as a web page within REAL PLAYERS browser!
I'd like to know if there's a way to insure that happens for others when my site is finally posted online. Even if the site must open as an html intro page with embeded link first. The bottom line is... I want visitors to view my site in REAL PLAYER only. And I'd like for visitors to get instant notification to download REAL PLAYER if they're unable to view my site.
Any suggestions on how to make this function work? If so, please email me (kw.grafxpro@gmail.com).
Thanks!
Keith
Posted by: Keith Welch | December 15, 2007 at 11:03 AM
Great article.........I love REAL PLAYER
Posted by: Vectorpedia(Rick) | January 26, 2008 at 03:22 PM
Saved good amount on downloaded of songs and albums at RealNetwork.....!
Posted by: Hayden | March 25, 2008 at 02:34 AM
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Posted by: web design ireland | May 13, 2008 at 04:14 PM
RealPlayer gives you the ability to download them all to your personal video playlist. Grab videos from thousands of Web sites with just one click. Watch them whenever you want and wherever you want. You can even burn your greatest hits to DVD*. Find the Web video you want - and Real it in.
Posted by: Website Design Ireland | June 04, 2008 at 05:52 AM
RealPlayer for personal use includes audio CD burning capabilities, DVR-style playback buffering, multimedia search, Internet radio, a jukebox-style file library, an embedded web browser (using Microsoft Internet Explorer), and the ability to transfer media to a number of portable devices, including Apple's iPod, MP3 players, and Windows Media devices. Since version 11, RealPlayer also includes Flash Video support, DVD, SVCD, VCD burning and video recording (DRM is supported). The free version is not currently available for Windows x64. The BBC offers an advertising-free version for users of its website.
RealPlayer Enterprise is a free lightweight advertising-free version for business. It can be administered by RealPlayer Enterprise Manager. Most consumer features have been removed from this version, and some plug-ins are not supported. Its RealSched.exe can be disabled in two steps, and it is not reinstalled upon running the player.
Website design Ireland
The current stable release for Windows is version 11.
Posted by: Website Design Ireland | June 04, 2008 at 05:57 AM