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.
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