RealPlayer is a media player, created by RealNetworks, that plays a number of multimedia formats including multiple generations of RealAudio and RealVideo codecs as well as MP3, MPEG-4, QuickTime, etc.
The first version of RealPlayer was introduced in April 1995 as RealAudio Player, one of the first media players capable of streaming media over the Internet. Up to version 8, the product was available as RealPlayer 'Plus' and 'Basic', the latter being provided as freeware. The next version was called RealOne Player.
The current version 10.5 is again available as RealPlayer 'Plus' and 'Basic' for a number of platforms, including Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Unix, Palm OS and Symbian OS. The program has an open source equivalent called Helix player.
RealPlayer 10.5 for Windows also contains CD burning capabilities, multimedia search, Internet radio, media libraries, an integrated web browser (based on Internet Explorer) and the ability to transfer media to a number of portable devices, including Apple's iPod, MP3 players and Windows Media devices.
RealPlayer has been commonly criticised for their lower quality playback compared to other players, and for the actual software which tries to act as a web portal, and do many things unnecessary to the simple playback of a video.
See also
External links
- Real Player download http://www.real.com/realplayer.html?pp=home&type=dlrhap_bb_2&src=033104realhome_
1_1_2_1_1_2
- Real Player 10 for Linux http://www.real.com/linux/
- RealNetworks http://forms.real.com/real/player/blackjack.html?dc=12111301129&lang=en&loc=us&s
rc=021008realhome_mac (RealPlayer archive)
Last updated: 02-07-2005 09:26:38
Last updated: 05-03-2005 17:50:55
