How Real Networks Shot Themselves In The Foot
from the click-here-to-pay-$20-for-our-free-software dept
While RealNetworks has been pushing hard for anti-trust judgments against Microsoft (and were a good part of the reason for the EU's judgment against them) some are pointing out that RealNetworks have done a lot more damage to themselves. There are many people out there who actively look for alternatives to Microsoft's products. However, instead of building on any sort of "anti-Microsoft" sentiment, RealNetworks has angered users all over the place by making the free version of their product hard to find and install. Their website tries (repeatedly) to make you buy the paid-for version of the software, and even when you think you're clicking through to the free version, they keep it pretty hidden. Then, once you've downloaded the free version, the registration process is incredibly annoying, sneaking in the installation of all sorts of things people didn't want. On top of that, it throws up pop-up ads, installs unnecessary programs into your startup file and is just generally annoying. This has gotten so bad that many content providers who have offered Real audio or video streams are changing their mind after users have complained about the process. RealNetworks now claims that they've heard all the complaints and are changing to make their product less annoying. In fact, they've convinced the folks at Car Talk to go back on an earlier decision to stop using Real Audio. However, they've lost the trust of so many people, it may be too late.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
true
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Ditto for Netscape
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
Limits my access to content but my flustration factor is no longer pegged.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: true
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Real Alternative
Instead of spending hours trying to hunt down the free version of RealPlayer, why not get Real Alternative? It plays Real files without all those annoying advertisements.
I would use the original RealPlayer, but it crashes my PC every time I try to install it. That's no way to get my business.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Real networks annoyances
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
Every player they've put out since then has been garbage. This is a perfect example of a software company that doesn't use focus groups, but should.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
real networks distribution
Also, why doesn't Real have more/better video content?
[ link to this | view in thread ]