Ask RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser

RealNetworks has always been more Linux-friendly than other streaming media purveyors, and is now moving closer to the open source camp with its Helix Community effort. More recently, Real has made a big media splash by selling downloadable tunes in an iPod-compatible format. Does any of this matter, considering that world + dog seems to be jumping on the downloadable multimedia bandwagon? Can Real once again become "the" streaming media leader? Will Real's 49 cent "limited time only" song download price force other music download vendors to cut their prices? We have no idea, but hopefully Rob Glaser does. He's promised to answer your questions personally (rather than have PR people speak for him). So ask whatever you like. We'll forward 10 of the highest-moderated questions to him by email and post his answers soon after he gets them back to us.

Re:"Clean" Software - no Cruft?

[cjpez]

Er, they have. RealPlayer 10 for Linux [real.com] is a simple stripped-down client, and doesn't install anything else. I've had it installed for some time now.

Re:What is he going to do about the player?

[cjpez]

1. It's more than one click away from the main website.

How many clicks does it take for you to click "Download" on www.real.com [real.com]?

2. It tries to take over your system as a default media system and sign you up for all kinds of spam on install.

The RealPlayer available by clicking on that link I mentioned does none of these things. (Though I admit I haven't installed the Windows version)

3. It's BUTT ugly. It looks like the rejects from the XP UI team were hired to design it, when the rejects from the QuickTime UI team would have been a better choice.

Since you're obviously not familiar with what's been happening recently at Real, I should point out that the RealPlayer available at said link uses a different GUI than the previous versions.

4. I can't DL the content of RealMedia, like I can with mpeg or quickTime.

This is still true, of course.

5. It's a bit [buffering 10%] too eager [buffering 25%] to send media [buffering 40%] before it's [buffering 75%] ready. And scrubbing [buffering 85%] is nearly [buffering 95%] impossible.

I haven't had this problem on the new version, though I never really had any problems with it for the past few versions of RP either. I've just got a standard DSL line. Perhaps you've just got a sucky connection.

WHEN are you going to fix these OBVIOUS deficiencies that have plagued the player for YEARS?

When are you going to check to make sure you're not posting outdated information that's no longer true?

Re:It still comes down to price, for a lot of us

[nolife]

Real's price is $0.79 per song through Rhapsody. Of course it is $10/month subscription also but includes unlimited streaming of the songs of your choice. I suppose one subsidizes the others but depending on the percentage you do of each streaming and burning, it could be better or worse then a flat $0.99 a track. My kids and I use the streaming portion a LOT so I feel the $10 is well spent even without ever actually using the download for $0.79 option. YMMV

Re:interoperability

[cjpez]

I agree that the major labels certainly won't go for straight MP3, at least not for time time being, but there are some encouraging trends going on with some labels/bands who seem to "get it."

• bleep.com [bleep.com] (Warp Records)
• They Might be Giants [theymightbegiants.com] (and Back Office Music [backofficemusic.com], the place which created their store)
• Even though their subscription levels kind of suck now, emusic.com [emusic.com].

So, certainly no BMI groups in there, or anything, but here's hoping that it'll trickle up a bit...

MOD PARENT MORON

[Anonymous Coward]

As has been posted in countless other Slashdot bitch-sessions, Real has offered a "cruft-free" version for quite some time now:
http://forms.real.com/rnforms/products/tools/red/ [real.com]

Re:interoperability Mod this down, wasted question

[Blakey Rat]

This is a stupid question, don't waste an interview question on something like this.

The answer is as follows:

To compete with Napster 2.0, MSN Music and iTunes, Real needs to have a similar amount of music available to them, and a similar amount of big names.

The big names are, for the most part, only available through labels that are members of the RIAA. You can gripe about this if you want, but the fact is that the artists *signed* the form to grant the label distribution rights, and that's exactly what the label is doing.

For Real to get these big names, they need to deal with the RIAA. The RIAA has shown in the past that it will not endorse any music that is not restricted in some fashion... either streaming, or DRM. If the best Steve Jobs could do was 7 playlist burns, you can bet that Real can't do any better.

There. I just answered the question and I'm not even CEO of anything at all. Poof.

Re:"Clean" Software - no Cruft?

[cjpez]

Well, they seem to have some kind of auto-redirect thing depending on if they see you coming from Linux or Windows, but:

From Linux: Go to www.real.com, click on "Download RealPlayer." (file starts downloading)

From Windows: Go to www.real.com (different page comes up), click on "Download RealPlayer free." (file starts downloading)

If you're not getting either of those frontpages, I wouldn't know how to help you.

Re:What's it like

[cjpez]

RealPlayer 10 for Linux is a completely stripped-down version based on gtk2 which contains no extra bloat or spyware (that I've seen anyway). The windows version seems to come with the usual kind of embedded-browser-in-my-media-player bloat, but that's easy to disable, and regardless it doesn't install anything but the actual RealPlayer.

RP10 for Linux is honestly really nice. It's got a very minimal GUI, it's quite snappy, and in general they've addressed most of the points that Linux users have had over the years. Basically the only one that I can see remaining is that you still can't "Save as..." on any realmedia. Oh, and there's still the "send connection-quality data to Real" option which you can disable if you want. The new release was pretty much geared towards Linux users who had been fed up with RealPlayers of years past.

Re:What is he going to do about the player?

[Blue Stone]

"How many clicks does it take for you to click "Download" on www.real.com [real.com]?"

Several, actually.

I get redirected to "uk.real.com/radiopass/?&src=ZG.uk.idx" from real.com, and I have to select the 'RadioPass Trial' download button because there is no free player link anywhere to be seen.

I then have to deselect some "free trial offer!" tick-boxes and enter an e-mail address, say I'm a new customer ... so i guess they expect me to register and give a password ... and a credit card!

I think my question has to be: why is your company the cunt of the media software world?

Re:Hey Rob G...

[Lord_Dweomer]

"Asking the not-too-obvious but deeply related issue of a company that doesn't give a f*ck about people might get a more honest answer because he doesn't have PR handlers coaching him on this point."

Um.....what exactly makes you think the PR handlers aren't going to have say over every character he types in response to this? They're sending him some questions, he gets to take his time to research and respond in the best way possible. Yeah, its an interview with the man at the top, but don't be expecting some brutally honest answer that would paint Real in a bad light. His PR people will have their hands ALL over this before we get to see it, rest assured.