RealPlayer is one of those
media players that seems to have been around since the very beginnings of the web.
Features
These days, it's an app that attempts to be all things to all people -
play DVDs, organize music, catalog photos, convert video, interact with
social networking sites, browse internet multimedia....there's no end
to what RealPlayer offers to its users. Even so, it's not an out-and-out
success...
Usability
For a start, installation of RealPlayer is annoying - it takes a
while, requires lots of "nexts" and tries to install and enable several
features that users don't really need. Finally, when it starts, you're
offered a chance to upgrade to paid versions of RealPlayer before you
have to register yourself with Real Networks. If all this messing around
doesn't appeal, check out a slimline app like
UMPlayer.
When you're up and running, RealPlayer features a wide interface
where you will notice ads and videos recommended by Real Networks. This
looks cluttered and messy, and it's hard to know what the app actually
offers. In reality, RealPlayer is ideal for
playing and sharing video
with your friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter and it works
easily with BlackBerry, iPod, iPhone and other game systems. The new
video converter allows you to copy online video to your iPod, Xbox, PS3
and other devices. Unfortunately, you can't rip DVDs with RealPlayer,
although this is available as a feature if you upgrade to RealPlayer
Plus.
Most recently, RealPlayer has been updated with far better mobile and
social networking integration. You can now copy your favorite videos to
an iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry and dozens of other popular
devices automatically. Downloading internet videos is faster, and for
those of you with something to hide, RealPlayer offers a new Private
folder. Social media has also been bumped up, with direct access to
Facebook videos and usefully, a built-in feature to transfer videos to
your mobile devices.
Quality
That said, RealPlayer isn't bad at all. It's comparable to
Windows Media Player 12 as they both have some impressive ways of
organizing your music.
For me, the best feature is the CD burner which is something I've used
from the early days of RealPlayer. The sheer quality of some of the
media only available in Real formats makes RealPlayer an essential item
in the toolkit of any fan of internet video and audio.
Conclusion
There's no shortage of media players theses days, and RealPlayer is
by no means a bad option. It offers lots of features, good options and
is a high-quality player that will do justice to your media. The only
problem is that despite its modern features, it feels like a bit of a
dinosaur. It's heavy and slow, looks chunky and takes an age to respond
to clicks, and for many people - especially those who have experience of
lighter options - it's just not the most comfortable player.
RealPlayer is a media player that, although powerful, has suffered from serious feature-creep over the years.
