> There is no such animal, really. This is by the
deliberate design of the
> various Real Media formats, which are heavily protected,
legally.
>

I've read at times that Real was making their technology
available in the open. However, there's gotta be a catch...


> > I've heard two players mentioned recently. These are:
> > 1. "Real Alternative"/"Media Player Classic" and
> > 2. "JetAudio."
> >
> [snip]
>
> Actually, those are three separate programs, IIUC.
>
> "Real Alternative" is pointless, since the ONLY correct
answer to Real Media
> content is to do your best Nancy Reagan imitation: "Just
Say NO!"
>
A fat lot of good she did.

> I've heard some assorted good things about "Media Player
Classic"; but I've
> not yet tried it out.
>

It appears that "Media Player Classic" and "Real
Alternative" are the same thing.

> I have tried "JetAudio"; but I'm not doing handstands.
Its user interface
> tries much too hard to be "kewl", at the expense of simple
usability.
> Whomever wrote it is obviously very young. Having said
that, it is a
> passable alternative to Apple's QuickTime for viewing .MOV
files, especially
> on older/slower systems where the QT player tends to act
like a 5,000-lb.
> elephant. For most of the other formats it handles (and
there are quite a
> few), there are generally better alternatives, especially
for the more
> popular formats like .MP3 and such.
>

Well, it is OK if it is klutzy so long as it works without
the abuse. At this point, all I want is some usable way to
listen to the .ra audio.

> > I miss the non-commercial radio content that I used to
get
> > with Real. I found Real just too abusive to have on my
> > machine, so I ripped it out, removed all the fishhooks,
> > which took some doing. My computer runs a lot more
reliably
> > now. I won't belabor Real's uncivilized behavior here;
> > others have done that nicely, and will continue to do
so.
> [snip]
>
> I understand, and sympathize. But you're bemoning this to
the wrong crowd.
> You *should* be making precisely these points to your
local NPR Station
> Manager, *and* indelibly impressing upon him that a
"public" broadcaster
> should be offering their content in generic
NON-PROPRIETARY formats, such as
> .MP3, .MPEG, etc.
>

You know, I have made this point to them over and over.
Their response is unsettling. They don't answer at all. For
example, I have emailed "On The Media" repeatedly about this
issue. They'll answer about other topics. About this one,
all I get is silence, and it is an issue that they should be
covering as a five-alarm fire. But I get silence.

It is as if Real is giving the webmasters payola. A problem
here is that RN is now giving non-profits free use of their
technology, even cross-promoting with them. The BBC has
adopted Real as their worldwide net technology.
Simultaneously, the BBC gave up their shortwave
transmissions to North America. Real is a juggernaut that I
don't know how to stop. In most of the US, for example,
programs that I listen to routinely from various public
radio sources and foundations can only be heard via Real
formatting over a computer.

I don't know...I have a similar dislike for Microsoft, and
they get steadily more brazen. But we use their stuff, don't
we? In my work, it is buy Microsoft products or starve.
That's the choice. This is the world as it is presently.
Obviously, Real has done its best to become the Microsoft of
streaming media.

Richard