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Apparently people still download and use RealPlayer. According to RealNetworks, the UK alone downloads the 16-year old multimedia player between 8000 and 12,000 times a day, and it’s on course to hit 100 million downloads this year.
RealPlayer lost favour in the middle part of the 2000s, in part due to their wanton disregard for user choice when it came to settings, and its persistence to make it the only player for everything internet. I remember having to download it to listen to radio streams and being infuriated by the sluggish, overbearing user interface — I didn’t think anyone still used it.
These days RealPlayer specialises in DRM-free video downloading and converting, and has around the 25 million users a month mark globally. Maybe we should give it a spin again — for nostalgia if nothing else. [TechRadar]
Erm, no ta.
Downloads don’t necessarily equal users. But even so I am surprised if they get 10,000 per day unless it’s piggy backed onto something useful.
Rubbish! No way are 10,000 people a day downloading this…
I refuse to believe this. RealPlayer always has (and always will be) utter crap.
It could be tied into corporations. I know the old stock install of Win XP at Imperial College had RealPlayer bundled. Anyway, someone must be using it for something, somewhere.
I used to think Realplayer was pap like the rest of you seem to but for the past year I have used RealPlayer instead of iTunes or MS Media Player. I especially how it handles my music cd’s conversion to high quality mp3 format (also gives you alot of options), never fails and tags correctly. All in all I think RealPlayer is excellent, so much so that I just posted my first gizmodo comment!
Slow news day?