*RealPlayer* is one of those media players that seems to have been around
since the very beginnings of the web. 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... 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. One of the most annoying aspects of RealPlayer however is
that it takes ages to start whether streaming a clip or just opening a
standalone video file. This may be due to the many *extensions and plugins*
that come preinstalled with it. There are also too many clicks and mouse
movements required just to switch to a full-screen playback mode when viewing
a clip on a web page. 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. 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. 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.*Download
*RealPlayer 15.0.4.53* in Softonic
