RealPlayer....alternatives?

[yclyde]

I do not use realplayer personally, but a friend of mine uses it to listen to BBC while computing. Apparently realplayer comes with some nasty baggage (he had comet and gator installed amongst other things) and I would like to know if anyone knows of an alternative program to handle the same functions as realplayer w/o the nasties.

Did a pretty thorough search and goose-egged out.

Thanks

GB

[nishark]

afaik, realplayer's fileformats are proprietary, and hence there aint any other player's for it...

someone please tell me i'm wrong, i'd love to try some other light player that can play realmedia

[yclyde]

Hi nishark,

I do believe that RP's format is proprietary and that is part of the problem.

Thought I remember seeing somewhere on a search, another program that would perform basically the same functions. Could of been a dream too since I can't seem to locate it.

Have read a few times in the past of ways to "control" RP a little better. Don't remember where I found that info as personally I have no need for RP.

[Redwolf]

Just download an old version of Realplayer. Realplayer 8 is a good place to go. Its on their site, but it's hard to find. I'll look for it again (need to redl it anyway, formatted).

-edit- Found it. Click where it says 'System Requirments'. Scroll down to the bottom and click 'Previous Player Versions'. Simple enough, eh?

Direct link (may not work):

http://forms.real.com/real/player/bl...choicepop_c1_1

[nishark]

matter of fact is, like ur friend, i tend to listen to BBC online as well...lots of streaming media (atleast from the few that i listen to ) uses RP...so have it on me
i'd say the format is quite ok, the player is bloated tho
specially in earlier versions when it used to install RealJukebox!!

[Redwolf]

Okay, RP8 has some spyware. Don't know what kind yet, but I should in just a min. Oh, and Adware and Spybot both crashed when running the program. That sucks....

AdBreak. Rrally sucks.

[yclyde]

Thanks for the link Redwolf! Got it (8). I may do a trial install on my own rig to see what to watch out for.

Love BBC nishark. Last great news source (major). I usually catch it on NPR.

Thanks!

[yclyde]

Ooooh.. maybe I'll wait on that install. Appreciate the info.

[Redwolf]

Make sure to disable SmartCenter, and run adaware or spybot after you install it.

[yclyde]

10-4 Redwolf. I'll load up a couple of spyware programs and give it a drive. Thanks for the tip!