CARLSBAD, Calif. – RealNetworks Inc. unveiled during the All Things Digital Conference on Thursday a new RealPlayer the company claimed is “the first media player to make it one-click simple to download online videos from thousands of websites.”
According to a statement about the new RealPlayer, the product also allows users to burn video to DVD and CD and share video links with friends. Most major formats are supported, including Real, Windows Media, Flash, and QuickTime.
As with past versions of the product, a Windows-compatible version of the new RealPlayer will be available free of charge beginning in June. A Mac-compatible version will be released later in the year, the company said.
“The new RealPlayer gives consumers more control of Internet video than was ever possible before,” RealNetworks Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rob Glaser said. “By floating a ‘download this video’ button next to video seen on thousands of websites, RealPlayer makes it one-click simple.
“The new RealPlayer is a major step toward realizing our vision of bringing great digital entertainment to more people on more screens around the world,” Glaser continued.
In 1995 RealNetworks gave the Internet a voice with the first-ever Internet broadcast via RealAudio player, an innovation that garnered Real an Emmy from The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Since then, the RealPlayer has become one of the most downloaded software applications on the Internet, with an average of more than 1.5 million copies downloaded daily.
In addition to providing a one-step download process, the new RealPlayer will allow users to download multiple videos simultaneously and to capture an entire video from its beginning — even if a download begins after the video starts playing.
To put content owners’ minds at ease, the new RealPlayer will allow users to download or record only video that is not protected by a digital rights management system.
“RealPlayer feeds the appetite consumers have for interesting Web video while maintaining a connection with the content source,” said Lisa Hungness, general manager for new media at National Geographic Magazine Online, which is beta-testing the new product with its WildCam product.
