Real Player is easily the buggiest popular software I've ever used, period. I can't believe how this software actually got out and allow people to download it and use it. So far I've used and heard the software on at least 7 different machines and they report similar bugs and freezes, as well as you should have known by now.

To summarize this Epinion in a few short words, I would just say, if you do not require playback of Real Media files, then I obviously do not see any reason you should even know about Real Player. Besides the feature of playing Real Media files, every other functions of Real Player are supported by other better, resource-saving, stable, functional and easier-to-use softwares. If you want to listen to MP3, why don't you use Winamp that has a good feature of playlist support, use very little memory and does not crash everytime you open it for 5 min? If you want to watch streaming videos and musics, why don't you use Windows Media Player 7? Heck it supports MP3 playback and CDDB CD which Real Player does not have. To make things even more easily understood, we do not need all those useless features of Real Player, we've got programs that do the job 100 times better. All we need is a simple program that plays Real Media files.

Let's start with the memory issue. If you want to run Real Player, be ready to shelve about 128MB of ram into your computer at least if you want to enjoy having Real Player and doing other things while you're at it. This program eats your system resources quite a lot, but that's comprehensible considering all the features it has; in which none of them I actually use.

Second of all, if you are running Real Player via DSL or ethernet, you better hold your temper because if your network is down or you can't connect to the internet for some reason, Real Player won't work! It will simply freezes itself there and you can't do anything about it. I've tried this on 3 separate machines and they respond the same. I don't know what's the deal with this but they surely can make the program work in the way that, it doesn't just freeze itself automatically. ANY program that's SUPPOSED to freeze anyway is downright, crap. And I don't even want to get to the issue if you're running under a firewall...

When you are playing a Real Media file, you have to be VERY careful with it. First of all, if you don't hit STOP and close the program immediately, 3 out of 10 times you will get an ILLEGAL OPERATION message and you won't be able to use the program unless you restart the computer. This has been tested on 3 different machines and it appears rather often. Hhmm, call me a language amateur, but this phenonmenon, hhmm, is it known as a BUG? Or call me a conservative type, but this bug, hhmm, isn't it a BIG-BUTT BUG?

And if you do not enable the Quick Start/Start Center (whatever-you-call it, I will update this section when I find out what it's called. I want to see it from the program's menu but the program is not responding no matter how many times I restart it. I'll try it later when I reboot.), which gives me nothing but conflicts with my other programs, Real Player will take about a million years to load up. And if you enable Quick Start/Start Center, all your other programs probably will take a million years to function properly.

And guess what, I've got something new for the past 2-3 days. Apparently I changed some settings or installed some new programs in my computer. And now if I turn on the computer and just let it on for like an hour, Real Player won't start! Now this one has only be tested on one machine so it could just be picky on my hardware. I'll just let it slip in there so you know. And one additional information, all my hardwares are from major manufacturers in computer electronics. They're not like tech-edge top-of-the-line, but they're decent. I've not have any software problems with any other softwares and believe me, I use a lot of them. (Only problem I had was with Ahead Nero Burning ROM)

Verdict:

Avoid this piece of junk at all cost, unless you're like me, forced to use it because you need to view Real Media files. If you absolutely have to, remember this 3 cardinal sins:

1-DO NOT ASSOCIATE FILE TYPES BESIDES REAL MEDIA FILES. That way you won't have to deal with this program if you can have other programs handling your other files. It will save a few veins in your body from popping.

2-DISABLE START CENTER/QUICK START. Trust me, it is worth the wait for the program to load up slower. You wouldn't want to even test this theory.

3-ALWAYS HIT STOP BEFORE CLICKING CLOSE. If possible, don't even double-click a file to open the program. Try to open the program manually and choose your files manually. This way it will reduce the chances of freezing and crashing. Drag-and-Drops are fine.

The bottom line, I see no reason to use this program if you don't view Real Media files. If you want streaming music, try Spinner (spinner.com). If you want a program that handles many media types, try Windows Media Player. If you want a CDDB/CDDB2 CD player, try Quintessential CD Player (quinnware.com). Of course I forgot to mention that if you pay for the full-version or what, you will get a media playlist program called Real Jukebox. Ladies and gentleman, give me 5 min, I guarantee I can give you at least 5 other programs that do the same thing, only easier to use, I guarantee. The bottom line: If you want to give yourself some high blood pressure and extra motivation exercising your punches, try this one, I guarantee you will like it.


Recommended: No