RealONE Player The Next Generation: RealPlayer 8 Forrest Stroud
RealPlayer 7
RealPlayer generation five debuted with the release of RealPlayer 7. While not as revolutionary as previous releases of the client, RealPlayer 7 does add some critical -- and useful -- new features. The release of RealPlayer 7 coincides with the debut of Real.com's Take5 entertainment showcase, which has been integrated into the new player.
Take5 offers daily updated multimedia content to users with the intent of serving as your Internet entertainment portal. The portal's content is provided by more than 100 media partners in the form of daily headlines, music news and premiers, comedy features, and additional original entertainment.
RealPlayer 7 also offers a revamped user interface with enhanced media navigation features, improved MP3 performance with support for streamed MP3 content, reduced start-up time and other performance improvements, and Real.com's Message Service (e-mail news flashes). Additional information on RealPlayer 7's new features can be found at http://www.real.com/player/features/.
RealPlayer 8
RealPlayer 8 continues where version 7.0 leaves off. As with the release of v7.0, RealPlayer 8 doesn't offer revolutionary changes over previous versions, but nevertheless it does sport several significant additions. The most noticeable change with v8.0 is the coinciding release of Real Entertainment Center, an audio/video streaming suite which packages RealPlayer 8 with RealJukebox 2, the RealDownload 4 client (based on NetZIP's Internet Download Manager), and an integrated Net2Phone client.
The standalone release of RealPlayer 8 remains available for download in freeware and $29.99 Plus editions. Features making their debut in the 8.0 release of RealPlayer include streaming MP3 support; an integrated Real.com Radio tuner with more than 2,500 Internet radio stations; skins support with visualizations, animations, and more; 3-band equalizer (10-band available in RealPlayer Plus); Internet Media Discovery; and iQfx 2.0 with 3-D Stereo sound. A complete listing of what's new in RealPlayer 8 can be found at http://www.real.com/player/features/.
