[ARSCLIST] Try Real Alternative (was RealNetworks -- a horrid format from a horrible company)

[Jon Noring <jon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Rob Poretti wrote:

> If I have to put SPYWARE on my computer to get any kind of audio files, I'm
> out.  I don't care if they are FREE.  And a lot of people feel the same way.
> Like I said, "To each their own."  I think I have a right to my opinion, and
> you are to yours.

The RealAudio player is definitely a piece of junk. I like to call it
"tentacleware" since it essentially takes over one's computer. It is
insidious with all that spyware that's difficult to remove. Since I
refuse to install the RealAudio player on my computer no matter what,
until recently I had no way to play RealAudio and so missed out on
sites like Dismuke's and Red Hot Jazz.

However, I recently found an independent RealAudio player, "Real
Alternative." It works like a charm (although supposedly it won't
play the newest RealAudio codec.)

For info on "Real Alternative", see:

   http://www.codecguide.com/about_real.htm

And Wikipedia has an article on it:

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Alternative

Suffice to say RealNetworks is claiming Real Alternative is illegal,
but I've been so angry with my past experiences with RealAudio (like
having to reformat my hard drive and reinstall Windows to get rid of
it after trashing the system) that I'll simply say RealNetworks should
go stuff it where the sun doesn't shine.

And Dismuke, you should consider an alternative to RealAudio. You
should now realize there's a lot of anger out there against
RealAudio, and those who distribute audio with it. Even Microsoft is
better than RealAudio. Why not MP3? Anything but RealAudio.

Jon Noring