Jun 26 2007
Real Player - Ahoy!
Real Networks today announced the public beta release of Real Player 11. The player allows users to download any web video they happen to be watching. The player adds a “save this” button to any video playing in a browser. Multiple videos can be downloaded in the background as you continue surfing. The videos are then placed into a desktop application where they can be organized into playlists and burned to CD. The pro upgrade allows burning to DVD.
Although the player will recognize and respect DRM restrictions the player will strip the video from the contextual advertising commonly used by Youtube, Brightcove etc. causing many to accuse Real of piracy. Real insists that the product does not break any copyright law.
Lawyer Laurence Pulgram, partner in the copyright litigation group at Fenwick & West LLP in San Francisco, agrees, saying RealNetworks has managed to stay within copyright laws that cover such devices as VCRs. “This is pretty close to the paradigm example of a VCR-type device,” Pulgram said. “It has substantial non-infringing uses.” Information Week
The Real desktop application includes a video search application provided by blinkx.
“Previous versions of RealPlayer have only had access to RealNetworks’ small library of video content but the deal with Blinkx will offer the media player’s users access to around 12 million hours of content…..Blinkx provides the critical link between the consumer and the fragmented online content industry. Unlike other text-based technologies that use often misleading text tags attached to the descriptions of videos, Blinkx’s platform can comprehend what is in the video clip and thus deliver more accurate results to the user.” The Independent
The player is currently windows only - mac version later in the year. For more on Blinkx see Web video that works part 2 below, and video interviews on BeetTV.
