*sigh* This isn't really a Mac-focused question, but can someone please explain to me why so many professional sites only offer RealPlayer (or a combination of RealPlayer and Windows Media) files instead of mp3s? I loathe using RealPlayer, but there are just too many places that require it. My own organization, a major scientific organization that really ought not to be technologically clueless, only offers RealPlayer files. I've been trying to convince them otherwise, but without much success. There must be some reason, some advantage, to RealPlayer that I'm missing. What is it? At least if I understood why they insisted on RealPlayer, maybe it wouldn't frustrate me so much.
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Why RealPlayer???
- Thread starter Bedawyn
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It's a mystery to me too. Windows comes with WMP preinstalled and Mac comes with Quicktime preinstalled, so offer those two and you get 99% of people...
The reason I think is because those two formats can stream their content, rather then having the user wait for the file to download.
Although I dont know why so few sites offer streaming content in Quicktime. Not too much of a problem, as Realplayer is actually quite good on the Mac- not of that filthy adware you get on the PC version + it runs nicely as well.
Although I dont know why so few sites offer streaming content in Quicktime. Not too much of a problem, as Realplayer is actually quite good on the Mac- not of that filthy adware you get on the PC version + it runs nicely as well.
I think it was the first "streaming" format, so people started using it because they had no other choice at the time. This is true for both webmasters and users. It probably has a large market share so that is why a lot of sites still use it.
Other than that there is no advantage to it. It is an inferior format with a horrendous, bloated player. If common sense prevailed, sites would use mp3s and quicktime.
Other than that there is no advantage to it. It is an inferior format with a horrendous, bloated player. If common sense prevailed, sites would use mp3s and quicktime.
RealNetworks offers encoding and server software suitable for large-scale enterprise use, and servers that can support a large number of simultaneous users.
RealAudio has comparable quality to MP3 for half the bitrate (as do current Windows Media and AAC codecs.)
RealPlayer is available for free on Linux, Mac, and Windows, and is written as a native application on each platform. The playback engine in RealPlayer is open-source, unlike QuickTime and Windows Media.
RealAudio has comparable quality to MP3 for half the bitrate (as do current Windows Media and AAC codecs.)
RealPlayer is available for free on Linux, Mac, and Windows, and is written as a native application on each platform. The playback engine in RealPlayer is open-source, unlike QuickTime and Windows Media.