RealNetworks®, Inc. , the leading creator of digital media services and software, today announced the public availability of RealPlayer® 10, the best media player ever. The first major new player release from RealNetworks in two years, RealPlayer 10 makes it easy for consumers to find, play and manage all the digital media on the Web and in their own music collection. RealPlayer 10 is available for immediate download at www.real.com.
“RealPlayer 10 is a breakthrough product. Not only is it the greatest media player ever, RealPlayer 10 is one of those once-in-a-generation products that redefines its category,” said Rob Glaser, Chairman and CEO of RealNetworks. “RealPlayer 10 is the first product ever to directly integrate finding, organizing, buying, playing, and managing digital audio and video in a single fun, easy to use product. You gotta check it out!”
The free RealPlayer 10 is the easiest and friendliest RealPlayer ever, and offers consumers:
—Great new design that’s fun and easy to use
—Support for every major media format and the ability to play music from
all of the major online music stores
—The best quality video and audio codecs ever, RealVideo® 10 and
RealAudio® 10
—Support for over 50 portable music devices, including the iPOD and the
Handspring Treo 600
—Great content discovery tools and extensive free content in the new
Real Guide
—An integrated digital music download store with unrivaled services for
discovering music, and a first song download for only $0.10 for the
next ten days
The Easiest and Friendliest RealPlayer Ever
RealPlayer 10 makes it easy to quickly get to the most common tasks related to finding, playing and managing digital media. New features such as LivePause™ and PerfectPlay™ make it possible to pause live streams and instantly fast-forward and rewind within both live and on-demand streams. New user controls and installation process make it easy to turn many features and services on or off.
Plays All Formats and All Music Store Files
The free version of RealPlayer 10 can play all of the major formats used on the Web, including Real, Windows Media, QuickTime MPEG-4, MP3, as well as the secure versions of these formats used by online music stores. For the first time ever, RealPlayer 10 makes it possible for consumers to use a single media player to play music on their PC purchased from all of the major online music stores.
Best Video and Audio Quality Ever
RealVideo 10 delivers a break-through improvement of 30% in efficiency over RealVideo 9, enabling DVD quality video at approximately 1 Megabit per second, and HiDefinition quality video at approximately 5 Megabits per second. RealAudio 10 includes a range of new capabilities, including support for the AAC codec for use in CD ripping and music downloads, RealAudio Multichannel for home theatre experiences, and RealAudio Lossless for audiophiles and professional archiving.
Great Music Management
The re-designed music jukebox in RealPlayer 10 makes it easier than ever to organize, play, and transfer music to CDs and portable devices, including
—Drag and drop support for media files to portable device or CDs
—Ability to export to 50 devices, including iPOD, Creative Labs, Nokia,
SonicBlue/Rio, Sony, Panasonic, and PalmOne
—30% faster CD burning than RealOne™ Player
—Ability to burn CDs in Redbook Audio, MP3, and Mixed Mode
Great Content Discovery Services
RealPlayer 10 makes it easy to discover great content in the integrated Real Guide as well as anywhere on the Web with advanced personalization and search services. Real Guide includes thousands of free and premium audio and video clips in the News, Sports, Music and Entertainment categories and includes free 30-second samples of most premium content. Content discovery features include:
—Personalized Quicklinks that take you to the content you want most
often
—Ability to set your home page in Real Guide to specific editions such
as News or Sports
—Search both the Real Guide and for audio and video files on the Web
with one search
All of the premium services in the RealOne™ SuperPass service will be available in RealPlayer 10.
Great New Music Store and Free Music Guide
With an integrated music download store and music jukebox, and an extensive free music guide, RealPlayer 10 makes it easier than ever to discover, purchase and manage digital music. Powered by the extensive and easy-to-use music directory of the award-winning Rhapsody digital music service, the RealPlayer Music Store is expected to include 400,000 by the end of January 2004 in the highest quality of any download store: 192 Kb/s RealAudio 10 with AAC. Music tracks are priced at $0.99 with most albums at $9.99. For the next 10 days, U.S. consumers who download RealPlayer 10 will be able to purchase their first track for only $0.10. Consumers can transfer tracks purchased in the RealPlayer Music Store to the Creative Zen Xtra as well as seven models of PalmOne devices, including most of the Tungsten models, the Zire 71, and the Treo 600. The RealPlayer music guide includes free music videos, exclusive live performance recordings, complete CD listening parties, and more than 3,000 Internet radio stations.
