I was just wondering if anybody else has been having the same
aggravating problems that I have with RealPlayer?
Ever since I downloaded a "free" sample of RealPlayer, I have been
trying to get it out of my computer in vain. When I try to download
an mp3 file, Windows says that it cannot find RealPlayer.exe, and
therefore cannot play the mp3 file. Not only that, it won't even
download the file! I get the header only!
I have three or four other media players that will play an mp3 file,
and they cannot even find the file I have supposedly downloaded.
Now I don't know about everybody else, but I do not put programs on
my computer that I feel are written or given away by people with an
agenda. I don't care how good they are, or what they are offering --
when RealPlayer takes over my PC and decides what I will and will
not find on the web, as far as they are concerned, then that gets my
hackles up!
Perhaps somebody else has this same problem. I have removed everything
I can find that says RealPlayer. I have long ago gone to my control
panel, to add-remove programs, and done the dog and pony show.
I have also noticed that some players aren't as good as other players.
For instance, the Media Player -- in my estimation -- is a lousy player,
fidelity-wise. Nero is pretty good but too crude. Needs a lot of
work. Media Magic is mediocre. Goldwave is excellent. RealPlayer is
also excellent, fidelity-wise, but when it takes over my PC and won't
allow me to choose between players, even when downloading a file, then
I have to get rid of it. It has also caused a lot of crashes and stuff
that takes hours or days of work to get to the bottom of, and RealPlayer
help is practically non-existent, as far as I know about.
So realize that these are opinions from a not-too-smart computer user,
but perhaps some of you folks have a solution (?).
A. I would like to know how to totally divest myself of RealPlayer,
who in my opinion, does business like The Mob. Once they get a
foothold, then you don't have any options, and they call the shots.
And I would ask anybody how they were able to get some help from them
if they have a problem like this.
B. The second thing I would like to know is, what player do you like,
and is it something that other web sites can offer as a freebie (in
place of the mob), and will it totally take over a PC, or is it
respectful of ownership and personal options?
These computers belong to us, not to them! If I am being told how I
will and will not download files, and what program I will use, then I
still have enough American blood in me to get my back up about this and
start sounding off to other Americans, and anybody else that is
interested.
Craig Brougher
[ Editor's opinions:
[
[ I had a similar experience. I finally built a totally fresh Windows
[ operating system on a blank hard disk drive. Building the new op sys
[ didn't take long, but the rest of the day was consumed with restoring
[ all the programs and data files. (I was carefully checking each phase
[ using Norton Utilities.) RealPlayer totally offends me, much more
[ than Microsoft products; I hate it!
[
[ I advocate MPEG media format because it's a public standard so
[ any firm can offer player programs. Download the compact (and
[ free) MP3 player program, "Audioactive Player" by Telos Systems,
[ at http://www.audioactive.com/products/default.htm Then at
[ http://mmd.foxtail.com/Sounds/index.html you can listen to a
[ Wurlitzer APP tune from Hal Davis which was encoded at 11 kHz
[ using the companion encoder program, "Audioactive Production
[ Studio Lite". I chose this encoder because Hal's recordings are
[ monaural and rather limited bandwidth. Other inexpensive MP3
[ encoders won't create a compact MP3 file of 11 kHz mono. Oh yes,
[ it plays "streaming" while the data is downloading. :-)
[
[ To modify the association which launches a program when you
[ double-click on a file name, launch "Exploring" (Start>Programs>
[ Windows Explorer>) then menu View/Folder_Options/File_Types. It's
[ an agonizing process; if anyone knows a better way please tell us!
[
[ -- Robbie Rhodes
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