In case you didn’t know, Real Networks, Inc. is Real Evil. Their intense desire to strongarm all known audio into their proprietary Real Media formats is only matched by the legendarily suck-tastic performance of their products.

Please do not endorse this company or their products.

Thankfully, you don’t have to use Real Player to play Real Media files:

Real Alternative will allow you to play RealMedia files without having to install RealPlayer. All RealMedia formats (.ra .rm .rmvb .ram .rpm .rv .rp .rt .rnx .smi .smil) are supported, including streaming content and RealMedia content that is embedded in Web pages

[Jan 2010 Update: C-Net calls Real Media the "Biggest Disappointment of the Decade" and the "Prince of Crapware and Annoyance" in their  5 worst downloads of 2009 article.

It makes me happy to look back on this post from 5 years ago and realize that finally, there was a Bad Guy in the real world who didn't eventually win through their own evil perseverance.  I'd like to think this blog post played some small part in the demise of Real Networks.

Also, I've changed the Real Alternative link over to download.com although if you run across any Real Media files beyond the year 2010, you should send the website host a scathing e-mail.]

-Z

Posted in Cool Product, Software, Ubersuck