Thursday, November 15,2007 @ 1:25am
RealPlayer v11: Mac beta, new iPod support
RealNetworks today announced the consumer availability of its new RealPlayer v11 for Windows after a five-month public beta period and announced a beta of its Mac version; in addition, the company said the newest version finally bring support for transferring downloaded video content to Apple's iPod nano, iPod classic and iPod video. iPod owners who previously only had access to video content available through Apple's iTunes now have access to non-DRM protected videos from thousands of sites on the Web after upgrading to the paid version of its product. The new Mac beta allows the downloading of non-DRM protected Web videos from thousands of sites for playback online or offline and is available for Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" and Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard," offering support for both Firefox for the Mac and Safari.
Version 11 features an improved look and feel, a streamlined installation process and faster video playback.
Originally debuting in June 2007 without Mac or iPod support, the new RealPlayer claims to be "the first" mainstream media player that lets consumers download and record video from thousands of websites; however, the company noted a few PC-only features: users can start downloading in the middle of watching a video, and the entire video will be captured; and consumers can send links of their favorite videos to their friends with a convenient "Share with a Friend" feature.
Real also said will extend the popular and simple one-click download feature in the new RealPlayer to a global audience by the end of November with the availability of localized versions for nine additional languages, including French, German, Italian, Korean, Spanish, Japanese, simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, Brazilian Portuguese and English language variations serving the United Kingdom, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. These localized versions of the new RealPlayer will be available for PC users (Windows XP SP II and Vista compatible) before the end of November.
"Now consumers can use the one-click download functionality to view Web video offline on their PC or transfer video to popular portable media devices like the iPod," said Harold Zeitz, senior vice president of media software and services at Real. "RealPlayer is one of the most popular applications around the world, and by the end of the month our customers from North America to China will have this one-click video download functionality and the ability to watch videos on the go with their iPods in their own native languages."
The company said will continue development of the new RealPlayer in the coming months and has plans to add video transfer support for Apple's iPhone and iPod touch in early 2008. The new RealPlayer is available as a free download, while support for the transfer of video to Apple's iPod is available to those customers who upgrade to RealPlayer Plus for $40.
