RealNetworks have annonuced a new version of RealPlayer that includes one-click video ripping.
The free downloadable video player will allows users to save and organize video files in all major formats including Flash, QuickTime, RealMedia and Window Media and will support video ripping from sites such as YouTube, Google, Yahoo!, Brightcove, AOL and The New York Times.
The ability to rip online videos is not new. A number of programs are already available that provide a similar service yet this is the first time this level of functionailty has been offered in a high user base product.
The new RealPlayer will not download or record video that is DRM infected but will download everything else, placing it somewhere between headache and law suit for a bevy of content creators. Every content creator will now be challenged by the real possibility that if their product is DRM free, it’s likely to be ripped from the original source site and even burned to CD.
I may be exagerating the problem, and a true anti-DRM advocate would argue that consumers should be free to use content how and where they see fit. Yet content creators can impose copyright restrictions without the use of DRM and should be able to control the context of how and when a video is played back; the offer of free viewing does not automatically extend to an offer of free and unlimited use, take free to air TV or Radio as an example.
The new version of RealPlayer will be released in June. Sorry Mac users, no Real enabled ripping for you until later in the year, Windows only at this stage with support for Internet Explorer and Firefox.
(video via Beet.tv)
I think this signals the official end of Real Networks’ desire to be the content provider for media outlets. This is an admission of defeat and an attempt to stay relevant. After buddying up to the networks and old media for so long they are now trying to change teams and make nice with the users.
Not trying to sound too negative though. Easy video ripping is a great thing.
I wouldn’t install RealPlayer if it also simultaneously cured cancer, brought world peace and enlarged my penis.
RealPlayer PerfectPlay is literally the ONLY feature in an audio player I can’t live without. Maybe someone else has it too, but being able to pause a live stream and come back later to the same spot makes it my only indispensible player. It also leaves nice break points between programs so you can go where you want quickly, up to 12 hours buffered.
Beyond that, RealPlayer’s reputation is sooo exaggerated. If I tell it to stop starting up automatically, it does. It doesn’t keep coming back like bad Clams Casino a la Quicktime. Now that’s a piece of s**tware.
Good luck to Real, and nice idea.
Another exciting step in the migration of video content to the internet.
Edgy move on RealNetwork’s part. I’m surprised.
“the offer of free viewing does not automatically extend to an offer of free and unlimited use, take free to air TV or Radio as an example.”
Sure it does (if by unlimited use you mean unlimited _personal_ use)
See Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios 1984 aka “The Betamax Case”
Markus
wasn’t thinking personal use alone.
datter pretty well sums up my take. It shouldn’t be necessary to wipe a system to get malware off. There are going to have to be a lot of angel choruses singing ‘Halleluia’ before I go near their warz again.
datter +1
datter ++
Duncan, if you record something, and then use it for “non-personal use” like re-broadcasting, the issue isn’t with recording, it’s with re-broadcast. The VCR (and Tivo, and CD burner and so on) are all legal, even if they can eventually be part of a chain of tools that enable you to do something illegal.
My baseball bat is legal, even though I could use it to knock someone’s skull around. Should we outlaw baseball bats, or murder?
The off line copying actually interests me but I just can’t bring myself to install it. Too many bad memories of pop ups and im sure tracking with their software.
the early versions of the paid version of realplayer did this, back in the late 90s. so in a sense it’s a return to form, not a new development.
Does anyone know exactly how much of the content out there (audio & video) is DRM protected versus how much isn’t DRM protected?
this sort of app looks great and must be scary for the content providers……….
Real Player is bloatware, use VLAN and web based tools to get/view videos.
“I may be exagerating the problem, and a true anti-DRM advocate would argue that consumers should be free to use content how and where they see fit. Yet content creators can impose copyright restrictions without the use of DRM and should be able to control the context of how and when a video is played back”
Maybe I am missing something here but what difference is there in someone downloading a video from YouTube for personal use to watch at their leisure versus TechCrunch (or any other site) posting a video from Beet.TV broadcast on YouTube for the purposes of broadcasting content without having to click through to YouTube first? I know that YouTube offers this ability through an API but I would think that if “content creators” had some kind of issue with being “able to control the context of how and when a video is played back” it should be centered more around this kind of “rebroadcasting” rather than limiting some clearly targeting more “personal use”.
The content providers or video sites could always opt to use flash protection services like http://www.enscramble.com that would effectively limit their exposure.
This signals more the desperation of the company / instead of - a good move.
Democracy Theifs? ..lol
Hmm … looks like this has just resparked my interest in Real Player. I know some earlier editions of RealPlayer were spyware and more recent ones were not so bad on the malware front, but a little cumbersome.
This might just make it worth it again.