Required RealPlayer update

A gripe I just sent to the folks over at Real:

"I only reluctantly updated my version of Real Player months ago because a stream I wanted to listen to required a newer, ad-ridden version. It took me some time to prevent Real from taking over all my computer's media.

Today I was presented with a window that said this version had expired and the only choices I was given was update or close. Update or close? Screw you guys! If your software is going to be free leave it that way and ALWAYS allow someone to opt-out of any upgrades. Thanks to you I'll now waste time setting this thing up and preventing it from taking over all my media (AGAIN) during what's supposed to be my relaxing lunch break."

"The reference number for your question is '040818-001536'."

I don't care how important they think an update is they shouldn't be able to require I do so. If this is the way supposed free software is going I'm going back to DOS.

I'll be sure to let you know what form letter response they send.

Comments (4) | To Top

8/18/2004 @ 3:44pm

I hear that, my friend. I hear that...

Installing Real Player is a bit like voluntarily planting invasive blackberries in your flower beds. Sure, it yields some tasty fruit, in that their streaming audio and video tech is pretty solid. At the same time, it puts down roots like you wouldn't believe and crawls into the dark recesses of your system. "Hey! Should I steal the associations for all major file types? Okay, thanks. Should I pop up sponsor announcements in your system tray any time I feel like it? Sure!"

It sucks that you have to get the machete out each time you upgrade it, but hey, at least it doesn't have the install base of Quicktime or WMP. Only the rarest bits of content will be offered in Real format alone.

by Matt Turner

8/19/2004 @ 8:52am

Response (AK) - 08/18/2004 04:37 PM
Dear Kevin Freitas,

Thank you for contacting RealNetworks Customer Service.

I'm very sorry that you are experiencing this frustration.

The upgrade message you received is to update you from the beta version of our new software to the Gold, non-beta, version.

We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.

Anne K
RealNetworks Customer Service

by KevinFreitas

8/25/2004 @ 9:56am

as a stock holder in real, i take offense! bust mostly at their current stock price.

by mattagee

2/24/2007 @ 9:14am

i just finished spending hours cleaning and optimizing my primary partition to make a clean back up image. just as i'm finishing i take a quick look at some folder and notice that all the wav files have got 'real' icons! a further review confirms that that f*cking real player has again stolen the file associations. it must have happened while i was setting something and i didn't notice that the default was set to 'use real player to open everything and anything'. those dirty mother f*ckers. now i must spend time putting it all back, cleaning the prefetch and everything else, etc., get the whole apparatus set up to image a primary partition, and babysit the whole shebang ANOTHER couple hours until it's all done. f*cking swear, i tell you if it wasn’t necessary for those few times... mother f*ckers.

by gershon g