Real has launched a new beta player at Real 11 Beta. It is a really cool product and it also installs a plugin for your browser which allows you to download any streaming audio or media source. I know there are plugins out there which can do the job but I like this plugin better.
The UI looks much more sleek and there seems to be a decent integration with Real and Rhapsody even though I have not figured out how to use this feature. If the real designers are looking for feedback this is the most important one as the UI is so confusing and they have still not figured a clean upgrade path and you can still show links to previous versions of the software which will confuse the user ( at least I got confused).
There is lot of integration with other sites on the net which host video content . The collaboration is a welcome sign to all users who want to see the best content at a single destination.
The other really nice feature of this release was that the player instead of associating itself to any video/audio format known to mankind asks if it can just associate real player with the formats not associated with any player ( Microsoft should read this blog a million times not that they will learn but atleast they will know that the “live and let live “concept is not all that bad and will be welcomed by most consumers)
Note - It does not work for me in Vista. The player loads and works for the most part but it hangs whenever I try to go to my Library and play songs. I was really hoping that the Comcast Rhapsody player will work in Vista after this installation but I was disappointed.
