Real Networks today announced availability of its new RealPlayer after a five-month public beta period. The new Real Player got Rave reviews at the "All Things Digital" conference in June 2007 from beta testers and press alike, the new RealPlayer is the first mainstream media player that lets consumers download and record video from thousands of Web sites.

As part of the RealPlayer Plus package, users can now transfer downloaded video content to the Apple iPod Nano, iPod Classic and iPod Video. iPod owners who previously only had access to video content available through Apple iTunes now have access to non-DRM protected videos from thousands of sites on the Web.

Real will extend the popular and simple one-click download feature in the new RealPlayer to the world by the end of November with the availability of localized versions for nine additional languages. In addition, a beta version of the new RealPlayer for Mac users is now available and allows the downloading of non-DRM protected Web videos from thousands of sites for playback online or offline.

"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."

"We magically do the video conversion to the right video format and then put them on iPod," Real Vice President Jeff Chasen said.

Real will continue development of the new RealPlayer in the coming months, with plans to add video transfer support for the Apple iPhone and iTouch in early 2008. The new RealPlayer is available as a free download from http://www.realplayer-plus.com. Support for the transfer of video to the Apple iPod is available to those customers who upgrade to RealPlayer Plus at a one-time cost of $39.99.

Facts about the new RealPlayer:

    — In addition to the U.S. version, the new RealPlayer and the ability to
       download Web video for offline viewing is now localized for the
       following languages: 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.

    — The Macintosh compatible beta version of the new RealPlayer is now
       available to consumers in the U.S., supporting Mac OS X v10.4 and 10.5
       with Firefox for the Mac and Safari.

    — Consumers can download multiple videos simultaneously with RealPlayer,
       allowing people to save time and easily multitask. Users can also start
       downloading in the middle of watching a video, and the entire video
       will be captured. (PC version only)

    — Consumers can send links of their favorite videos to their friends with
       a convenient "Share with a Friend" feature.  The link that arrives in
       their friends' email will direct them to the online source of the video
       content. (PC version only)

    — RealPlayer features an improved look and feel, a streamlined
       installation process and faster video playback.

   — View thumbnail images of saved videos.

Get yours now at http://www.realplayer-plus.com.

This spring, Verizon will be adding video transcoding and streaming to their DVR software, in addition to cell phone scheduling.

A nice video showing the slick capabilities of Google's new android platform

RealPlayer, briefly known also as RealOne Player, is a cross-platform media player by RealNetworks that plays a number of multimedia formats including MP3, MPEG-4, QuickTime, Windows Media and multiple versions of proprietary RealAudio and RealVideo formats. The fist version of the software was developed in 1995 by RealNetworks and went out under the name of RealAudio Player. Since then, versions have followed, one after the other, with the least one being RealPlayer 10.5. At the official website - http://www.real.com you can download a free version (with limited capabilities) or purchase the full one called RealPlayer Plus for US$19.99 one-time fee.

An interesting fact about Real Player is that it is the first player ever, to utilize the web-streaming technology for both audio and video, allowing people to play the file while downloading it. There is now a large number of websites serving RealAudio and RealVideo content helping this software gain further popularity and to ultimately become the leader in the extremely intense race between the media players.

You can download RealPlayer using a download wizard here at real player plus