I feel like I shouldn’t have to say this, as just about everyone I know cringes when they hear the name of this product. But the latest beta of Real Player isn’t just a crappy audio player that tries to take over your computer, make itself the default player for all media and serve up ads and “updates” that you don’t want… It now breaks your Flash content!
I think that Real is trying to rebrand itself as not being the media player that everyone hates. And they have added this nifty new feature that somehow hacks into the browser, adds items to the Flash Player menu (how the hell do they do that???) and allows you to save and record Flash video to your hard drive with a single click. I have to admit, it sounds tempting. And on the sites where it does work, it really is pretty easy. But before you get too tempted, read some of the following:
https://weblogs.macromedia.com/jd/archives/2007/07/real_problem.cfm
https://blog.jaycharles.net/?p=9
https://rws-blog.rhapsody.com/realplayer/2007/07/realplayer-beta.html
https://rws-blog.rhapsody.com/realplayer/2007/06/new-realplayer-.html
Make sure you read all the comments. That’s where the real problems arise.
Supposedly they are coming up with a fix for it. But just the fact that they are adding menu items to the Flash player, and intercepting server calls, or whatever the hell they are doing… I think I’m going to avoid it permanently. I advise you to do the same, and warn your clients too.