Another Real Rant

I'm not alone in my dislike of how Real works. Here's an email I received last month from a reader responding to one of my Real rants.

DS

Doc,

You think being a 'Real' listener is hard, try being a 'Real' broadcaster.

We purchased the RealServer system back about 6 years ago when it was the only thing going -- it truly was the *only* way to stream audio, and we wanted to start broadcasting the proceedings of our Provincial Legislative Assembly to the net.

(a) We paid a fairly steep price for the server (around $1500US), but couldn't spring for the support, so have had to rely upon the good graces of sales reps willing to talk to technicians on our behalf;

(b) No source code, so you need a version of the server for your specific version of Linux, and when you change your version of Linux, you need a new version of the software. If you didn't buy support, then you're not entitled to upgrades, so you have to re-up for a new version of the software, with new $$$.

(c) The complexity of the product has increased exponentially, without an obvious benefit to us or to the listener, especially if you're streaming fairly low bandwidth audio like we are (used to be 16K, recently upgraded to 28K).

(d) There's no more low-cost or free entry-level product. Used to be you could get a 60-stream server license for free. This now costs $1995.

(e) The client-side is filled with crap that nobody wants to see or read. It's embarassing to tell users they need to download the client just to listen to streaming audio, and be prompted left, right and centre with pop-up ads, flashing banners, and whatever Real decides to call their GoldPass / ReadOne / excuse to extract extra money from users gimic.

(f) Because there's no source, there's no community of developers, so there's little or no open source software developed to enhance the server, add to its functionality, etc.

When we went to launch a streaming "radio station" of Prince Edward Island music this fall, I insisted we *not* use Real's products. The result: a rock solid, cheap and effective system based in a combination of Shoutcast and Icecast software streaming MP3s. Dead simple to set up and maintain. Doesn't crash. Easy for listeners, with a wide variety of clients that can connect, from iTunes to WinAmp. (see www.gov.pe.ca/radio if you're interested).

Just blowin' off stream.

Last update: 2/6/02; 1:58:13 PM.