Charles Lindsey Posted July 29, 2002 Report Share Posted July 29, 2002 DON'T get it. Stick with realplayer8 or whatever it is. You'll get hit with update reminders but it's better than this. This stupid thing has taken over every media on my computer. If you go to a site that uses something other than RealOne the program you expected to open tells you another program has changed settings. It asks you if you want to change back. Sure I do. Does that end it? NOoooooooo it doesn't . Each and every single time RealOne nabs the settings and changes them back causing the scenario to repeat itself ad infinitum. I only wanted to update the basic player but instead I got this. You have to give them your credit card info FIRST and then "Opt out". What a freaking JOKE. First they don't tell you the program HAS TO BE ONLINE to opt out. Then the PROGRAM ITSELF doesn't warn you that it ISN'T ONLINE. Noooo, it goes ahead and tells you you are "opted out" lulling you into a false sense of security. Next month comes along and you find a charge on your credit card bill. Below is a letter I wrote when I was cancelling: "You have taken over every media on my computer. This is MY computer NOT yours. I and I alone decide which program plays what. I am tired of going to sites that use something other than realone and having that program tell me another program has changed settings. I hereby cancel my subscription. I have already taken the issue to my credit card company and will be disputing the charges. I have already received a courtesy credit for the first month (you still got your money) but I expect a credit for the second month, no more charges, and for this program to revert to the basic free player with no recurring charges. Your cooperation in this matter is appreciated. Sincerely; Charles W. Lindsey" I write this nice letter thinking it will go to customer service and everything will be taken care of. NOoooooooo. I click continue and get a STUPID 1-800 number. I have to call them MANUALLY. ARRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I have mistakenly assumed the 'net was supposed to make things easier from purchasing to customer service. Guess not huh? They want to make it hard to cancel . They want the slippage. Money grubbing twerps. They want me to call them? Fine, I'll call them. They'll get what for too. So consider this a warning. If you want the service fine but I'm warning you what will happen. Guess what? I got mad enough to drill down (way down) and finally find the preferences and reset them all to my liking. Oh well. Doesn't change anything. I'm still cancelling and reverting to the basic player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elenkis Posted July 29, 2002 Report Share Posted July 29, 2002 quote:Each and every single time RealOne nabs the settings and changes them back causing the scenario to repeat itself ad infinitum.You can turn that off... Did you go into RealOne Preferences and uncheck "Always Play File with RealOne" for media types? quote:You have to give them your credit card info FIRST and then "Opt out". What a freaking JOKE.Huh? You don't have to give them ANYTHING to download the free player. You just click "Free RealOne Player" on the main page and it gives you list of download mirrors, click one and it downloads... Sounds like you were trying to subscribe to their Premium service (which has a 14day trial and clearly says stuff like "Are you sure you want to sign up for our fantastic premium rate content?" all over the sign up process). RealOne does suck, but not for the reasons you mentioned. [ 07-29-2002, 04:52 AM: Message edited by: Elenkis ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 29, 2002 Report Share Posted July 29, 2002 I'll second that - RealOne is the most annoying piece of software i've downloaded in my life. Eventually (an hour after installing the thing), i got so annoyed with it trying to monopolise my media files and b!tching away at me that i uninstalled it & used realplayer 8 again [ 07-29-2002, 08:56 AM: Message edited by: Rm ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roberto Posted July 29, 2002 Report Share Posted July 29, 2002 I was upset after buying real player 7, then the day it arrived at my door (on CD) real player 8 came out, with no option to upgrade without paying again... Ive never used their sosftware again after that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GREG MILLER Posted July 29, 2002 Report Share Posted July 29, 2002 Real is crap, as such, I don't even install it anymore. If I go to a site and need a Realplayer to look at something, I do without. Take it to them Charles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Trotter Posted July 29, 2002 Report Share Posted July 29, 2002 RealOne bites the BigOne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest $iLk Posted July 29, 2002 Report Share Posted July 29, 2002 Haven't used any RealMedia products in forever. They are all annoying. If I see an RMA or whatever file anywhere no matter what it is or how hyped up I was to be able to view it, I rest assured knowing that it musn't be worth a crap if they aren't able to produce in other file formats. Real Player has always sucked IMO. Now Quicktime files I don't mind, that's actually a pretty and useful player, and doesn't annoy you (too much) to update it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Lindsey Posted July 29, 2002 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2002 quote:You can turn that off... Did you go into RealOne Preferences and uncheck "Always Play File with RealOne" for media types?Uhhh, yeah. THat's my last paragraph. quote:Huh? You don't have to give them ANYTHING to download the free playerOk, ok. So I had a bout of consumerism (idiocy). Plus I got duped by the slick page and the HUGE "FREE" button. However I did read the info carefully and knew what I was getting. I chose to get it and then opt out. My mistake was not being online so the software could tell the server to get me out. Rant 2: The software reverted to the basic player but I was still getting billed. Elenkis is correct. THere is a link for the free player. It's in tiny print on the bottom left of the main page. So this still serves as a warning. Usually I catch stuff like that but this time I thought it was all they were offering. Like those try for thirty days magazine subcriptions that you can then cancel. In my opinion I did everything correctly I just wasn't online for it to work. Real player ain't too terrible if it would play fair and stay in it's own sandbox. In days gone by ALL new programs would take over or monopolize your files. Winamp did it, quicktime did it, and real did it. But the big difference was that if you started another program and it prompted you to put things back (and you did it) things would stay that way. So Quicktime would play quick files, winamp played mp3's, and real would play rm files and they all got along famously. This latest wrinkle was annoying to say the least. I found the fix as Elenkis pointed out and things are better. It's Tools>Preferences then you get a window similiar to windows explorer and you have to choose media. Then you can uncheck all the things you don't like. Funny; I seem to remember winamp asking first and I know paint shop pro did. So anyway I called and cancelled. They were nice enough about it. Of course they mentioined all their great features but didn't push to hard. Lesson learned and hopefully I won't have another bout of consumerism anytime soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruis.In Posted July 30, 2002 Report Share Posted July 30, 2002 i have realone player the free one. i actually like the browser with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parias Posted July 30, 2002 Report Share Posted July 30, 2002 Realplayer is, and pardon my french, complete ass. The only reason I unwillingly force it onto my system is because some people actually encode their movies in the dreaded format. Stay the hell away from it if you can avoid it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
echo Posted July 31, 2002 Report Share Posted July 31, 2002 Charles, Seems to me you could use a hug! so here: (((((you)))))) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Grayfox Posted July 31, 2002 Report Share Posted July 31, 2002 quote:Originally posted by Parias: Realplayer is, and pardon my french, complete ass. The only reason I unwillingly force it onto my system is because some people actually encode their movies in the dreaded format. Stay the hell away from it if you can avoid it. i totally agree. the only reason its on my system, is ALL my robotech episodes were encoded in .rm format... does anyone know a way to change the encoding to maybe switch it to media player or something better??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Buzz Posted July 31, 2002 Report Share Posted July 31, 2002 I've always had a hatred for software that takes over a, (especially mine), computer system. And alot of that has alot to do with *##hole software manufactures who feel that there program is the best and that it should alwasy be running on your system. I for 1 am a winamp user for audio and WMplayer for video. It aint much but it keeps me happy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Epsilon 5 Posted August 26, 2002 Report Share Posted August 26, 2002 I have no problem with it. no spyware (that ad-aware detects ), no assoc. stealing, and no trial time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now