{"id":271,"date":"2004-02-02T13:22:15","date_gmt":"2004-02-02T17:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tradermike.net\/movethecrowd\/2004\/02\/realnetworks_bait_switch\/"},"modified":"2004-02-02T13:22:15","modified_gmt":"2004-02-02T17:22:15","slug":"realnetworks_bait_switch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/2004\/02\/02\/realnetworks_bait_switch\/","title":{"rendered":"RealNetworks’ Bait & Switch"},"content":{"rendered":"

It looks like RealNetworks’ games may be catching up with them. It has always annoyed me at how difficult it is to find their free media player. (Not to mention all the pop-ups it launches.) Every time you click on the link for the free version, another page loads with all the pay versions in plain view, and the free version is off in the corner somewhere. I guess many other people felt the same way about that practice. I see that CarTalk has switched to using Microsoft’s media player<\/a> to broadcast their shows due to all the complaints they’ve received from their listeners:<\/p>\n

\nHere’s the problem. In order to hear our audio, you have to go to Real.com and download their “free” RealPlayer. But when you get to the web site, the free player is harder to find than Osama Bin Laden at night. And the site seems to do everything it possibly can to get you to “buy” a player instead. You have to work very hard to get the free player. And we think that stinks. And get this. It stinks so much that it even makes Microsoft look good by comparison. That’s something, huh?<\/p>\n

We’ve heard from many of our fans that have been duped, and who have accidentally shelled out their hard-earned dinero. And we won’t even get into the ways that the RealPlayer tries to take over your computer once you install it. So, after surveying the alternatives, we’re switching to Windows Media Player (which works on Macs, too).\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If you’re making Microsoft<\/i> look good you must be doing something wrong! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

(link via MaoXian<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It looks like RealNetworks’ games may be catching up with them. It has always annoyed me at how difficult it is to find their free media player. (Not to mention all the pop-ups it launches.) Every time you click on the link for the free version, another page loads with all the pay versions in… Continue reading RealNetworks’ Bait & Switch<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":30,"url":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/2003\/06\/27\/the_next_tivo\/","url_meta":{"origin":271,"position":0},"title":"The Next TiVo?","date":"June 27, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Check out the ONEbox. This looks like a well designed media center. But it's not cheap. The base unit sells for $1,000. From Gizmodo's write-up: New digital entertainment PC called the ONEbox Media Center that combines a progressive scan DVD player, a digital video recorder, an MP3 jukebox, and a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":372,"url":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/2004\/08\/06\/diggin_in_the_crates_naked_music\/","url_meta":{"origin":271,"position":1},"title":"Diggin’ in the Crates: Naked Music","date":"August 6, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"This is the Radio.Blog I wanted to do a year ago when I first wrote about this genre of music (whatever you wanna call it). Ever since a friend introduced me to Blue Six a few years ago one of these CDs has stayed in my CD player. In short,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Music"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87,"url":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/2003\/07\/17\/moxi_pvr_is_no_longer_vaporware\/","url_meta":{"origin":271,"position":2},"title":"Moxi PVR is No Longer Vaporware","date":"July 17, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"After many trials and tribulations, not to mention all the hype, the Moxi PVR finally sees the light of day. Here's Gizmodo's description of the Moxi: More bad news for TiVo. Cable company Charter Communications is going to offer subscribers a new cable box that doubles as a digital video\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":392,"url":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/2004\/09\/16\/kobe_bryants_admission_of_consensual_sex_with_a_second_woman\/","url_meta":{"origin":271,"position":3},"title":"Kobe Bryant’s Admission of Consensual Sex with a Second Woman","date":"September 16, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"I just saw this in the EUR. I can't say I'm surprised, but still... damn!!! KOBE'S VIRGINIA WOMAN: 'SI' reports on player's admission of consensual sex with a second woman. \"Sports Illustrated,\" journalist Jeff Benedict has obtained a sealed statement made by Kobe Bryant and recorded by police before he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":339,"url":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/2004\/06\/09\/larry_bird_nba_a_black_mans_game\/","url_meta":{"origin":271,"position":4},"title":"Larry Bird: NBA “a Black man’s game”","date":"June 9, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"I just saw a clip from an ESPN show, Two on Two, airing tomorrow night. The funniest part was when Larry Bird said that he'd get upset if a team sent a white player to guard him. He took that as a sign of disrespect. :-) This article sums it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Race"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":162,"url":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/2003\/08\/20\/why_humans_have_no_fur\/","url_meta":{"origin":271,"position":5},"title":"Why Humans Have No Fur","date":"August 20, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"The New York Times has an interesting article which theorizes on how and why humans lost their fur. The article covers how dark skin evolved: Three years ago Dr. Rosalind Harding of Oxford University and others made a worldwide study of the MC1R gene by extracting it from blood samples\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Current Events"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.michaelseneadza.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}