I posted a topic on the RealPlayer causing a TROJAN to occur as a result of upgrading to the latest Version of Realplayer which is a BETA
I am also in the awkward position of using AOLs Media player which relies on Real.com for its files as default
Following the clearup of the trojan issue I checked out the version the AOL 8 kept loading as default.
The version is RealPlayer8
It Works in a fashion despite notices from www.real.com to upgrade to the Buggy 10 (Because they don't support it anymore)
MY COMMENT:That's Rich seeing as there are still
millions of AOL8 users with this Version 8 and they are tied to this agreement between AOL& Real ...and it is less than 2 years old! I think they Brought the licence on the cheap from Real? "knowing" the use-by date as nearly up..and passed it onto its members
I don't know what version had been bundled with AOL9? Perhaps that also has expired by now? prompting an upgrade to RP10beta.
Can somebody find the numbers on this? Thanks
The Windows Media Player I'm using is Version 8.0 this came with the XP-Pro this I could run as default Music/Video by altering the settings in XP(Which I have Lost track of...Where is it Anyone?)

Bottom line:I am going to stick to AOL version of Realplayer but am going to change Video to Windows Media player, but need the place (in the Control Panel? ) to change the defaults

Remove yourself from anything AOL, immediately! (You may need to purchase new hardware, as AOL is parasitic, and hungry).

Bedstor I gave RealPlayer the flick awhile back caused me heaps of problems with XP home.......a good alternative is 'Real Alternative'....check it out here:
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Real_Alternative.htm

quote:

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Originally posted by Kendor:
Remove yourself from anything AOL, _immediately_! (You may need to purchase new hardware, as AOL is parasitic, and hungry).

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Kendor, it is not for you to decide what ISP bedstor uses. America Online has been around a while and many enjoy using it. AOL is not parasitic (if it was, people wouldn't pay for it), though it is a little RAM hungry.

Those tales of AOL ruining computers can often be attributed to adware/spyware/viruses being installed by newbie internet users. (Click Yes to install Gator!)

Anyway, back to the original topic....
Bedstor,

RealPlayer is a good product, although it is a bit aggressive on marketing and file-type associations. In my experiance, Real streams are generally stabler and of higher quality than Windows Media streams. Quicktime (which is now bundled with AOL) has good quality, but streaming is less stable.

If you do not like Real, you can uninstall it using Add/Remove Programs. However, AOL may complain that certain AOL Media Player components are missing. It will also cripple much of AOL's a/v content. :/

...also worth mentioning, AOL is starting to move away from Real by growing in-house formats (which are actually quite good). You will notice some of this in America Online v9.0

Sorry for the rambling/ranting.

Thanks for that JWood..
Aol 9 is getting released in the Uk shortly,am jumping the gun by getting a copy from an Answerpool Member in the US so I can "road test" it

As you said correctly Us Aol members have to put up with these "things" (long suffering optimists?)LOL
FYI:I have used all the versions from 5 onwards
Shame ICQ which is also owned by AOL(really!) has not improved over the years
Why this program eats resources and is so complex (even on the cut down versions) and yet AIM has many shared features with ICQ and is not a resource eater!?
I rarely use this now because of these long standing problems

Beacause the BBC in the UK doesn't allow advertising and because they use RAM for all their streaming media, they have come to an arrangement with REAL to provide a stripped down version which can be obtained fromhere

Make sure you install the miniumum only