The Media Giants: Windows Media Player 7 Vs RealPlayer 8 Basic Beta

By: Van T. Do ---TekZone Team---

One of the most popular things on the internet is music, and other mulitimedia. And with the new report from researchers that say online music is on the rise, you should see who really is a better choice. Windows Media Player didn't seem like much of a competitor at first, with their early releases, but their new Media Player 7 is a power to be reckoned with. RealPlayer has been the favorite for many users, 85% to be exact. But which one is better now? Let's let you decide.

At the first glance Windows Media Player 7 has a way more cool looking interface then the old boring original interface, unless you like the old one, there is an option to change it back. Media Player 7 also now supports skins, like WinAmp, and all the other new media program. But what seems to be a major improvement to me is their new Surround Sound feature. With the feature on, music sounds way better, and more realistic. Even with normal speakers, you will notice a dramatic change. With the SRS feature also comes with TruBass, which makes your music sound richer. Microsoft has also added a ten band equalizer with preset settings for different types of music, like rock, or jazz.

Other new features include a radio tuner, to listen to internet radio streams, and the craziest of all: visualizations. What do you say are visualizations? They are just streams of a graphic picture. Which look pretty cool, and run when you are listening to music. It gives you something too look at when you are playing music. Even though I do suspect Microsoft is trying to brainwash you with those visualizations. They are most likely tying to make you buy their new products :-) Another new feature, is the support for portable devices, like the Rio MP3 Player. This lets you download music from Windows Media Player into your portable device. Windows Media Player also let's you burn CDs now, and even burn CDs and put them into your portable device(review of portable devices later). Still didn't see much of a change in streaming video.

RealPlayer 8 from RealNetworks is a modest improvement from earlier releases of RealPlayer. The interface looks mostly the same, RealPlayer 8 also has visualizations when playing. If you have RealPlayer, also get the latest version of RealJukebox, RealNetworks mp3 program, with CD burn capabilities, and more. RealPlayer also attempts to use surround sound, with iqfx2(you have to download this with the update realplayer button), but there is barely a difference, and you have to upgrade to iqfx2 plus(from 5-9 dollars), to use all the features. Jeez, and RealPlayer Basic only gives you a 3 band equalizer compared to Media Player's 10. You have to upgrade to RealPlayer Plus to get the ten band equalizer. But the high point for RealPlayer 8 is streaming video, in test with broadband, RealPlayer video met or exceeded VHS quality. RealPlayer is starting to get too much into commercializing in my opinion, which drags down the RealPlayer. Real Player 8 is a great program, but I think they are trying to get people to buy Real Player Plus, and RealJukebox Plus, so much, that they kind of disable the many new great features of RealPlayer. The RealPlayer Plus is the worth the money though, with significant improvements.

Who did you choose for your primary media player? There isn't much to say about RealPlayer, if you have used it before, just think about RealPlayer 8, like Real Player 7 with a few key improvements. RealPlayer is still a great program, it always was. However I suggest you download both players. Internet surfers come across both RealPlayer format, and Windows Media format everyday. In my opinion the latest version of Windows Media Player is slightly better then RealPlayer for my tastes. Both program are 5 star rate stuff. However, there is a major problem arising. This is a similar situation to Netscape. Microsoft killed Netscape, with their browser. Is RealPlayers fate the same? Windows Media Player 7 will be bundled with WindowsME.(Millennium, due this fall).Article on Windows ME Later.
Final Ratings:
RealPlayer 8 Beta: (just barely)
Windows Media Player 7:

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