Digital entertainment services company RealNetworks announced the consumer availability of its new RealPlayer after a five-month public beta period. Real will extend the popular and simple one-click download feature in the new RealPlayer to a global audience by the end of November with the availability of localized versions for nine additional languages.

    Originally debuting at The Wall Street Journal's "D: All Things Digital" conference in June 2007 to rave reviews from beta testers and press alike, the new RealPlayer is the first mainstream media player that lets consumers download and record video from thousands of Web sites. In addition, a beta version of the new RealPlayer for Mac users is now available and allows the downloading of non-DRM protected Web videos from thousands of sites for playback online or offline.

    As part of the RealPlayer Plus package, users can now transfer downloaded video content to the Apple iPod Nano, iPod Classic and iPod Video. iPod owners who previously only had access to video content available through Apple iTunes now have access to non-DRM protected videos from thousands of sites on the Web. Real will continue development of the new RealPlayer in the coming months, with plans to add video transfer support for the Apple iPhone and iTouch in early 2008.

    "Now consumers can use the one-click download functionality to view Web video offline on their PC or transfer video to popular portable media devices like the iPod," said Harold Zeitz, senior vice president of media software and services at Real. "RealPlayer is one of the most popular applications around the world, and by the end of the month our customers from North America to China will have this one-click video download functionality and the ability to watch videos on the go with their iPods in their own native languages."

    The new RealPlayer is available as a free download. Support for the transfer of video to the Apple iPod is available to those customers who upgrade to RealPlayer Plus at a one-time cost of $39.99. Because the Internet was built to handle text-based information, not audio and video and other rich media, RealNetworks, Inc. foresaw the need for specific solutions that could handle the creation, delivery and consumption of media via the Internet.

RealPlayer new futurees:
    - The Macintosh compatible beta version of the new RealPlayer is now available to consumers in the U.S., supporting Mac OS X v10.4 and 10.5 with Firefox for the Mac and Safari.
    - The new RealPlayer and the ability to download Web video for offline viewing is now localized for the following languages: French, German, Italian, Korean, Spanish, Japanese, simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, Brazilian Portuguese and English language variations serving the United Kingdom, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. These localized versions of the new RealPlayer will be available for PC users before the end of November.
    - RealPlayer features an improved look and feel, a streamlined installation process and faster video playback.  
    - Consumers can download multiple videos simultaneously with RealPlayer, allowing people to save time and easily multitask. Users can also start downloading in the middle of watching a video, and the entire video will be captured.
    - Consumers can send links of their favorite videos to their friends with a convenient "Share with a Friend" feature.  The link that arrives in their friends' email will direct them to the online source of the video content.