RealNetworks Inc. has shipped the gold release of RealOne Player for Mac OS X.
RealOne Player lets Mac OS X users tune into audio and video in RealNetworks’ formats, including RealVideo 9. Combined with RealAudio Surround, RealVideo 9 delivers a home theater-like experience, according to Phil Barrett, senior vice president, Consumer Products, RealNetworks.
The gold version of RealOne Player for Mac OS X features TurboPlay, which purportedly gives broadband users near-instant playback of RealVideo and RealAudio by reducing the time it takes to load or buffer a clip prior to playback through the utilization of available bandwidth on a broadband connection. This latest version of the RealOne Player also gives Mac users direct radio tuner access to 1700 radio stations from around the world, categorized by genre and location.
Mac OS X users can now use the RealOne SuperPass subscription service, which offers paid access to news, sports and entertainment content from companies such as ABCNews.com, CNN, FOXSports, and the NBA. Users can now also utilize RealOne RadioPass, another subscription offering. It’s an Internet radio service that promises near CD-quality 64 kbps radio feeds. RealOne RadioPass features 50 ad-free, pre-programmed radio stations accessible by genre. It’s highlighted with a “Now Playing” feature that shows what songs are currently playing in each premium station.
To run RealOne Player for Mac OS X, you’ll need a Power Mac G3 or G4 running Mac OS X version 10.1 or later and 128MB RAM. Recommended browsers are Internet Explorer 5.1 and Netscape 6.2. Data types that can be played back include RealAudio, and RealVideo, (Real Text, RealPix) streamed content. General media types include AIF, AU, AVI, MP2, MP3, SMIL, SWF and WAV. Images include GIF, JPG and PNG files.