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RealAudio was my go-to before Winamp showed up. It's crazy to me that RealNetworks is still around.

tombert 3y ago
Today I learned that RealNetworks is still around...how? Who on earth has used any form of RealPlayer or Rhapsody in the last ten years? I guess they have other products now but I haven't heard of anyone using those either...
- romanhn 3y ago
  What if I told you that Creative Labs is still around, still selling Sound Blaster cards...
  - tombert 3y ago
    I actually already knew that, actually have an anecdote with them. In 2021, I bought a soundbar from Creative. The quality of the soundbar was actually pretty good, but it had a really awful noisegate issue where if the scene was too quiet, it would just cut to zero. For some movies this wasn't a big deal, but for most movies it made them unwatchable. We put up with it for a year, but we got sick of it and I was about to buy a replacement. I tried the updated firmware on Creative's website, and it didn't help, but then I found some YouTube video with like 10 views that claimed to have a fixed firmware from Creative that wasn't publicly available, and they had a link to some shady mega.co.nz download for it. Stuff like that screams "malware!", but I figured that I was about to throw the soundbar into the Goodwill pile anyway, so if I break it no big deal, and it's not like the soundbar was connected to the internet, just optical audio, and I don't think anyone could install a crypto minor on there, so against my better judgement I installed the firmware and... It worked! It fixed the noisegate problems entirely, and now the soundbar is actually excellent. For some reason, Creative still hasn't bothered uploading the fixed firmware on their website though. So it's weird, Creative is still around, and making theoretically-decent products, but they lack a lot of polish. Kind of a sad fall from grace.
    - bombcar 3y ago
      The amount of completely valid firmware I’ve installed from sites where angels fear to tread is … quite high. I sometimes think it’s engineers bypassing QA that will never come.
  - casenmgreen 3y ago
    I have never, and will never, forgive Creative for destroying Aureal by suing them into bankruptcy via legal costs. Aureal made 3D audio for the first time - real 3D audio, ray-traced sound - and it was absolutely staggeringly amazing. I played the first Half-Life using this. It was incredible - unforgettable. Creative destroyed them, to destroy the competition, and that technology far as I know has since then been lost - the 3D stuff I know of after that is not ray-traced.
netsharc 3y ago
Ah, I remember listening to a "radio" show with a lady host talking about the Internet. On RealPlayer, over my 56k modem connection...
- romanhn 3y ago
  The original RealAudio was the only tech that allowed me to listen to online radio over a 14.4k modem. It was all very impressive, if you didn't care about sound quality.

Today I learned that RealNetworks is still around...how? Who on earth has used any form of RealPlayer or Rhapsody in the last ten years? I guess they have other products now but I haven't heard of anyone using those either...

romanhn 3y ago
What if I told you that Creative Labs is still around, still selling Sound Blaster cards...
- tombert 3y ago
  I actually already knew that, actually have an anecdote with them. In 2021, I bought a soundbar from Creative. The quality of the soundbar was actually pretty good, but it had a really awful noisegate issue where if the scene was too quiet, it would just cut to zero. For some movies this wasn't a big deal, but for most movies it made them unwatchable. We put up with it for a year, but we got sick of it and I was about to buy a replacement. I tried the updated firmware on Creative's website, and it didn't help, but then I found some YouTube video with like 10 views that claimed to have a fixed firmware from Creative that wasn't publicly available, and they had a link to some shady mega.co.nz download for it. Stuff like that screams "malware!", but I figured that I was about to throw the soundbar into the Goodwill pile anyway, so if I break it no big deal, and it's not like the soundbar was connected to the internet, just optical audio, and I don't think anyone could install a crypto minor on there, so against my better judgement I installed the firmware and... It worked! It fixed the noisegate problems entirely, and now the soundbar is actually excellent. For some reason, Creative still hasn't bothered uploading the fixed firmware on their website though. So it's weird, Creative is still around, and making theoretically-decent products, but they lack a lot of polish. Kind of a sad fall from grace.
  - bombcar 3y ago
    The amount of completely valid firmware I’ve installed from sites where angels fear to tread is … quite high. I sometimes think it’s engineers bypassing QA that will never come.
- casenmgreen 3y ago
  I have never, and will never, forgive Creative for destroying Aureal by suing them into bankruptcy via legal costs. Aureal made 3D audio for the first time - real 3D audio, ray-traced sound - and it was absolutely staggeringly amazing. I played the first Half-Life using this. It was incredible - unforgettable. Creative destroyed them, to destroy the competition, and that technology far as I know has since then been lost - the 3D stuff I know of after that is not ray-traced.

netsharc 3y ago

Ah, I remember listening to a "radio" show with a lady host talking about the Internet. On RealPlayer, over my 56k modem connection...

romanhn 3y ago
The original RealAudio was the only tech that allowed me to listen to online radio over a 14.4k modem. It was all very impressive, if you didn't care about sound quality.