Talk:RealNetworks

RBN
Nothing is mentioned about Real Broadcast Network (RBN), I listen to air america and I noticed that it kept connecting to play.rbn.com so I tried looking it up on wikipedia but the search didn't redirect to anywhere so I decided www.rbn.com and it directed me here Real Broadcast Network Hosting Services -- —Preceding unsigned comment added by Witchinghour (talk • contribs)


 * Here's the original press release: http://web.archive.org/web/19980215090411/http://www8.real.com/corporate/pressroom/pr/rn/index.html Seems like that would be an acceptable source for some industrious writer to write something from -- RobLa 06:07, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

.rm-Files: Sound quality
Does anybody know why rm-files often have this bad muffled sound? Why do have 32 kbit/s-mp3 files provide a far better quality than 64 kbit/s-rm files? Is that intentional or just a result of a poor algorithm? --Robbit 06:51, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

RealArcade
This article favors more the video player and not RealArcade. There should be more information integrated into the article discussing the games division. JasonHockeyGuy (talk) 15:21, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Gametrust
This article does not include the takeover of Gametrust inc. Gametrust itself is an article I am planning to add because it is also missing.--HandGrenadePins (talk) 13:28, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

RealDVD
Anyone know anything about the new RealDVD product? Would be interesting to add. GeneralBelly (talk) 15:01, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

Funny you mentioned it. I tried to do an article on it and it got marked G11 but ended up getting redirected to here in the end. JasonHockeyGuy (talk) 23:43, 25 September 2008 (UTC)

Subscription Services
The section is a little incorrect on how it worked, and there is more information that needs to be added that I will correct in the next few days JasonHockeyGuy (talk) 19:17, 5 October 2008 (UTC)

RealDVD withdrawn
Here is the article. GeneralBelly (talk) 09:54, 7 October 2008 (UTC)

Rob Glaser has a Twitter page (www.twitter.com/robglaser) and according to it, he recently testified about RealDVD in a court of law. But there is no details regarding the trial thus far. JasonHockeyGuy (talk) 20:13, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Company Timeline
This should be re-added as prose. It is too full of trivial content and makes the article very difficult to read. I will put it here so none of the info is lost...

Company timeline: — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jfioeawfjdls453 (talk • contribs) 12:56, 16 November 2010 (UTC)
 * April 1995: RealAudio 1.0 released (finalized June 1995)
 * August 1995: First live broadcast of a baseball game over the Internet between the Seattle Mariners and the New York Yankees
 * October 1995: RealAudio 2.0 debuts (finalized April 1996)
 * September 1996: RealAudio 3.0 launches, with debut of Sheryl Crow's single "If It Makes You Happy"
 * October 1996: RTSP standardization initiative launched with Netscape Communications Corporation
 * February 1997: RealVideo debuts as part of RealPlayer 4.0 (finalized June 1997)
 * June 1997: RealPlanet.Com international content aggregation site launches with landmark cybercast of the transfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong.
 * July 1997: Broad technology and investment relationship between Progressive Networks and Microsoft
 * September 1997: RealSystem 5.0 debuts, adding support for Macromedia Flash
 * September 1997: Progressive Networks changes name to "RealNetworks", and files with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to become a publicly traded company
 * November 1997: Initial public offering of shares from RealNetworks (RNWK).
 * March 1998: RealNetworks acquires Vivo Software
 * April 1998: RealSystem G2 debuts. G2 was a complete rearchitecture of RealSystem, allowing development of plugins at all levels of the system. G2 was the first release to support RTSP, SMIL, GIF, JPEG, RealPix, and RealText.
 * July 1998: Rob Glaser testifies before the United States Senate regarding competitive practices of Microsoft
 * April 1999: RealNetworks acquires software maker Xing Technology
 * May 1999: RealJukebox 1.0 launched
 * November 1999: RealPlayer 7 launched, with Take5 daily programming service and MP3 support
 * January 2000: RealNetworks acquires NetZip
 * August 2000: RealNetworks rebrands GoldPass as SuperPass.
 * May 2000: RealSystem 8 debuts, with RealVideo 8
 * January 2001: RealNetworks acquires Aegisoft corp.
 * May 2001: RealArcade launches
 * July 2001: RealNetworks reduces staff by 15%
 * September 2001: RealOne Platform launched, including new subscription service
 * January 2002: RealOne subscription service passes 500,000 subscribers
 * April 2002: RealVideo 9 released
 * July 2002: Helix initiative launched, along with Helix Universal Server. Initiative includes plan to release substantial parts of proprietary technologies under an open source licence. RealNetworks also announced partnership with Xiph.org to support the free software Ogg Vorbis audio codec.
 * August 2002: RealNetworks reduces staff by 11%
 * October 2002: Helix DNA Client source code released under open source license
 * December 2002: Helix DNA Producer source code released under open source license
 * January 2003: Helix DNA Server source code released under open source license
 * August 2003: RealNetworks acquires Listen.com's Rhapsody music service and renames it RealRhapsody
 * January 2004: RealNetworks announce RealPlayer Music Store as a response to iTunes Music Store
 * January 2004: RealNetworks acquires GameHouse
 * July 2004: RealNetworks reverse-engineers Apple Computer's FairPlay code, allowing songs from their online store to be played on an iPod. Starts a website at www.freedomofmusicchoice.org petitioning Apple to remove the lock-out from their products, but then removes the petition when many of the signers complain about RealNetworks' similar policies.
 * May 2005: RealNetworks acquires Mr.Goodliving
 * October 2005: RealNetworks and Microsoft settle lawsuit filed by Real in December 2003, which accused Microsoft of illegally leveraging its Windows monopoly to win customers in the digital-music business. Real receives $460 million to settle antitrust claims and another $301 million in cash and services to promote and distribute Rhapsody. Real's board grants CEO Rob Glaser a $2.9 million bonus for the settlement.
 * January 2006: RealNetworks provides unlimited downloadable movies through its co-branded Starz service with a 14 day free trial to encourage consumers.
 * February 2006: RealNetworks acquires Zylom for €17.2 Million
 * March 2006: RealNetworks announces that Cingular Video, Cingular Wireless, on-demand video services for mobile phones is powered by RealNetworks Helix media delivery and playback platform. Included in the announcement is reference to 80 other wireless carriers and 60 million handsets using Helix.
 * June 2007: Starz Movie service ends on June 14, 2007. All Superpass members are allowed the option to watch movies from the Superpass homepage.
 * December 2007: RealNetworks reduces staff by 10%
 * January 2008: Rhapsody service available on TiVo
 * April 2008: RealNetworks acquires TryMedia for an estimated $4 Million US
 * June 2008: Rhapsody MP3 store is launched, allowing purchase of most songs for 99 cents and albums for $9.99. Initial pricing fails to exclude boxed sets, but is corrected after 10 days.
 * June 2008: RealNetworks unveils new, web based version of the RealArcade service.
 * July 2008: Final Days of RealArcade 1.4 is announced, last day before the shutoff of 1.4 is August 5. All members of the service must upgrade to the new version in order to continue to use the service.
 * September 2008: RealNetworks launches RealDVD, software that allows users to save their movie collection on their computer.
 * December 2008: RealNetworks reduces staff by 7.5%
 * January 2010: Rob Glaser steps down as CEO, remaining on as chairman and appointing Robert Kimball as president and acting CEO.
 * April 2010: RealNetworks releases the 14th generation of its Helix Media Delivery Platform with advancements that enable organizations to stream live and on-demand content in any format to any device.
 * June 23, 2010: Layoffs are announced for executive staff.


 * OK sure, but would also need to be sourced for it to stick around. Right now, major parts are totally missing, like any mention of Helix (multimedia project) at all in the article. W Nowicki (talk) 23:51, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

Companies started by ex-Real people
This article doesn't yet mention a lot of the companies that were started by ex-Real people or other notable alums. I'd be happy to add a section, but I'm probably a little too biased to cover this topic neutrally (I'm ex-Real, and know a lot of the people in question). I know a lot of company pages don't have alumni sections, but a reasonably neutral source for why it might be appropriate for this article is "Seattle’s unlikely hero? How RealNetworks sparked the region’s startup community" written by John Cook for GeekWire.

List of people who (co-)founded notable companies and already have Wikipedia articles:
 * Geoffrey Arone - Flock
 * Mika Salmi - AtomFilms
 * Paul Thelen - Big Fish Games
 * Philip Rosedale - Linden Lab
 * Sujal Patel - Isilon

List of people who (co-)founded companies with Wikipedia articles:
 * Kelly Smith (not this one) - Inkd
 * Matt Hulett - AtomFilms (now head of GameHouse)
 * Paul Mikesell - Isilon (reference) and Clustrix

Other notable alums:
 * Brad Hefta-Gaub - CTO at Korrio
 * Daniel House - founder of C/Z Records and bass player for Skin Yard
 * Ian Freed - head of Amazon Kindle division
 * Maria Cantwell - United States Senator for Washington State
 * Michael Schutzler, CEO at LiveMocha
 * Mike Metzger (not this one) - CEO of PayScale
 * Rob Grady - COO at Wetpaint
 * Steve Mack (not this one) - lead singer of That Petrol Emotion

I tried to keep the list down to people closely associated with the (presumably notable) topics already covered by Wikipedia articles, where they're noteworthy enough to deserve mention in the articles. I'll leave it up to others if some (likely condensed) version of this list belongs in the article. -- RobLa (talk) 07:54, 30 September 2012 (UTC)

HQ location
Shouldn't this be described as "Belltown" rather than "Downtown"? - Jmabel &#124; Talk 06:25, 25 November 2012 (UTC)

Request Edit
I have a COI/financial connection/affiliation with RealNetworks. Currently the Lede of the article mentions Gamehouse and Helix (multimedia project), but neither is mentioned/summarized in the Products and Services section; user:W Nowicki pointed this out regarding Helix on this Talk page last year (above). I've put together a bit of content at user:CorporateM/RealNetworks I wanted to propose to correct these omissions in a Summary style-type format (they each have their own Wikipedia pages).

I just whipped up a short description quickly as a "lets get something on the page so readers know this exists" - if an editor wants to edit or trim, please feel free to do so and I will not COI micromanage, but I think it would improve the page to get something up there about them. CorporateM (Talk) 00:24, 14 October 2014 (UTC)
 * In the Helix section of your draft, you wrote "According to Broadcasting & Cable, [...]" and then mention two components. The first reference you used there is a book (not Broadcasting & Cable) that, on the page you're referring to, says "The Helix DRM architecture is made up of the familiar three main components as follows:", and it then mentions a packager and license server, not its "open-source code" and "Helix Universal Server". This confuses me, maybe you can explain why you decided to add that reference. --82.136.210.153 (talk) 18:36, 16 October 2014 (UTC)


 * ✅ I removed the book reference as I don't see what I was using it for. Also, the source doesn't use language like "primary" and "according to" didn't seem necessary, so I did some copyediting there. CorporateM (Talk) 19:33, 16 October 2014 (UTC)


 * I implemented the changes after reviewing them for neutrality. As always, I take full responsibility for edits I make under my name.


 * Should we take a look at the order of the products? I personally like to have the most prominent products at the top and any discontinued products at the bottom or in a separate history section, but some editors like to list this sort of thing in order of introduction date (some like ascending, some like descending). What best serves our readers? Re-ordering is a noncontroversial action and I see no reason why CorporateM should not just go ahead put them in whatever order he prefers instead of making an edit request. --Guy Macon (talk) 17:14, 30 October 2014 (UTC)

Updates
A few requested updates/tweaks:


 * This recent edit appears to be blatant spam. Suggest trimming.
 * Done. — Chris Woodrich (talk) 02:41, 21 May 2015 (UTC)
 * The "Headquarters" section says the company is located in "Seattle's waterfront", however it recently moved in September 2014 to the SoDo neighborhood at the Home Plate Center.
 * Neither source says the move has been done, only that it's planned. — Chris Woodrich (talk) 05:27, 21 May 2015 (UTC)


 * RealNetworks has discontinued the Helix product I would recommend taking it out of the Lead, trimming the unsourced information about it near the end of the History section, moving the Helix sub-section into History to replace it, re-wording it to refer to the product in the past tense, and adding "Helix was discontinued in October 2014".
 * Since Helix lasted for half the company's life (so far), I don't see why it should be nixed from the lead. The tense changing doesn't strike me as controversial, and thus you could probably do it. To get the #Helix section into the history section, it would need a fairly detailed rewrite, positioning the software in a historical context. — Chris Woodrich (talk) 05:27, 21 May 2015 (UTC)
 * Suggest adding "RealNetworks introduced a mobile phone app called Listen in April 2014 that plays custom ringtones to those calling the user's phone. "
 * Done. — Chris Woodrich (talk) 02:41, 21 May 2015 (UTC)
 * Suggest adding a RealTimes sub-section in the Products area as follows: "In May 2015, RealNetworks introduced a freemium photo-sharing service called RealTimes. It allows users to share images and video, as well as organize them in a timeline or create "a video montage" of images.
 * There's already a section on RealTimes. — Chris Woodrich (talk) 05:27, 21 May 2015 (UTC)
 * RealNetworks says the Unifi, SuperPass, rinse and RealDownloader are all discontinued. I'm mainly including this comment here as a personal note to see if any of them are incorrectly identified as current products and to check to see if independent sources covered them being discontinued.

CorporateM (Talk) 22:46, 19 May 2015 (UTC)

Edit request 3/16/2016
The current location is 1501 1st Avenue South, Suite 600, Seattle, WA 98134 source: http://www.geekwire.com/2014/real-player-office-tour/ http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/2014/09/king-5-considers-move-to-sodo-as-seattle-s-real.html
 * Where would this address appear? The article already says the company is headquartered in Seattle. I am not certain that more precision is needed here. ~Amatulić (talk) 00:06, 18 March 2016 (UTC)

The article shows a picture of the old building - which is now Zulily - and says we are located downtown and on the waterfront. We are actually in the Home Plate Center building in SoDo across from Safeco field, sharing the building with King5 and Logic 20/20 Consulting. We don't need to have the entire address up there as much as have the references and photo corrected. There should be plenty of photos of the Sodo building in news articles or I can send over a copy of one that I've taken.

Source: http://www.geekwire.com/2013/realnetworks-returns-roots-plans-move-smaller-offices-safeco-field/ Source: http://www.costar.com/News/Article/RealNetworks-Leases-85000-SF-in-the-Home-Plate-Center-in-Seattle/148883 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Scrumtime1501 (talk • contribs) 00:35, 18 March 2016 (UTC)


 * I don't see a building by that name in the pictures available at https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?search=sodo+building
 * We can't use photos from news sources unless they are explicitly designated public domain or the photographer has released the photo under an acceptable free license. It's simpler if you have taken a photo yourself, because then you own the copyright and you can release it to the Wikimedia Foundation. Please upload it to http://commons.wikimedia.org (if you're logged in here, you will be automatically logged in there). Then we can use it in this article, and update the source along with it. ~Amatulić (talk) 05:19, 18 March 2016 (UTC)

I've added the photos to the wiki commons page under "home plate center..."scrumtime@RN (talk) 23:28, 18 March 2016 (UTC)


 * You uploaded a lot of images there. I chose one that seemed most representative of the outward appearance of the building (less cluttered by cars in front) and put that in the infobox of the article.
 * I also replaced the "Headquarters" paragraph with the sentence you wrote above and the sources you referenced. Because the building is shared, I used the picture that best illustrated this arrangement. ~Amatulić (talk) 23:59, 18 March 2016 (UTC)

"Real Networks/Temp" listed at Redirects for discussion
An editor has identified a potential problem with the redirect Real Networks/Temp and has thus listed it for discussion. This discussion will occur at until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. 1234qwer1234qwer4 23:13, 16 January 2023 (UTC)