Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iTunes
iTunes overtakes RealPlayer
Even though Apple's stock prices are in the slumps, iTunes usage is certainly not! Website Optimization posted that iTunes has surpassed RealPlayer usage in terms of online streaming -- for the first time in history. They cite that iTunes was the only online streaming player that had a positive growth over year 2007. Here's how the online players break down as of December 2007: - iTunes - 35,664
- QuickTime - 12,787
- RealPlayer - 27,565
- Windows Media Player - 75,865
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Johnathon Zirkle said 9:36PM on 1-31-2008
I hate that garbage thing they try to pass off as a media player...down with Real!!!
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Kuy said 9:51PM on 1-31-2008
How do they determine what a streaming media player is, though? If you look at actual media streaming, I'm confident you'll find that Flash Player is many times more popular than even iTunes.
-Kuy
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Kuy said 10:00PM on 1-31-2008
This states it nicely: http://www.adobe.com/products/player_census/flashplayer/
-Kuy
required said 10:15PM on 1-31-2008
The Flash Player has deviously nasty default privacy settings that once edited revert themselves without your knowledge and must be policed. I don't know how many times I've had to tell it that I do not want third-party content to store data on my computer, gain access to my camera and microphone, or unknowingly access information on my computer. So rather than refer to it as a media player, I would say it's main purpose is spyware.
If anyone is unaware of the things mentioned above please see:
http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager.html
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Mimi said 10:42PM on 1-31-2008
I second the thought that there is nothing pleasant about real player. Never liked it. I think I put it on the same plane as IE and the macromedia spyware mentionned.
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PSM said 12:49AM on 2-01-2008
I can't believe anyone even uses RealPlayer anymore. I thought content providers figured out years ago that everyone hates it, but every now and then I stumble across a site that only uses Real. I don't even bother watching whatever it is at that point.
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Gary said 4:43AM on 2-01-2008
I can't believe Real Player still has any market share either, but companies like the BBC are still promoting it up. When my parents want to listen to a radio programme they missed, they go to the BBC website and it tells them to download Real Player. I tell them not to, but there appears to be no other way of accessing the content.
Think Adrian said 2:01AM on 2-01-2008
How do you stream anything in iTunes except internet radio? #2 Kuy seems to have hit the nail.
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J said 6:57AM on 2-01-2008
Real player might suck balls, but for those of us who have an aversion to all things Redmond there's usually little alternative than to support it - especially where the content provider insists on using DRM.
What else is there that does DRM that is reasonably widely supported?
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Tom Stewart said 8:25AM on 2-01-2008
Guys, when you post numbers, post what they mean. It appears that the numbers here represent "thousands of unique users" The site doesn't really say much more than that.
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Galley said 9:49AM on 2-01-2008
Have you ever met anyone that actually uses WMP? Neither have I.
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