RealPlayer 11 beta previewed

In all this commotion, RealPlayer, the software that originally launched the company, was lost in the shuffle. RealNetworks had not announced a significant upgrade to the program in many years, and there was even a period during which it was difficult to find the free version of the player on RealNetwork's web site. During this time, RealPlayer lost significant mind and market share, while its rivals Windows Media Player and QuickTime/iTunes grew in leaps and bounds.

RealNetworks wants to change this, and the company is banking on a new release of RealPlayer to reverse its fortunes. Recently, I was able to test a beta version of the new RealPlayer, which comes with a nifty feature: the ability to download streaming video clips to your hard drive. Earlier today, Real made the beta of RealPlayer 11 available to the public (which appears to be Windows only for the time being)..