Adobe debuts with new media player
Adobe has launched the beta version of its new media player, using the same format and streaming technology seen in YouTube and other video sharing sites. CBS, PBS, Yahoo, and several other Internet companies have already pledged support for Adobe’s new endeavor. The player will include embedded advertising either through forced-play video clips or permanent banners around the video window. According to Adobe, the Media Player will be supporting digital rights management, based on the currently offered protected streaming to Flash Player from Flash Media Server.
The player is able to play .FLV files, the format used in YouTube and other similar sites. It will require a 9 MB plug-in from Adobe. It is a move for Adobe into a market that is already highly concentrated. Microsoft’s Windows Media Player currently holds the most digital player market share, with Real Player and Quicktime also remaining computer staples. Microsoft also has Silverlight, a new Web-based media format. Adobe’s main focus with the new player is solely on the playback of Flash video. The final version of Adobe Media Player had been set for March 2008, but that has been changed to a more vague deadline of “before July 2008″. Now there’s an important question: Do we really need another useless media player?
Source: TGDaily
Comments(17)
what about the people who made the videos for YouTube
will they see any of the money adobe makes through these forced ads?
another bloatware from Adobe? no thanks…
OMgZZzz!!11 adobe making me so wet right nowzzz../
They have the whole flash technology behind them so they might do well. Only time will tell if this will be picked up by the masses or will end up as “another useless media player”.
RealPlayer on the other hand needs to die already, what a useless and annoying format.
BUFFERING
“Do we really need another useless media player?”
useless? Remember, this is the same company that made youtube, google video, and streaming video for large files possible in the first place.
I can’t believe you seem to be implying Microsoft is the most “useful.” Funny you should even mention Silverlight, it’s a disaster. Windows Media is the #1 pusher of DRM, which seems contrary to the entire basis of the scene.
If MS has the marketshare with realplayer and wmplayer, that’s a shame – because those are the two worst media players anyone could name. Realplayer gained popularity due to their outstanding compression, but horrible quality.
Flash is the new streaming video, and I highly doubt Adobe will take on a new product, and abandon as quickly as Microsoft has always done (IE for mac anyone?)
anything adding forced ads should be useless, i don’t even have intensions of trying that… now to see stream content we are forced to see ads? no thanks… i just hope they won’t force to change the existing players so everyone uses this, or it will be a real step back in the streaming videos…
oh and just because you don’t like windows media player doesn’t mean it sucks, i’ve tried a lot of players but i still prefer wmp11 (though u have a point in the DRM)
Available here http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/mediaplayer/
use’fuckin’less
forced ads ? it must be a joke…
but the average PC user does not chose its media player. And that is why WMP is so “popular”, because it was pre-installed, not because it is better than other players…
If Adobe promotes this new player , and includes it with, let’s say, Adobe Reader… this could easily eat Real & Quicktime on PC.
I like how the details section talks about how their new media player is intended to gives users the freedom to view whatever they want, whenever they want, then goes on to detail all the ways companies can force ads on users. What if I don’t want to watch ads? Then it’s not exactly fulfilling it’s promise of letting me watch whatever I want, now is it?
No… we dont!
@ Rekrul – It doesn’t matter what’s written there, they don’t give a shit about you. Nowadays, all big companies are concentrating on advertising only, not on your experience. All they want from you is to click where they want and nothing more.
Every single big company doesn’t see you as a person anymore. When they look at their users they see only $$$$$$, not human beens. So fuck their media player and all their softwares, fuck them all.
@5
It’s funny how you use YouTube and Goole Video examples of something good Adobe as contributed to.
Neither of those deliver any type of quality of video and it’s just recently flash even started supporting full screen video. It’s even just now (in the two last betas of Flash Player) that it’s supported hardware acceleration of video. It’s not even very good acceleration, only works in fullscreen and works horribly on youtube quality video. (just open a video from YouTube in VLC and you see what it should have been like)
Flash is not a good product. It’s actually the one thing that has hurt the internet the most if you look at the big picture. It’s dominance has completely killed off every single alternative over the years. I’m happy to see that at least the DivX player gets some traction with sites like Stage6, since it’s a helluva lot better than Flash junk in terms of quality and how the plugin is built.
I’ve not tried the player that this article is about… but having one company with the marketshare that Flash has is never good. Especially when that company has horrible support for various platforms and takes years and years to give us features we all want (like fullscreen and HW acceleration for video).
is there something wrong with the current media players available? are there videos out there that we can not watch today because of the lack of video players?
and who doesn’t think that flash video looks always looks like crap on youtube and google video?
for people dissing Microsoft, their wmv videos look a hell of a lot better than this flash crap.
youtube?? googlevideo?? the future is http://www.tv-links.co.uk
@the RaGE
what format does that site use? its not flash?
No Fuck No
Silverlight is a joke it still uses wmv as a format try keeping your IDM on while browing silverlight content it will pck up the wmv formated link directly
Stupid microsoft just wanna compete evrywhere
Adobe just leave alright
and yes ur bulky adobe reader is crap as well foxit rules
@16, Silverlight is for .NET devs so that they don’t have to learn AS and Flash… which is kinda tricky when you get deep in it! I know… been there… got some nice experiences from Flash 7.