Last week I posted some rather pointed questions directed at Rob Glaser, CEO of RealNetworks, about the new RealPlayer11, the company’s audio and video formats, and its future growth. Someone anonymous already took me to task in the comments of the original post.
This week, Glaser responds to those on the company blog. On my point about why should anyone use RP11 to download and share video, instead of sharing it directly from say YouTube, he responded: “This is not about replacing the on-line experience YouTube and others offer; it is about giving consumers more control over their web video experience.  The new RealPlayer gives the users lots of control over Internet video—watching it offline, burning it to CD or DVDs, storing it in a library, etc.  Sharing content links directly from the RealPlayer library can be really useful.  A number of people who’ve tested the pre-beta have told me that they love watching a few seconds of a video on a web site, then using RealPlayer to download a copy for later viewing.  Then if they like it they go ahead and share the link with friends.”

While I may not agree with all his explanations, I do like the approach…I wish all CEOs in our space would do that: we ask open questions, and they respond on their company blogs. This is beginning to happen on the technology side, but media is still behind in this. It would not work for everyone and everything, but it is a better and open conversation.