WebProNews

The addition of the Real Player to the Google Pack of software made a lot of tech insiders chuckle, as Real was considered more of a nuisance. Surprises come from all directions, but it's safe to say that no one expected Real to make any impact beyond selling their cool domain name to the highest bidder at some future time.

"The new RealPlayer will give you the power to download Internet video instantly," reads their website today. Beet.TV and lots of others caught the announcement at the D Conference in California:

The new RealPlayer makes it easy for consumers to watch videos whenever and wherever they want, burn them to DVD and CD, and share video links with friends. Most major formats are supported, including Real, Windows Media, Flash, and Quicktime.

If a video does not have DRM, Real Player will be able to download it. Most Flash videos, like those found on YouTube and many other sharing sites, have little to no DRM, Beet.TV said.

NewTeeVee writer Liz Gannes invited her readers to move quickly and snag some pre-release Real accounts ahead of the mid-June formal debut. She made a prediction that likely echoed through the techie audience at D and elsewhere: "Get it fast — we wouldn’t rule out legal challenges in this product’s future!"

We tend to agree, and wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Gulfstream jets full of lawyers were on their way to blast Real so far back in the Internet age that Real CEO Rob Glaser will think uuencode is a quantum leap in technology.