To Get RealPlayer or not to get RealPlayer

Greetings. I am interested in listening to some programmes from the BBC that I have missed. When I try to do this however, I am told that I need to install RealPlayer. I have some issues with RP from days gone by when I was a greenhorn PC user, what with all the ads and the over complicated interface. In later days, I used Real Alternative which i much preferred because of its simplicity and functionality. Two questions: a) What do most folks with a Mac do in this situation? b) Would Quicktime fill the role? One more question: If QT will do the job, are any special settings required? The BBC won't let me connect at the moment, and time is running out before the particular programme vanishes, like Lord Lucan and Shergar, into the oily mist..... Cheers Mitcherooney :biohazard

RealPlayer has caused no problems for me, and I have it on my OS 9 partition and OS X partition. The free version is under the blue button on the top right of the Real main page.

I keep as much control over it as I can by turning off its cookies in Real's preferences under the Internet tab.

The BBC allows the direct downloading of each Real icon that connects to the requisite Beeb station, so I have BBC 1 to BBC 7 as Real icons, as well as icons for the World Service, Scotland, Ulster and Wales.

I prefer this to having "favourites" in the Real menu bar, and I don't need to have a page open to hear any of the stations. Clicking an icon starts RealPlayer automatically, and the BBC station plays.

EDIT: One of the reasons I have it set up this way is because I have the same reservations about Real as you do.