RealPlayer used to be an essential application for streaming media content from the web, but you can live without it today. It is still a fully featured media player, with library, sharing, converting and downloading features.

Note that RealPlayer Gold was the original version of RealPlayer which went "Gold" after beta testing was finished between versions 10 to 11. After that however, RealPlayer confusingly went back to version 1 again with RealPlayer SP although even more confusingly, the latest version is labeled version 12.0.0 in the program's "About" section but version 1.0 on the Real download site. RealPlayer Gold however remains very popular because it offers extra features that have been removed in SP and you can still download it here on Softonic even if it's not apparent on the RealPlayer site. We assume that the reason RealNetworks did this, is to try and encourage people to pay to upgrade to RealPlayer SP Plus.

The installation process is a bit annoying because to configure RealPlayer SP, you have to shutdown your browser. However, you can still configure it afterward even if you don't so my guess is that it's trying to install itself as your default player by asking you to shutdown and restart your browser first. In addition, the RealPlayer converter comes as a separate program with this download and has to be installed separately although it works well convering Flash to H264 for example and automatically adding tracks to iTunes. You're also prompted to install the Real agent which will sit quietly in your system and help you download Real compatible videos when needed.

There is wide support for most major video formats although audio such as ACC+ isn't supported. Also, although it is supposed to be compatible with Adobe Flash 10, many users have reported problems when trying to play it over long periods and RealNetworks suggest going back to Flash 9.

While RealPlayer SP may lack some of the functionality of Gold - mainly the absence of a CD burner - it's certainly a more modern player designed for the social networking and mobile era. RealPlayer SP for Mac lets you download online videos from thousands of sites and transfer them to your iPod, iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry or other mobile device. Tranferring video is easy courtesy of an on-screen menu within the main screen itself simply labeled "convert".

RealNetworks have also introduced features such as PerfectPlay and LivePause, a new Playlist window and the ability to play Windows Media content. There have also been improvements in the way RealPlayer handles streaming and buffering courtesy of TurboPlay for fast connections and RealVideo 9 and RealAudio Surround for the needs of HDTV.

One of the most annoying aspects of RealPlayer releases is that they often take a while to start because of the various plugins they use but RealPlayer SP is pretty snappy. The removal of the CD burner from RealPlayer SP however is a shame but overall, it's a vastly improved media player.

RealPlayer SP is RealNetworks slickest and most advanced media player to date.