RealPlayer SP beta for Mac exports media to iPod, iPhone, Apple TV

RealNetworks climbs back onto the agenda today, announcing the release of a beta of RealPlayer SP for the Mac, the latest version of the company’s multimedia playback solution.

RealPlayer SP clearly wants to live at the side of the dominant iTunes ecosystem. While RealPlayer 11 let users download videos, including those from YouTube, to the computer; this version lets you convert those clips into a format that’s suitable for playback on the iPod, iPhone, Apple TV and many other smartphones and media playback devices.

The software will encode assets into a range of formats, including H.264, 3GP, MP3, and AAC.

The RealPlayer Converter includes presets for a slew of devices. When converting for Apple hardware, it pops the conversions inside your iTunes library once conversion is complete.

A range of social networking features are also in the mix - dedicated buttons let you share video links to the likes of Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

"RealPlayer SP is the simplest way to take your favorite videos with you on your phone, iPod or other portable device," said Jeff Chasen, vice president of Video Product Development at RealNetworks.  "We are developing tools that make it easy for people to enjoy and share their favorite videos wherever and whenever they are."

RealPlayer SP for PC has already been used to download over 100 million videos since its beta launch last year. RealPlayer SP for Mac is available as a free download (though we're having the customary challenges locating it on Real's site).