RealPlayer has just unleashed the latest upgrade to its long-running media software series.

The new version of RealPlayer brings with it a photo management element, that allows you to import pictures from your Android or BlackBerry handset, or your digital camera, with one click and then share your pics on the web.

A mobile upload service has also been added which lets you share your media across multiple devices, without the bother of converting to specified file types.

Existing features like the one-click video download and transfer to mobile have been significantly enhanced with a new drag-and drop feature, and you'll be able to copy your vids to an iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry or other popular device automatically.

Johan Hansen, senior director at RealPlayer and consumer software said:

“People today have a range of fixed and mobile devices they use to view video and photos and to listen to music. In many cases the content stays on one device because it’s too complex or inconvenient to share or move it.

“The new RealPlayer now supports music, photo, and video, and, with transfer to and from mobile devices, it makes it easy to manage, share and preserve the content we love”.

RealPlayer has been around for so long now, that it's easy to dismiss it as an unneeded tool in a world dominated by MobileMe, iTunes, Picasa and the like.

But, if you give it a bash, you'll see that it does offer a number of useful features, of which you can pick and choose the options that suit you best.

And hey, it's free - unless, that is, you go for the Premium version that adds accelerated video downloading, transferring features and CD and DVD burning which costs £29.99.

The latest version can be downloaded from Real.com now.