Zoom Player: A Player for Every Type of Media File? One Player for All Multimedia Formats? Scott Koegler
Can you play multimedia files on your computer? Of course you can, but which of the multitude of file formats can you actually use? Zoom Player from Inmatrix claims to support the widest variety of multimedia formats, including the most recent formats, while also giving you ultimate control over your viewing and listening environment.
The first question that will jump to the front of most readers' minds is, 'Do I really need anything other than Microsoft's Windows Media Player or Real Networks' RealPlayer?'
If you are content with the way Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, MusicMatch Jukebox, or any of the other big-name media players work, then the answer is probably no. But if you want to get away from the advertising, and particularly if you venture beyond the more common file formats, you'll want to give Zoom Player a long look. For that matter, if you simply like the idea of being able to control every aspect of your viewing and listening environment, you definitely need to try Zoom Player.
Zoom Player seems to support everything imaginable — skins, media formats, languages, and more — in fact, the program is so extensive it comes in three versions to suit your needs. The Standard version is available free of charge for non-commercial use, and even though it supports fewer features than the two Professional versions, we didn't run into any tasks that Zoom choked on when using the Standard version.
At $19.95, the Professional version expands on the number of functions in the standard edition, while the Professional WMV version adds support for Windows Media Video (for playback of Windows Media DRM files used in some special-purpose WMV DVDs) at $29.95. If you're unsure about which version you need, you can download any of them for a fully functional trial.
