Zoomtastic

Judging by the simplicity in its design, one wouldn't know some of the intricacies buried within. Zoom Player Standard focuses on the needs of every downloading fanatic out there that likes to watch media on their PC’s. I became quite annoyed with the lack of codecs that my own media player had and desperately needed an upgrade. I focused on Zoom Player after a friend of mine told me that it can basically play almost any file type out there, so I was curious to see what the hype was about.

The install was quick and painless and I soon got down to the essentials of what makes Zoom Player so popular.

What’s Better About Zoom?

Right from the start, I noticed why Zoom had such a following. It actually TELLS YOU what might not work properly on your system. I was in awe. This was the first time that any player has told me from the start that I could potentially have problems playing certain filetypes.

My amazement continued since it even offered where I can grab the codecs! I had nearly forgotten all about my Windows Media Player until a little window popped up at the bottom right of my screen saying that I could now upgrade to the next version… thanks but no thanks.

As for the player itself, they’ve kept it simple to use. All the necessary buttons are there, including an extension to playlist and equalizer. A big help to any user is that it’s rooted with shortcuts. You’re even given the options to change some around.

In the options menu, there’s a direct link to Zoom Player’s site where they give you detailed instructions on how to better configure your system for the ever growing numbers of Media and compression types. Zoom Player definitely shows its users the platinum card when it comes to help. They’re truly in it for the users, something which is rarely seen these days in the software industry let alone in other media players.

I was looking at some of the options when I noticed that these options were for the intermediate users, so I wanted to see what a power user’s options menu looked like. After I hit the advanced options tab, I was… slightly overwhelmed to say the least. Power users, eat your heart out! Because you’re about to take a step inside the candy store.

Values, OSD and color controls, aspect ratios, playback features and resolution manipulation is right at your fingertips. Now the tough part is to actually figure out what everything does.

For people who want to personalize their players to look pretty, Zoom allows you to do just that. It supports a number of different type of skins suitable for any user.

What I didn’t like about Zoom Player Standard was that I had to buy the Professional version to use some of its more practical options. Next time I'll get the trial version of Zoom Player Pro, so I can get more options (even if it's for a limited time). You can’t switch to DVD mode unless you purchase their product on Standard and some of the options were made unavailable.

I felt as though there was a lot more I could have done with Zoom Player, since its support for power users is so high. It definitely handles a lot while giving the users a lot of features. I guess I just need to use it more.

The Good

It tells you what you’ve got, what you’re missing and where to get it. It supports many codecs and is completely based around the user’s needs.

The Bad

You have to pay for the really good stuff.

The Truth

For what Zoom Player Standard offers with their free version, it’s still worth the download. Get every codec you’ve ever wanted and play it all on Zoom Player Standard. Even if you don’t use Zoom Player, it’s a great tool to have since it tells you which codecs you need and even gives you the option of downloading them. The user’s needs come first and it has great support. I’d definitely recommend this as a download. But if you want to see what Zoom Player is truly made of, try out their Pro version.

Check out some screenshots below.