The AK-Player 7 software media player is an interesting experience. When launching, it seems to fly into to view from a distance. Possibly from another solar system, given its default skin--UFO doesn't even begin to cover that. It's an impressive display. AK-Player 7 plays video and audio, as well as images, but aside from its animated interface, doesn't stand out from the crowd.

AK-Player 7 supports a decent number of file types: normal Windows types (.AVI, .WMV), .FLV, as well as MPEG4 and DVDs. It also plays the more common audio types and displays common image files. It's not VLC in that regard, however. Support for OGG, FLAC and other less common, but still popular formats isn't included and the program seemingly doesn't understand DirectShow filters --I have those installed for both OGG and FLAC and the program still didn't recognize them. I hope the next upgrade will broaden support.

AK-Player 7 is free and no one should complain when someone puts in hard work and donates it for the public good. It's worth the download just to watch it launch. After that, the experience, unfortunately, is merely average, though promising for the future.

--Jon L. Jacobi