Last version released: 2.59.3790

Trial version: fully functional for 14 days

Full version price and licensing:

PlayOn Lite: one-time $39.99 licensing fee

PlayOn Premium is 39.99 for the first year and $19.99/year thereafter

Summary: READ MORE >>

Last version released: 11.0.5721.5268 (XP), 11.0.6002.18111 (Vista), 12.0.7600.16415 (Windows 7)

Full version price and licensing: free for users of Microsoft Windows (recommended for XP and later versions only)

Screenshots: READ MORE >>

Trial version: 30 minutes of continuous use

Full version price and licensing: $20.00 READ MORE >>

Last version released: 1.8

Free version: all features available, except for streaming of premium content from internet

Pro trial version: no limitations, users are encouraged to try it as long as needed to make a decision (within reason)

Pro version price and licensing: $29.95, the license entitles you to one year of free updates.

Summary: READ MORE >>

Last version released: 4.5.8.0

Trial version: no time limit, except for "TV Streaming" and "Transcoding" (15 days), MPEG-4 formats are not supported in trial version

Full version price and licensing: $39.99 (upgrade from previous versions starting from $31.99) READ MORE >>

Last version released: 4.3.0.4

Full version price and licensing: free (GNU General Public License)

Vuze (formerly Azureus) is a free BitTorrent client used to transfer files via the BitTorrent protocol. Vuze is written in Java, and uses the Azureus Engine. READ MORE >>

Last version released: 1.0.0.1

Full version price and licensing: free

Summary:
Google Media Server is a Google Gadget - an add-on for Google Desktop.

It is reported to have poor user interface, major glitches about server losing visibility of the media files, poor streaming quality of the video and consuming vast amounts of memory. READ MORE >>

 According to the official web site Allegro Media Server does now work currently with Playstation 3:
The Sony PS3 requires a DLNA 1.0 compliant media server and does not work with UPnP Media Servers that are not DLNA 1.0 compliant. A future version of AMS will add this capability.

Our take:
Even if it would work with with PS3, it's not clear why would someone pay $40 for software that lacks even basic features other media servers have. The fact that it only runs together with iTunes makes it even worse. READ MORE >>

Last version released:  2.50.0185

Full version price and licensing: free

Formats and codecs supported:
 Depends on set of codecs preinstalled on the PC. READ MORE >>

Last version released: 0.11.0

Full version price and licensing: open source (GPL)

Supported Features READ MORE >>