Filed under: Multimedia, Leopard
Boxee media center for Mac
Boxee is an interesting new media center application for the Mac based on the XBMC. Separate from the OS X branch of XBMC (now called Plex), Boxee focuses on a social networking experience by allowing you to get (and give) recommendations to friends who are also on the service. You can also share your media activity with friends and vice versa.
Once installed, Boxee scans your hard drive for videos, music, and pictures. It also interfaces with various streaming sources, both for audio and video, including last.fm, revision 3, YouTube, etc. Even when playing local content it will download things like album covers and descriptions from the internet. All in all, Boxee looks like an interesting entry into the media center competition and its social networking features set it apart from more straightforward implementations like Plex.
Boxee is presently in a closed alpha test, but they're expecting to open a public beta by the early autumn. You can sign up to be notified when the open beta is available. Since it's based on XBMC it's Intel Mac and Leopard only.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
BabyGotMac said 8:42PM on 8-07-2008
I've been looking for a media server app for a while now ( http://babygotmac.com/a/the-mac-media-server-project/ ). If this thing does upnp effectively it will be a big boon for the Mac community.
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jollyllama said 8:50PM on 8-07-2008
Er, I'm not sure how I feel about an application that has social networking built in which scans my hard drive for all my media files, presumably to share with others as "my tastes."
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avneron said 11:25PM on 8-07-2008
you can always turn off the sharing, or you can share only with your friends. so the social aspect is optional.
Dave said 10:25PM on 8-07-2008
Yeah - I got excited until heard you need and Intel chip MAC.
Dave
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ChrisG said 3:07AM on 8-08-2008
Could I please have an invite to Boxee?
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Acariquara said 11:13AM on 8-08-2008
Register on inviteshare.com, I will send invites through that site.
Blackstar said 3:37AM on 8-08-2008
I've been using versions of XBMC, OSXBMC, and now Plex. Every version has gotten better and better. Plex has a great support group and community. But 3 things about the Boxee's information make me want to pass on trying it. "Social Networking" "Scanning Hard Drive" and "Alpha".
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Ben Murray said 6:03AM on 8-08-2008
Hmmm, i like the look of this. But it seems look is all I can do at present.
Te more competition in this market the better if you ask me.
Looking forward to DoubleTwist getting their mac version out the door.
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Acariquara said 11:07AM on 8-08-2008
I've got some invites laying. Although it is an alpha, and I've had a fair share of crashes, the sharing options are wonderful, and if you are into foreign movies, it can connect to opensubtitles.org and d/l them on the fly.
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Mickey said 6:55PM on 8-08-2008
Plex is better.
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dido89 said 7:14AM on 8-25-2008
Hi! Who can send me an invite for boxee? Thanks!!!
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scOTT said 5:42PM on 9-30-2008
i got my invite today...and i am not clear as of yet how to really use it...but i havent had enough time to really look at it...but i had to go in and tell it to allow the mouse to be used...cuz until i realized that i had to use my remote...cuz i was lost until then...but it has possibilities but i have yet to really enjoy them yet
Jack said 1:03AM on 11-04-2008
if anyone has an extra invite to send out, I would be forever grateful.
jack.whhs@mac.com
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