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.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-07-2008 @ 8:42PM
BabyGotMac said...
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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8-07-2008 @ 8:50PM
jollyllama said...
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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8-07-2008 @ 11:25PM
avneron said...
you can always turn off the sharing, or you can share only with your friends. so the social aspect is optional.
8-07-2008 @ 10:25PM
Dave said...
Yeah - I got excited until heard you need and Intel chip MAC.
Dave
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8-08-2008 @ 3:07AM
ChrisG said...
Could I please have an invite to Boxee?
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8-08-2008 @ 11:13AM
Acariquara said...
Register on inviteshare.com, I will send invites through that site.
8-08-2008 @ 3:37AM
Blackstar said...
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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8-08-2008 @ 6:03AM
Ben Murray said...
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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8-08-2008 @ 11:07AM
Acariquara said...
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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8-08-2008 @ 6:55PM
Mickey said...
Plex is better.
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8-25-2008 @ 7:14AM
dido89 said...
Hi! Who can send me an invite for boxee? Thanks!!!
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