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Miro(formerly "Democracy Player") Miro is a free, open-source internet TV and video player, often compared with Joost, Hulu and iTunes. The name change, from DTV, to Democracy, to Democracy Player, to Miro, is apparantly because Democracy implied television related only to and about politics and politicians, which the developers were afraid would narrow the mass-appeal of the project. I'm still not sure why they chose "Miro" specifically, as it seems to mean "look," "see," or "watch" in a variety of languages. From the website (which contains pretty much all the information you need to know about this software in an easily navigational interface with clean graphic design): "Participatory Culture Foundation is the non-profit organization that makes Miro. Our mission is to build a more open and diverse world of online video. As television moves online, we face a crucial decision. Will it be open like the internet? Or will it be controlled by a small number of gatekeepers like cable and broadcast television? We think the answer should be obvious: let's make television more open and exciting than it's ever been." And this, too: "Video RSS is at the core of what we do and is a perfect example of openness at work. When Miro connects to a video publishing website, RSS is the language they speak. This lets Miro see if there are any new videos available and begin a download. Since RSS is free, public technology anyone can build software like Miro that uses RSS. That means that publishers only need to create a single RSS feed in order to connect with lots of different video players. With closed, proprietary technologies there are gatekeepers who control who can publish and who can watch. We don't think the internet should work this way." Some more about the Miro team's mission statement and background information here: http://www.getmiro.com/about/mission/ http://www.getmiro.com/about/technology/ Etc... Beyond forums for navigating basic features (as well as FAQ's, Q&A's, and any other information one could want from the website itself) and experimenting with intermediate levels of interaction with the software, there is a robust technology developer's area, as Miro's source code is open to those who wish to delve further into the structure and manipulation of the software. Personally, I've never known much about how open-source software works, other than the ability and freedom for individuals to modify and expand capabilities of a given program for their own ends (once I get into the technicality of the details my brain switches off the lights and goes to bed). In this respect, it seems the team is undertaking a fairly progressive project aimed not for profit, but for equal video access for all who use their software. Pretty much any information you'd want to get concerning what the team is doing is readily available, and documentation is extensive. Videos watched on Miro are devoid of ads, which makes me smile with no uncertain amount of glee, though the catch is inevitably less major-corporation cooperation and their spawn of higher-quality video and professional polish, with teams of writers and such. Of course, a major component of Miro's search engine being capable of searches and automatic downloads of BitTorrent files as well as their focus on using RSS feeds for downloading, it is possible to wave your Pirate's flag and stick it to the Man by watching some illegal TV, though of course I didn't do that, and I didn't eat popcorn and Skittles while doing it, either. Miro also seems to be marketing itself in direct opposition to Joost, as found here (as well as mentioned on Miro's home front page): http://www.getmiro.com/articles/miro_vs_joost.php It seems to be a contest of idealogy more than a strict "buy me because this other product sucks," approach (though that's basically what they're saying, it's just interesting because both programs are free for download). As to my personal experience using the software: first off, there was a bit of a learning curve to set up my preferences correctly so Miro didn't download every damn thing that became available and thus cluttered the hell out of my desktop, and used up all the rest of my available disk space. I'd personally recommend saving these videos to an external hard drive so you're not constantly trying to figure out what to and what not to delete. Beyond that, the interface, though a bit intimidating at first, quickly becomes coherent with the strong basic help features prominently displayed on default to the left of the screen. There's also a movie to this effect on the site itself you can watch, or download for reference, found here: http://www.getmiro.com/screencasts/ The software is available for Mac OSX, Windows, and Linux. It plays "virtually any file type," and the site also lists resources for creating content and distribution of Internet TV as well as a host of help topics. I suppose I generally prefer streaming content at the moment, as it doesn't have the unintended side effect of filling my computer's memory to the brim (despite Miro's ability to "expire" videos that have not been saved indefinately), unless there's a specific program that doesn't suck, in which case I'll happily use Miro's features for download. Right now, there's a just a dearth of content with high production values, and of licenses for Miro, so for the most part, viewers are resigned to indie-produced content, which isn't always bad, but sure as hell isn't always good, either. I like it, overall. The promise of it, and the mission statement behind it is a nice bonus, and once you get the hang of it, there's really not much problem using it. Just make sure to turn off the default option for Miro to start up every time you switch your computer on; that was REALLY annoying for me, personally. The download is fast and there's enough decent stuff out there to keep a person occupied with junk food and a desire to veg out, if they so desire. |