News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

May 13, 2008

software

Xbox Media Center gives Front Row a run for its money

Posted May. 13, ’08, 9:33 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Software

XMBC OS XFor those using their Mac as an entertainment center, Front Row is often the logical choice for a television-based interface. It comes with every computer using Leopard, and you can run it simply with the Apple Remote that most Macs include. But that doesn’t necessarily means it’s the only or best choice.

Over at Lifhacker Editor and Macworld contributor Gina Trapani has written up an in-depth piece on using Xbox Media Center (XBMC) to replace Front Row on your Mac. XBMC was originally designed for use on modded Xboxes, but intrepid developers ported it over to OS X, so now you can enjoy it on your Mac too.

I haven’t tried it out, but from the screenshots, it looks like a slick piece of software, allowing you to browse and play not only your music and photos, but also TV shows and movies ripped from DVDs, complete with box art. The most recent beta version of XBMC finally includes support for the Apple Remote, fitting the last block into the Tetris line of media center functionality.

If you’re looking for a change, check out Gina’s article, which walks you through installing and configuring XBMC on your Mac, and for more on the project, you can always follow up with the XBMC on OS X Wiki.

[Hat tip: the other Dan M.]


1 Comments

Dbug said:

It's always great to see another useful open-source utility running on OS X.

I do wish the developers would consider using another name.

For one thing it's confusing. No Xbox is needed to use this.

And then there are the negative associations some of us carry with both Xbox and Media Center (as in that edition of Windows)due to issues with the company, or design of its' products.

Maybe call it XCenter or something... still sounds related, but people can think it's X for OS X then.

May 13, 2008 12:48 PM

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