Boxee comes to Windows, inks MLB deal
Boxee, the open-source software platform that combines Internet media with personal content, announced a slew of updates Tuesday.
Most notably, the company announced that it has made Boxee publicly available to Windows users.
The public alpha version of Boxee for Windows will work with Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. Users will also be able to run it on Windows Media Center, making it possible to bring Boxee to HDTVs through Microsoft's platform. A beta release of the software should be made available later this year.
MLB comes to Boxee
Boxee has also inked a deal with Major League Baseball that will bring MLB.tv Premium to the platform. According to the company, Boxee users will be able to watch "thousands of baseball games, live and on-demand in HD."
Users will be able to pause and rewind a live game. But in order for them to access those games, they will need to sign up for the MLB.tv Premium service, which costs $89.95 per year or $19.95 per month.
Even more content
Since Digg has a popular video section, it only makes sense that Boxee would sign a deal with the social-news site to bring its videos to the platform.
According to Boxee, users will now be able to watch Digg's most popular videos, as well as upcoming clips. Users will soon be able to Digg videos from within Boxee, but that feature is currently not available.
Boxee also signed on with Tumblr to give that site's users the option to stream music and slideshows to Boxee. The company said more Tumblr features are on the way, but it wouldn't divulge what those are.
As if that's not enough, Boxee also announced that Current TV shows are now available on the platform. Current is home to popular shows, including The Rotten Tomatoes Show, InfoMania, and SuperNews.
New navigation
Since Boxee has made so many content enhancements, the company apparently had to improve its user interface. Boxee now features two new categories: Applications and Local Media. The Applications menu will feature all the Internet content available for the platform. The Local Media menu lists content from the user's computer and local network.
Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
Never understood how sports associations believe their services are worth so much money.
Have you checked the price of admission for say, two tickets for a single baseball game lately?
- by zipityzap June 25, 2009 7:16 AM PDT
- You don't need Windows Media Center to bring Boxee to your TV. Boxee is a replacement for the ill-executed WMC. All you need is an affordable cable.
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