Boxee - The Hottest Tech You've Not Seen?

I've been running a media center PC for years, and for the past year, it's been the primary content provider in the living room. You'll note that I used lower-case "media center" as I've stayed well clear of Microsoft's product, and have been using Snapstream's Beyond TV software in combination with basic satellite service from DirectTV, and a Firefly remote (which, unfortunately, does not seem to be widely available anymore).

I'll describe my setup in detail in another post, but what I really wanted to direct attention to was Boxee. Put as simply as possible, this is an app that combines media aggregation, playback and social networking (optional participation, so privacy mavens can relax!) into a single, TV-friendly interface that is both incredibly slick as well as easy to use. I've only been using this program for about a day, and I'm more impressed with this piece of software than I've been in years with any other application.

And it's free. If you watch any form of media on your computer, especially if it's on a big screen in a living room or den, then you need Boxee. Trust me. Watch the video and tell me this thing isn't cool!

Now, as to why it's important: one of the main struggles my family has had with this system has been accessing the various content providers via a Windows interface that requires at minimum a mouse, if not some keyboard interactions. Besides live TV and recorded shows via Beyond TV, we use Netflix and Pandora daily, but it was always a hassle, especially when the in-laws came to visit. Now, even grandma and grandpa can access everything, including internet content like YouTube, via a single interface that works nicely with our remote!

You can see why the networks are afraid of Boxee. What they should be doing is partnering up with them and figuring out how to work out a micropayment system. I can guarantee if I had the option to queue up several network shows on my Boxee-enabled PC for a couple bucks each, I'd gladly put my $45 earmarked for satellite towards micropayments to content providers/creators.