Miro needs your donations to build the future of Internet video

Miro needs your donations -- the project is trying to raise $50,000 to pay programmers and designers to make its player even better.

Miro (formerly known as Democracy Player) is the best and most promising video player I've ever used. It's free and open -- licensed under the GPL -- and it incorporates three different technologies that make watching videos easier and better than any of the proprietary players like Windows Media Player or iTunes. These technologies are VLC, a free and open video playback engine that plays all video formats, no matter where they come from; RSS, so that you can subscribe to "feeds" of your favorite videos (including subscribing to feeds of YouTube videos matching your keywords); and BitTorrent, so that you can download files without costing the people who host them -- so the more popular a file is, the cheaper it is to host.

Miro is a bet on a future for "Internet TV" that is as open as the Web, controlled by no one. Otherwise, the way things are headed, we could end up with one or two giant companies owning the future of video. No one -- not community activists, not video startups, no one -- benefits when just a few companies control the platform.

The Miro fundraiser will raise money to pay the talented hackers who have been producing regular updates to the Miro platform, ensuring that there's always an up-to-date version for the Mac, Windows and Linux. I believe in Miro enough to have volunteered for their Board of Directors since they started -- I hope you'll help us keep on producing the future of Internet video. Link

(Disclosure: I am a board member for the Participatory Culture Foundation, the 501(c)3 charitable nonprofit that oversees production of Miro)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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Anonymous

Tried to donate $40.00 with a visa card but was only charged $1.00. Tried again to send $39.00 and was only charged another dollar. Nicholas you need to fix this script if you want to make your 50k goal.
Best of luck
Pat in Chicago.
musmon

I donated already …
musmon

I have donated already
Anonymous

This program had trouble importing my itunes library. It was also very clunky and slow. I really want it to work, but it just doesn’t for me on my mac.
Anonymous

Also worth mentioning, its based on XULRunner a “RIA” worthy of more attention (and a better name)
Michael

I downloaded Miro on the good word from the Boing-ers and I’ve been nothing but disappointed in it. Before they go asking for my money, they should make something that truly does all the things they say it does: scraping YouTube? What about all the videos I search for that don’t pop up? Is there some proprietary issue? As for the RSS, I was unimpressed. iTunes (which I dislike) had a more intuitive interface. And, despite their claims, it bogged down my system. Pretty significantly.
Dav

I’ve been using Miro for a month or so now on my living room TV. I’m about to pull the plug on my cable tv subscription. Between Miro and Joost there’s nothing else I need. Joost is slicker, but Miro gets great content (imho).

Miro is a great project, I’m definitely going to donate.
GaryInMiami

Does Miro support podcasts? For example, can I download and listen to TWiT on Miro? If so then I’m ready to do away with WMP and iTunes. Thanks.
Anonymous

how about an open source flash implementation for true cross-platform (not to mention 64-bit) goodness. until then, stop supporting youtube you retards.
Ramoni loves pictures

Good to see Miro being proactive. I think this is the right step to succeed in the crowded world of media players.

Also good to see that boingboing is promoting Miro, which is very kind, I think.

Yours Sincerely.
joe blough

i’ll give them money if they hire someone to add LIRC support to miro… this is a killer app for a HTPC but it wont work with my remote control!
Buns and Chou Chou

Support Miro, these guys rock!!
Anonymous

Donate to the VLC or FFMPEG projects instead since Miro would be worthless wihout them.
Anonymous

I tried Miro. It was a slow resource hog. Hype is counterproductive when the product does not measure up.

–ME