Democracy - Watch hundreds of free video channels

Sep 08, '06 11:59:03AM

Contributed by: robg

The macosxhints Rating:

[Score: 9 out of 10]

This is the Pick of the Week for the week of September 4th

Tired of everything on your 232 satellite TV channels? Bored with 400 repeats per day of Law and Order? Then try Democracy, the Internet TV player. Democracy is a bit like an iTunes video podcast player on steroids, but that's really not doing it justice. Democracy is a really nice Mac application for viewing and managing 600+ channels of community-provided internet television. Just like "real" television, you won't find something you like on every channel, and much of what you see may have the feel of the local cable access channel. But there are some gems out there, including many with production values that rival that of traditional television.

To browse 600 channels, Democracy presents a searchable channel guide organized by categories. I found it relatively easy to browse, and the buttons are large and easy to identify. I also liked the active downloads interface, as well as the overall "feel" of the app -- it feels like a Mac app, and I much prefer it to watching video podcasts in iTunes. By default, videos are saved locally for six days, then erased automatically. However, you can click a Save button to retain anything you'd like to permanently keep.

I'm not sure if this is the future of television or not. But as a look at what's possible in a system not controlled by large media companies and expensive access, it's quite interesting. The fact that it's all presented in a nice looking, easy-to-use native Mac application is just icing on the cake.

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