Democracy Now!
About a month ago I saw a blog entry about democracy player on boingboing which looked really interesting. I immediately downloaded the software but, for some reason or another, never installed it.
Yesterday I finally gave it a go and I have to say that it is fantastic. Think videolan meets bittorrent meets rss video-blogging meets iTunes. It offers loads of channels where indie video content makers, animators, journalists etc publish their content for you to browse and subscribe via a sweet channel guide, similar to the iTunes music store - only it’s all free!
The similarities to iTunes don’t stop there, it also manages your video content with a search facility, auto-downloading for any channel you subscribe to (optional of course), plus automatic expiry for old content so you don’t horde shit and waste precious disk. It sports a very slick gui, especially on Tiger.
I can’t say enough about how well made this program is and how well supported it is on the channel guide side of things. Already, content creators are starting to flourish in this new medium.
Some of my favourite channels so far are:
Rocketboom - news
Telemusicvision - music video clips
Attack of the Show - similar to E channel but kinda geeky
MediaRights - creative commons with media focus
aliveinbaghdad - video blog made by civilians of baghdad
Ask a Ninja - strongbad email style ninja questions
There are so many more to discover. They boast a massive 500 channels on their site. I think this is going to be a really great outlet for those getting into any video based medium, amateur or pro.
One necessity of course, is a pretty hot internet connection. So it’s mostly limited to geeks, techies and the rich for now but soon most people will be able to get this stuff. Exciting possibilities.
Tuesday, 15 August 2006
