Democracy launches and its name is Miro

DUBBED THE future of internet TV, Miro launched yesterday with its 1.0 release.

Formerly known as the Democracy Player, the standalone application - for Windows, Linux and Mac - acts as a Tivo on steroids or, more accurately, a free (as in software and as in beer) platform similar to Itunes or Windows Media Player. Online TV fans can simply pick a selection of shows and channels, and Miro will run off and get them, via BitTorrent where possible for fast downloading.

None of the content is DRM-infected, much of it is in HD and Miro will play just about any video format known to man, thanks to the fact it incorporates the popular VLC player.

Push-feeds keep the content fresh and a channel guide enables you to discover more stuff. The Participatory Culture Foundation, the group behind the software, has plenty of coders to keep it up to date, too.

Licensed under the GPL, Miro hopes to do to iTunes what Firefox did to IE. Try it for yourself - the link is here. µ