Overview: Miro 1.0

I missed this because I was on vacation, but on November 13, the folks over at the Participatory Culture Foundation released the 1.0 version of Miro.

Miro, formerly known as Democracy Player, likes to compare itself to the on-demand video service Joost. The two are quite different, however. Joost is very much on-demand television over the Internet with chat and sharing features. Joost’s shows are, for the most part, full-length programs provided by major media brands. But Miro is essentially a feed reader for video. Think of Miro as an open-source version of iTunes with less of a focus on audio.

With Miro, you can subscribe to channels via RSS. Most of the content available via Miro is high-quality video podcasts or television segments, not 30-or-60-minute television shows. Some of the content providers are big brands, though. ABC News, the NBA, and Wired TV produce just a few of the videos available. And many, if not most of these videos are ad-free.

As with iTunes, Miro lets you create playlists. You can also import videos from your hard drive into your Miro library. And though it’s not a highlighted feature, Miro can also manage and play audio files.

Want to share your channel line up with friends or between computers? Not a problem. Just export or import your feeds with an OPML file.

My favorite feature is Miro’s integration with major video sharing sites. You can search Yahoo! Video, Google Video, Youtube, Revver, and Blip.tv (among others), and import the search results’ RSS feed as a channel. True, RSS feeds from search are a feature of the aforementioned sites, but I like the ability to search and save from within the user interface.

Is it worth switching to Miro from iTunes or Joost? I think it complements Joost’s programming, but it doesn’t have any of Joost’s social features and lacks the heavier-hitters in Joost’s content lineup. Miro trumps iTunes for video playback, but iTunes still wins for music management. If you have an iPod, sticking with iTunes is a bit of a no-brainer. And because Miro’s channels are RSS, you can watch a good deal of its content by subscribing through iTunes. But it is open source, and that means a lot to many people.

Have you test-driven Miro? Do you prefer your Internet video in short bursts, or in a more TV-like experience. What software or web applications do you use to view the video podcasts you follow? Do we really need a desktop-based RSS feed reader for video? Say what you mean and mean what you say in the comments.