XBMC, developed originally for XBox, is an open source media center for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and XBox. It allows you to manage and play movies, music and pictures. The program is particularly suited for use on a Media PC.

XBMC copes with all popular video, audio and image formats, such as MPEG, DIVX, XVID, MP3, AAC, JPG, GIF, and enables the playback of video and audio streams from the Internet or from the local network. In addition, the program playing image files and for movies packed in ZIP or RAR format or music.

The freeware scans specified sources automatically for existing movies, music or images and creates a personal media library. In addition, she will download for example, film, series or music descriptions, as well as corresponding train cover by sites such as last.fm, thetvdb.com or themoviedb.org and adds it to the collection.

XBMC provides a variety of settings options. Aspect ratio can be adjusted, as well as the brightness and contrast of a video, or add a transition effect when playing back audio files. It is possible to create your own favourites and playlists, and skins and plug-ins can be used to customise the Media Center.

The current version includes a redesigned user interface, a revised setting menu, and an enhanced video playback. It also offers standard support of Direct X and adds some updated codecs.

Conclusion
The free software XBMC is a versatile media player which not only looks good visually, but also copes with all common film, music and image formats. In addition, the tool is used as a file manager, RSS reader and informs about the current weather.