Two big name multimedia programs are making their way to the Android platform and recently released betas. MediaMonkey is music library manager similar to iTunes but in my opinion, much better. XBMC is a media center designed to make your computer into the ultimate entertainment hub. Starting off on the Xbox, it has found a special place in the heart of cordcutters, especially on home theater PCs attached to large TVs, giving you easy access to your media collection.
Now, both of these programs are on their way to Android. It’s a great sign of the platform maturing to offer more robust, formal applications. Remember they’re in early betas still, so be a little forgiving on them and provide feedback if you are able to test them out.
MediaMonkey for Android
I wrote about MediaMonkey way back in 2008, as one of the first articles on the site. I’m not a huge music person but when I do want to listen to some tunes, I prefer it to be straight forward yet flexible and complementing the music instead of getting in the way. That’s why I prefered MediaMonkey. Since then, a lot has changed. With Amazon and Google both offering their own music cloud, the world of music has changed.
MediaMonkey’s Android app is an advanced media player. It allows wireless syncing with your library to make music management between your Windows PC and your Android device easier. It brings much of the functionality of MediaMonkey with playlists and navigation to the Android experience. One thing I remain optimistic for is its organization when it comes to audiobooks. I’ve tried many times with MP3 players and smartphones to get them to play audiobooks in the proper order only to have them jump around because it would sort the tracks a different way.
For more information on MediaMonkey Android, check out these links:
- MediaMonkey for Android Announcement thread
- MediaMonkey for Android FAQ
- MediaMonkey for Android test builds
- MediaMonkey for Windows test builds (needed for the syncing counterpart)
- MediaMonkey homepage
XBMC for Android
XBMC received a relatively more recent write-up over at Freewaregenius from me. I was really looking into the options for cordcutting then and considered getting an HTPC. Instead, I ended up with the WDTV Live set top boxes and I’d say I’m content.
XBMC 12 is in the second beta release and included the first beta of XBMC for Android support. It is to be a full port of XBMC, not a thin client or lite version of the software nor just a remote. For more information about XBMC on Android, check out these links: