Those of you looking for an alternative to the many varieties of proprietary digital media players which regularly hit the market should seriously consider following the development of Boxee.  The open-source software, which can easily be installed on any Windows, Mac, or Linux home theater computer presents one of the best interfaces by which users can access wide swaths of DRM-free digital media content, stored both locally and via the Internet.  Content is augmented by the Boxee interface, which instantly downloads reviews, lyrics, photos, album art, and much more.  Users can develop favorites and even share content with friends via the software’s social networking capabilities.  Check out this brief video for an overview of Boxee.

Up until recently, the Boxee software existed as an Alpha release.  In an announcement today, the company revealed a much improved Beta release of the Boxee software.   The Beta release further enhances the user interface, adds support for DirectX and DXVA on Windows machines to facilitate 1080p HD video playback without burning up your CPU, and will be made available on January 7th for download (although you could sign up here to be a software tester – assuming they pick you).

The Boxee (Beta) Home Screen

The Boxee Box by D-Link

While installing the Boxee software should be really simple assuming you’ve got a device which meets the hardware and software requirements, Boxee has partnered with D-Link to create the aptly named Boxee Box, which can only be described as the weirdest looking piece of home theater hardware ever created.  The Boxee Box is essentially a home theater PC with HDMI video output, optical and RCA audio plugs, WiFi, Ethernet, dual USB ports, an SD card slot, and an RF remote.  The company claims that the box can be completely controlled via remote control and that no keyboard is necessary, although we suspect a device like the GlideTV Navigator may be handy.

As one of the millions of people across the country who pay hefty monthly cable TV bills and typically only watch the free channels anyway, the potential of a device like the Boxee Box and its underlying software is huge.  With much of the content I consume offered freely online, I frequently question the usefulness of my cable TV subscription.  While some digital media players boast refined user interfaces with access to Internet sites for additional content, none seems to do so as seamlessly as Boxee.  And with D-Link’s hardware partnership making setup of a Boxee system as easy as plugging in a DVD player, we may finally being to see a shift in not only what content people consume, but how they consume it.