Yesterday I decided randomly to upgrade the version of XBox Media Center (XBMC) on my modded XBox. In light of the media “features” of the 360, XMBC is fantastic bit of software, well it always was – but the 360 has kind of brought it into focus. Microsoft’s attempt is crippled, lacking in features and hard to use. XMBC is a joy to use, looks brilliant and has tons of features; bearing in mind this is an open-source and free project.

What would make the 360 better? well hire the team behind XBMC and get them to re-write the entire media section of the 360 dashboard, as that’s not likely to happen some more reasonable ideas would be:

• Support PC file-shares (i.e. mapped drives), the Windows Media Connect software is a travesty that I wouldn’t let near any machine (it scans ALL your MP3 and photos at startup, which can take a looong time), and most of the other UPnP media servers out there are not much better – I use TwonkyVision which is fairly passable. SMB file sharing would be such a simple solution.
• Better controls; why is the volume hidden away in weird sub-section of the UI? Why can’t I jump down the list of tracks/albums/artists? Why no progress bars, track indicators or means to fast-forward & rewind?
• Last.fm support
• Let me copy stuff to the 360 hard disk, I can plug in my iPod/camera/USB Stick and play tracks but I can’t copy media from it. Why? no reason just they didn’t want you to.
• The photo gallery support is simply tragic compared to XMBC’s

Sorry for the rant; I like the 360, but Microsoft’s media features just feel ‘tacked on’ and rushed…
Update: I’m not the only one that thinks this – http://www.digg.com/gaming/XBMC_VS_Xbox_360