Miro gets faster database, audio podcasts

Open-source and cross-platform media jukebox Miro upgrades to version 2.5, and the improvements bring drastic changes to performance and useful tweaks to the interface. Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, Miro 2.5 introduces a database overhaul so intensive that users with large collections of video and music might face a delay of more than 10 minutes when they first launch the new version. However, Miro states that the delay should be a one-time event.

Miro's new Audio interface.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

Once you've installed the update and launched it once, subsequent restarts should find program launch speeds of two to four times faster than before, says Miro.

Along with the database refresh, torrent fans should find better support for those file types and keyboard shortcuts have been redone to make it easier to navigate the program. Developers will appreciate the new documentation for hacking the database, while podcast junkies finally get direct support for audio podcasts.

Interface enhancements include a new library UI, categorized by the simple Video, Audio, and Other labels. Downloading from YouTube has been made easier, too, with a new button to facilitate that feature when you add YouTube as a sidebar site. Audio playback has received some surface tweaks as well, making it easier to navigate.

The full list of changes and bug fixes can be read here.