Kodi Media Player now avaiable for Xbox One via Microsoft Store; turn the gaming console into a multimedia suite

The Xbox One can potentially become a multimedia powerhouse with the Kodi Media Player.Reuters/Lucas Jackson

Kodi Media Player is now available for the Xbox One. It can be downloaded for free at the Microsoft Store. However, availability is limited as of this moment. Reports suggest that the media player will be first available Europeans.

Kodi Media Player is popular for its utility because it supports third-party devices like live TV and Digital Video Recording (DVR) technology. It will be a handy addition to the Xbox One; Microsoft is not likely to provide such services to the flagship gaming console.

The media player is still very much in development. The developers are trying to make a version of the software that is compatible with the Universal Windows Platform. This also means that the Xbox version of Kodi may be able to communicate with other devices running Windows 10.

However, the media player still has some limitations. The free app is not yet finished, and it only lets you browse (and therefore play) certain parts of the user's music and video folders. The network location is also limited; the app can only access the NFS://shares folder when trying to use files via network.

For now, the app will not be able to access external storage devices or the Blu-Ray Drive. Also, because of its unfinished state, the player may have problems with some add-ons— compatibility may be limited.

Kodi Media Player began life 15 years ago when it was still named Xbox Media Center. Or XBMC. It was made for the Xbox and takes advantage of the console's TV out and "easily hackable" software. In a nutshell, it makes the Xbox a multimedia powerhouse.

The player became popular. As a result the developers created versions for other platforms. Kodi (then XBMC) was later made available to Windows, MacOSX, Linux, Raspberry-Pi, and even on Android.

The player now makes a comeback on the Xbox One through its official listing in the Windows Store.