A new app called TruMC was just added into the official Amazon Fire TV appstore. It is a clone of Kodi / MrMC that I recommend everyone avoids. TruMC appears to be nothing more than a copy of an outdated version of MrMC. The app’s developer, and I use that term very loosely, went as far as to copy and paste MrMC’s app description, and even forgot to replace one instance of “MrMC” with “TruMC.” The app didn’t even do a good job of ripping off MrMC because some features, like resolution and refresh rate switching, don’t work and cause the app to crash. TruMC’s app description lists a link to the app’s supposed source code on GitHub, but the source is just a dump of a very outdated version of Kodi, which doesn’t match the app in the appstore.
Apart from the possible GPL license violation for not releasing the correct source code, TruMC’s developers have every right to take an open source app like Kodi or MrMC and use it as the base for their app. However, unlike MrMC, who forked Kodi and has been actively adding great new features to it to justify the app’s price, TruMC appears to be trying to make a quick buck off of other people’s work without contribting anything. You should not even consider purchasing TruMC.
Update
7:30 am MrMC’s developers just told me TruMC is worse than I suspected. TruMC didn’t even take MrMC’s source code and build a new app with it. They just took MrMC’s APK file and swapped out the MrMC icons and images for TruMC ones. Obviously that’s not allowed under MrMC’s open source license, so MrMC has contacted Amazon to pull the app.
1:00 pm TruMC has now been removed from the Amazon appstore.
@AFTVnews
it’s not related to this topic but please tell me that is not true, i just read in some facebook group this headline:
Report: The New Fire TV OS Will Block Apps Like Kodi
Our sources have told us that this new OS update coming out this fall will block all 3rd party apps not in the Fire TV App Store with the main focus of blocking Kodi and the 3rd party add-ons that pirate content. We cannot confirm this, but we do believe the information is creditable.
The built-in applications that block apps have been identified and a rooted FireTV can have these things disabled. OTOH, now that there are (probably) better Android hardware solutions that cost less than the FireTV, perhaps AFTVNews should start covering how to set those up, too.
I do plan to expand my coverage a little to include Android TV boxes once the new devices are out. This is not because Amazon might block Kodi, but because the market has changed quite a bit since I starter AFTVnews.
Good to hear! I love my three Gen 1 FireTVs, but I’m open to upgrade if need be. The FireTV is great for me since I use the Slingbox app. I don’t know if the other Android TV systems can support that.
I just posted an article regarding that rumor here: http://www.aftvnews.com/a-new-report-claims-fire-tv-update-will-block-all-3rd-party-apps-like-kodi/
I tend to avoid paying for branches of free programs in almost any scenario, so I’m good either way.