A Kodi years ago we stopped knowing him as XBMC, but even when he had that name had already become one of the most popular and complete multimedia centers that we could download on different platforms, and still is, only that even better.
Today Kodi is available for Windows, Linux, MacOS, Android, iOS, Raspberry Pi, and even BSD. You can install the application on almost any device to manage all your multimedia content, be videos, music, images, radio, and even to make streaming thanks to a host of add-ons. If you do not know how it works or how to use Kodi , we’ll explain it to you.
Kodi is a free and open source application maintained by volunteers and donations. The official version does not include any type of multimedia content, only the options for you to manage your own. That content can come from your disk, from a remote location, a DVD, a Blu-ray, a cloud service, etc.
How to install and configure Kodi
The installation of Kodi is extremely simple, you just have to go to the download page and choose your platform. If you use macOS simply download the available installer and run the package.
If you use Windows you have two options : the classic installer or the Kodi version in the Microsoft store. Both versions are the same, choose the one you prefer.
And, if you use Linux you will need to open the terminal and write the following commands:
sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-xbmc/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install kodi
Basic configuration
When you start Kodi for the first time you should take a couple of things into account: the first is that you will not have any content, and the second is that it will be in English. Both things are easily solved. Also remember that Kodi runs full screen .
Add content to Kodi
At the beginning your collection will be empty, so you must enter the Files section to add a source folder from where Kodi will search for movies, music, series, etc, to add to your multimedia center.
Depending on the type of content, simply choose an option from the list on the right. We will choose Videos for this example. The next thing is to click on Files and once in the list of files, click on Add videos …
Then you have to add a video source , that is, the folder or location from which Kodi will search to index your content. You can click on Search , and start browsing your disk until you find the folder where you have the videos and choose it.
You can also choose a name for the content source and press OK to go to the next thing that is Set content .
In this part you have several options, such as defining if it is a series, movies or video clips, in addition to choosing an information provider, that is, the one that gives you the names, the description and the covers in the multimedia center .
When you’re ready press OK and Kodi will start indexing. Then you can add more video sources following the same steps . Now when you go to the section you will see indexed videos appear in the list.
This same process is the same to create your library of images, music, series, video clips, etc.
Install add-ons in Kodi
To do things like watch YouTube videos on Kodi or listen to the radio, you will need to install add-ons. The list of add-ons for Kodi is huge, and there are communities that are dedicated only to gather addons for Kodi, such as TVAddons.
One of the easiest to install is YouTube, just click on the search button above and to the left of the main screen and then in the pop-up window click on ” Search on YouTube .
This will make Kodi ask you if you want to install the YouTube Addon and by choosing yes, it will guide you through the process automatically. Now when you move the mouse pointer through the Add-ons section in the menu on the left you will see the YouTube logo in the list of video addons.
When you’re ready, you can connect your Google account to view your subscriptions, popularity lists, recommendations, history, playlists, channels, or do any search.
To install a new addon you just have to click on the Add-ons menu and choose the type from the list. If it’s music, video, images, etc. The amount available is huge, just keep in mind that many are third-party services that you can use only with your credentials from that provider.
This is just a pretty basic guide for you to get a global idea of what you can do with Kodi and that you have almost infinite possibilities to enjoy all kinds of multimedia content.
