Could the new Mac app "Popcorn Time" be on the verge of becoming the Napster of movies?  Becoming the app that makes film piracy so easy that it becomes mainstream?  Yannick Lejacq of Motherboard seems to think so.

Popcorn Time, which is currently available in beta form for Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) or higher, is pretty much identical to Netflix for all intents and purposes. The only difference is that all of the content therein is pirated, of course.

According to the site's FAQ, it's designed to download and stream torrented video that's "buried in a secret folder somewhere in your drive until you restart your computer," at which point it's deleted. In essence, it's a torrent client dressed up with a better presentation. At face value, Popcorn Time has the potential to be truly huge.

Then again, something makes me think that the wide availability of streaming services like Amazon Instant Video and Netflix will damper some of the enthusiasm for this product.   Though it may be enough to start to get movie studios to add their newer catalog to those streaming services a bit sooner than before.   Which would be a plus for consumers.   Either way I think the authors of the software are way too optimistic that they won't be creating too much controversy.  We shall see.