There was a lot of chatter yesterday about Joost and their recent milestone of one million beta users. One million is an impressive number for a start-up, there’s no doubt about that, especially since they haven’t officially launched yet. But, that doesn’t mean that those one million beta users that signed up are actually using Joost.
I saw Webware’s article today titled One Million Beta Testers for Joost, But Have They Stuck Around? which was exactly what I was thinking yesterday when I saw the announcement. We’ve already had a discussion here back in April when I asked what everybody thought of it, but now I’m wondering months later, do any of you actually still use it? I know for myself, once I was done sending out the invitations, I uninstalled it. The quality was mediocre and the selection of content was under-whelming. There was no longer a purpose to keep the application on my computer.
Remember all of the hype that Joost received? This is one of those instances where I think the hype made everybody expect a really awesome product, only to be disappointed and leave it behind. I think they really need to work on the quality, content, and stability of the app (some people are having issues with it crashing) if they want their public launch at the end of the year to be a success. Any thoughts?
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You raise a good point. I have Joost still installed on my computer, but haven’t used it in months (mainly due to the video quality).
They do have a much wider selection of programs now, and the video has improved - at least in my opinion over the last few months. I quit using it a few months back, and finally tried it again a week or so ago and was surprised by the amount of changes made.
Might want to give it another shot.
I think what Joost represents as a technology and a philosophy shift in the media market is what the world needs to help shake things up and add some competition to the big media conglomerates. Just in the last year there has been so many announcements about IPTV in various forms (see my blog http://everydaytechnews.blogspot.com) that have caused the industry to reevaluate what consumers want. As Apple launched into the iTunes Movie and TV stores and products like Joost and Amazon Unbox were announced we saw ABC, NBC, and others start making their shows available through web portals. This is a step in the right direction which I think Joost represents. I think Joost gets all the hype not because of their content or their sometimes unstable application, but because they are riding the waves of their former successes of Skype and Kazaa. Those guys seem to know what they are doing not only in technology but seeing and meeting the need of what the world wants.
I haven’t used it in months either, mainly because if I want to watch TV, I can turn around in my chair and turn one on. Joost would be good if perhaps I’m on vacation and I want to watch my own programming and not what’s offered where I’m visiting (just an example).
I kinda actually forgot that I still have Joost on my PC and am uninstalling it right now (using Revo of course!).
I still have Joost installed, and they have added content. However, the quality still sucks which is why I do not watch it. I guess I still have it installed in hopes they will better the quality someday. However, if they do not within the next 6 months or so, I will uninstall it.
Personally, I wish there was good quality pay based Internet TV that I could get over my broadband. I can not get satellite in the place I am due to the roof overhang. The cable is not digital, no HDTV and no DVR, so it is not worth it to me.
I get HDTV over the air, but what I miss are channels like ESPN, TNT, Discovery, The History Chanel, etc.
Personally, I don’t know what people expect. It was only a couple of years ago that internet video was a jerky, eye-jarring experience…but we thought it was cool then, nonetheless. Easy enough to say the picture quality sucks. Can YOU do better right now yourself?
As for content…Joost updates its content everytime they release a new beta upgrade. This is about once a month or so, I have to uninstall my version and install a new beta…I then find a few more channels and content with every upgrade.
I think the large amount of alternative content great!! Where else can I see documentaries on Burning Man, or obscure comedy productions, or great club music videos? I am hoping that when it finally goes public it will have a constantly rotating amount of new content.
If you want mainstream content, turn on your tv. Joost can’t be all things to all people. I don’t watch it every day, but I sure do enjoy it when I do, maybe 3 or 4 times weekly.
I, for one, am enjoying the Joost experience.
I haven’t used it in months. It doesn’t offer the kind of programming that I am interested in.
Haven’t used Joost in months either. Still waiting for new content and a Linux version.
I haven’t used it in months either, and that seems to be the consensus here. I just don’t think that they have the programming and the quality that people really want at this point, but LordMarvyn did make a good point when he says how far we have come.
@LordMarvyn - Just turn on your TV huh? some of us are unfortunate to not be able to get TV, except for over the air, which is very limited in what you can get.
I agree that Internet TV has come a long way, and Joost quality is much improved over that.
I was stuck in those days up until a few years ago as well OldManDeath. Cable is a nice thing to have.
Cable is nice. There is cable here, however, it is not digital, no DVR and no HDTV. Not worth the cost.
http://www.paulyanez.com/labs/joost/
Online Joost clone.
Our cable isn’t digital either, but it comes free with our apartment. We bought our own DVR to use with it and I love it (it’s called ReplayTV and is similar to TiVo, but they recently stopped selling the settop boxes).