The mysterious delay has ended and Google Video Marketplace is a reality. To some
extent, Google has mashed together user-submitted content with video licensed by major providers such as CBS and the
NBA. So, the long-awaited promise to monetize amateur video content is finally realized. At first glance, the prices
for this home-grown content are ... well, optimistic, to put it graciously. Unrealistic or inflated, to be harsh about
it. A short description and a 30-second clip are the only audition clues you have to decide whether to plunk down ten
bucks (to pick a
random example) for Segment '76, an 84-minute comedy set in Poland.
Filters enable browsing by
provider, paid or free, and long or medium or short. Or "all," in each category.
The big
providers have special pages for browsing. CBS is the service's anchor (so far, at least), and I sat straight up in my
chair when I saw that Deep Space Nine and Star Trek Voyager are both represented. But only three episodes of each! The
hell? Are their digital converters driven by gerbils? What's the freakin' problem? I have no idea where the bottleneck
is, but man, I cannot stand meaningless delays. Each one of these series should be converted in its entirety within a
day, and should be wholly available. Don't tell me to be patient; I've been patient for 10 years waiting for on-demand
entertainment to reach the online space. Lame on CBS; lame on Google; lame on whoever--it's just lame.
CBS
is offering three Primetime Shows and seven Classic Shows at this time. Two of the Primteime Shows have one episode
each! (Lame.) Survivor: Guatemala is available in 11 episodes, but with gaps in the series. (Lame.) Uniformly, episodes
are priced at $1.99.
A bunch of Charlie Rose is available; it looks like randomly scattered episodes
originally aired over the last 10 years, priced at 99 cents each. A couple of old Ed Sullivan shows for ... $9.99 each?
Is that a joke? It is not a joke. Hey, look at this--episodes of PBS's Nova, but surprise! They are not
episodes; they are clips of less than a minute. What on earth for? Old basketball games are four bucks each. Whatever.
Music videos? Five of 'em, for $1.99 each.
Man, this thing is painfully disappointing. I understand now why
Google bragged that new content would be added daily; when you start with so little, there's only one direction to move.
By the way, where is the video player client that was promised, and that has been removed from Google Pack? No mention
of it on the Google Video blog, which, in fact, does not acknowledge
Video Marketplace in any way.
Patience, patience, I say to myself. The personalized home page started out
pathetically, and it turned into something interesting. You've got to love these Google launches, in a way. The company
has a college-student sensibility. It's late to deliver, it throws half-baked stuff into public view, and it continues
to work on the assignment after it is due. The end result is usually better than anything else around, but the first
iteration of Video Marketplace is almost completely uninteresting and even infuriating. Patience, patience.
Google Video Marketplace: It's Up
Reader Comments
(Page 1)2. I preffer google video to youtube.. I'm glad they made this up too..
Cheers
Posted at 3:18PM on Oct 15th 2007 by http://www.drugrehab.net/
3. Of course while Google Video works fine with the Mac, actually using the new marketplace seems to require that you're running Windows. Oh well...
Posted at 12:53AM on Jan 10th 2006 by Alasdair Allan
5. Yeah, dissapointing to the max. I swore they said there would be cool free shows
Watching McGyver would have really made things awesome
Posted at 6:08AM on Jan 10th 2006 by rodents
6. At first glance...LAME! Although I believe the service has great potential.
Apple and iTunes have nothing to fear...yet.
Posted at 9:31AM on Jan 10th 2006 by joe
7. The video marketplace is beyond disappointing. It just plain sucks. The pricing is all out of wack and there is no way people are going to download in large numbers. All their music videos can be viewed for free on Yahoo (and probably MTV.com). Google clearly did not negociate very well with content providers. The key to iTunes' success was the uniform, low pricing. This mish-mash of high prices and crappy content will just not work. Another highly disappointing product launch... GOOG is not living up to its buzz.
Posted at 11:06AM on Jan 10th 2006 by E Hunter
8. i have been waiting for 20 years for this video on demand...when i first heard the term,'data bank',iknew this day would come.there are online tv sites,such as uctv,nasa tv,etc.will these be included when selecting a program?will they be streamed or will we be able to d/l the video?also, what if there is some type of interruption of service?do we have to pay again?
Posted at 11:18AM on Jan 10th 2006 by frank mansell
9. Well, even if that may have been an interesting idea:
"Currently, the playback feature of Google Video isn't available in your country. "
Which makes this - again, same as with iTunes - uninteresting to the rest of the world.
Posted at 12:38PM on Jan 10th 2006 by Nicole Simon
10. Big Deal! Google streams a few videos. Brokers say their stock may hit $600.00 We stream videos and tv shows for free at www.MartinBroadcasting.com
24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Movies and more!
Just like watching tv but without all the numerous commerials. Ok, so go ahead, get excited about CBS, NBC and Google but if you want to save your money, then join us free and watch classic family tv and entertainment from the company who delivered it to you first on the internet. MartinBroadcasting.com
Posted at 5:54PM on Jan 10th 2006 by Greg Martin
12. no no no, you didn't get it. THIS IS AMAZING!!! this is better than FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS. you don't believe me?
check all the videos related to HUNG UP (MADONNA's last song in case you've been wandering in a forrest in the past 3 months).
i haven't laugh that bad in a while. and all of that ready to go to my PSP.
i say thank you so much. screw iTunes (and god know i love apple)
o
Posted at 1:44AM on Jan 11th 2006 by olivier
13. Disappointed would be the word. Expected more, and a better layout, like "For Sale" and "For Free", and atleast some tagging to allow non-US residents know which shows are NOT available to them.
But .. like everything Google does .. will bite my lip and wait with patience for it to improve.
Posted at 3:08AM on Jan 11th 2006 by james
14. What's funny: the polish comedy you mentioned, is not available to download from Poland :-)
Posted at 5:25PM on Jan 11th 2006 by Hubert
16. I thought this was going to be great because their free content had an option where you could download the video for direct upload on your iPod. Boy was I disspointed when i actually BOUGHT a video I couldn't find on iTunes. I first had to download it on my PC since it doesn't support Macs. THEN you have 2 download the Google Video Player to play the video you purchased. PLUS you need a internet connection to view it, because it STREAMS! You don't even own the video you bought. You can't convert it and put it on your iPod b/c its not even on your computer. GAY! Plus the audio was choppy and google player froze my computer after it got doen playing in full screen mode. I HOPE YOU'RE LISTENING GOOGLE!
Posted at 8:44AM on Jan 17th 2006 by Daryl
17. Yeah, another Google service introduced as a "beta". I guess you have to start somewhere, but how about waitng until you have something real nice before you introduce it? The pricing is all out of whack too, and right now the free content is sooo much better. I hope this is just baby steps from the big G, it can't get much worse right now
Posted at 1:02PM on Jan 17th 2006 by play free games
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1. No bad :)
Posted at 8:25PM on Jul 4th 2006 by Alex