Do You Tube?
No, it's not news. But YouTube is one of those online applications (like MySpace?) that started relatively quietly, and became the killer website.
Why? Because it's that magic combination of both fun, and convenient.
You'll love it if you like to make short videos, and you'll like it if you like to watch them. It's not only a fascinating - and frequently funny - way to pass a half hour now and then, but it's a great way to stay in touch with family and friends in a whole new way.
In fact, the only people who don't seem to much appreciate YouTube are owners of copyrighted material. And it appears that they don't appreciate YouTube both FOR showing copyrighted material, and for NOT showing it, as well.
Read the story from Reuters: "NEW YORK (Reuters)—The media industry is clashing with YouTube over its proposal to offer anti-piracy tools only to companies that have distribution deals with the top online video-sharing service, media insiders said.
YouTube, owned by Google, plans to introduce technology to help media companies identify pirated videos uploaded by users. But the tools are currently being offered as part of broader negotiations on licensing deals, they said.
The move contrasts with YouTube's biggest rival, News Corp.'s, popular Internet social network, MySpace, which said on Feb. 12 it would offer its own version of copyright protection services for free.
YouTube's "proposition that they will only protect copyrighted content if there's a business deal in place is unacceptable," a spokesman for Viacom, owner of MTV Networks and Comedy Central, said this week."
Now, part of the problem is that posters record favorite movie moments, clips from TV shows, comedy sketches, and the like, and then post them to YouTube. Soon, links to these clips are all over the Internet - it's easy to post a YouTube clip to your blog, for instance, or simply add a link to YouTube itself - and everyone is getting mileage out of entertainment videos but the owners.
(Of course, it's my NTBHO that the more a clip of a tv show or movie spreads virally, the more likely people are to tune in to, go to, buy, or rent that tv show or movie. Call me crazy.)
Still, copyright owners want this material off free sites. And YouTube is glad to help them out. Provided they acquire a premium plan of some kind.
Essentially, YouTube would like to become what iTunes is to music: THE place to go to buy video downloads. If a company like Viacom, for example, worked out a licensing deal with YouTube, all those movies, videos, and clips would be downloadable - for a fee - and YouTube would protect the copyright owners from pirating on its site.
All that aside, YouTube is a great place to go for an unabashed look at human nature at its funniest, best, worst, and most astounding. Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPx266rGw3E - then browse for other offerings by the same director - and tell me what you think!
No, it's not news. But YouTube is one of those online applications (like MySpace?) that started relatively quietly, and became the killer website.
Why? Because it's that magic combination of both fun, and convenient.
You'll love it if you like to make short videos, and you'll like it if you like to watch them. It's not only a fascinating - and frequently funny - way to pass a half hour now and then, but it's a great way to stay in touch with family and friends in a whole new way.
In fact, the only people who don't seem to much appreciate YouTube are owners of copyrighted material. And it appears that they don't appreciate YouTube both FOR showing copyrighted material, and for NOT showing it, as well.
Read the story from Reuters: "NEW YORK (Reuters)—The media industry is clashing with YouTube over its proposal to offer anti-piracy tools only to companies that have distribution deals with the top online video-sharing service, media insiders said.
YouTube, owned by Google, plans to introduce technology to help media companies identify pirated videos uploaded by users. But the tools are currently being offered as part of broader negotiations on licensing deals, they said.
The move contrasts with YouTube's biggest rival, News Corp.'s, popular Internet social network, MySpace, which said on Feb. 12 it would offer its own version of copyright protection services for free.
YouTube's "proposition that they will only protect copyrighted content if there's a business deal in place is unacceptable," a spokesman for Viacom, owner of MTV Networks and Comedy Central, said this week."
Now, part of the problem is that posters record favorite movie moments, clips from TV shows, comedy sketches, and the like, and then post them to YouTube. Soon, links to these clips are all over the Internet - it's easy to post a YouTube clip to your blog, for instance, or simply add a link to YouTube itself - and everyone is getting mileage out of entertainment videos but the owners.
(Of course, it's my NTBHO that the more a clip of a tv show or movie spreads virally, the more likely people are to tune in to, go to, buy, or rent that tv show or movie. Call me crazy.)
Still, copyright owners want this material off free sites. And YouTube is glad to help them out. Provided they acquire a premium plan of some kind.
Essentially, YouTube would like to become what iTunes is to music: THE place to go to buy video downloads. If a company like Viacom, for example, worked out a licensing deal with YouTube, all those movies, videos, and clips would be downloadable - for a fee - and YouTube would protect the copyright owners from pirating on its site.
All that aside, YouTube is a great place to go for an unabashed look at human nature at its funniest, best, worst, and most astounding. Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPx266rGw3E - then browse for other offerings by the same director - and tell me what you think!
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