Streaming video--particularly television--has received a lot of attention lately, what with sites such as Joost.com, MLB.com, and the soon-to-beta Hulu.com all talking it up. Even most TV networks offer some degree of streaming for select shows. But is streaming really the wave of the future for video downloads? I"m not convinced.
Until yesterday, Joost.com was in a private beta. Now that the service has transitioned to a public beta--practically akin to a formal launch, in this era of ongoing, Google-esque beta periods--I thought I"d give the service another try. My colleague Mark Sullivan did an early review of Joost while it was in its closed beta period. So did our columnist Steve Bass. Both observed problems with image quality--and apparently many of those issues persist in this more fully developed beta version. In fact, my experiences did little to change my opinion of streaming video.