Mike McGuireOK, look, I’ve been one of those analysts covering the media industry — especially the music industry and to some degree various “moving picture” companies — who has exhorted incumbent media to embrace digital technology, experiment with it.
But people (and here I’m speaking to the folks toiling away at the intersection of media and online technology) me and my ilk are happy to see the experimentation. But that does not mean you shouldn’t test the solution/offering a bunch before you launch even your “beta test.”
My latest brush with not-quite-ready offering: IMDB’s new “free” streaming video offering.
My beef? About the only videos that load reliably and play are those being redirected from Hulu. The movie trailers? Full-length movies? Yes, those from Hulu play reliably. Independent short films? Nope. Oh, all the pre-roll commercials played just fine. Flawless, actually.
Yes, I know it’s a beta, but still. Am I being too harsh? Are ad-supported beta sites for so-called “new media” offerings just the way it is going to be? (And, yes, I’m aware of the snafus created when established mainstream technology companies have suffered when launching allegedly “finished” products.)
Comments Off
Category: "Beta" Tags: "Is it Beta?"
