Joost First Impressions
Posted Thu, 3 May 2007 17:25:10 EDT by Michael Wolf
For a while there it felt like maybe I was the last person to try Joost, but when I asked around for my own invite it seemed like they were a bit scarce. It turns out I finally did get invited to the party and since have a few first impressions:
-Overall I really like the user interface. The transparent overlay of their "EPG" around the video you are watching works well and I think they've got something there
-The content seems to be a collections of "remainders" from big media and some small media companies as well. Its understandable that the large media companies working with Joost (Viacom, for one, who is very enamored with the project) probably aren't ready to deliver the crowned jewels.
-The speed of delivery seems and access to content seems very erratic. I noticed when I first got to try the service - before they opened up invites to nearly an unlimited amount of guests per beta tester - access to content was fairly easy. Since they have opened up access to more users it seems like its very hard to get content. The app just spins and spins (the equivalent of the old hourglass for you Windows fans) and content doesn't seem to ever come. I'm wondering if the network - while its P2P, from what I understand - is getting weighed down with all the new traffic.
Overall I like what I see, but I expect final release is going to take a while, as the system seems to be under a little stress given the move to a larger test audience.