Software: Joost

A while back, March 1 to be exact, I received my long awaited invite to the beta test for Joost. I promptly installed it and played with the amazing interface. I then proceeded to realize that there were absolutely no shows that I wanted to watch on the service.

I still think I have not watched an entire show all the way though on the service. It is not that the quality is not up to par, it is actually very "average" for this type of service. To be quite honest it puts most flash based video playback to shame. It is not even that the video playback is on my computer. I am quite accustomed to watching video on my laptop because many of my favorite shows are podcasts.

The problem is what shows are on there. Now, Viacom has partnered with Joost to deliver shows including some content off of MTV and Comedy Central. As more content provides join in and shows I actually want to watch start appearing, I have a feeling I will be launching this application more and more often.

The real problem is content. The fact this software is in a limited beta is also one of the reasons that the content is just not there yet. I actually received five Joost tokens not to long ago (invites to give to other people). The first one, of course, I promptly gave to Cassie. The second went to Steven. Those were given away about the time I received the tokens, maybe a month after I received my account. The last went to Nick just a while back. I still have two up for grabs. Maybe I should put them on Ebay? Then again, I'll probably just wait until someone else I know happens to want one. (Hopefully I am not bombarded with requests for my tokens but I have a feeling I may be if I am not careful.)

I really hope other major content providers start using Joost to distribute their shows. It is a fairly secure platform so it would be hard to pirate the shows. The ads are very non intrusive unlike some other services.

I can't wait to see what else is to come. I can only imagine what it would be like if Heroes or Mythbusters was available on demand through Joost.