Adobe will today release to the public for the first time their Adobe Media Player on the Adobe Labs site. It will be released as a public beta, with a final version scheduled for the first half of next year. We first covered AMP when it was announced in April at the National Association of Broadcasters Conference.
Somewhat similar to the Veoh player, AMP is an AIR application that will allow users to watch Flash video content from the web online or offline. Unlike Veoh, however, AMP does not scrape content from the web, but instead is seeded by content publishers. Adobe will even offer co-branded versions of the player to publishers who can use it to monetize their content via advertising.
In that vein, Adobe has also announced a round of content providers for the beta release, including CBS, Yahoo! Video, PBS and a number of “long tail” web video creators, such as Blip.tv, MotionBox, and MyToons.
“Adobe Media Player enables us to work with content publishers and offer them innovative ways to create, deliver, and monetize high-quality video experiences that are supported both by streaming and download. By collaborating with these media and entertainment industry giants, we will be able to provide viewers an extensive catalog of their favorite shows for viewing at their convenience,” promised Jim Guerard, vice president for Dynamic Media at Adobe in a press release.
AMP allows users to subscribe to online video content via RSS, so that your favorite videos are delivered to you and easier to find. For publishers, Adobe provides sophisticated analytics, monetization and branding options, and content protection. The cross-platform AMP player is free, and will be focused on free, ad-supported content for this beta release.
Note: Josh Catone is at the Adobe MAX 2007 conference in Chicago, September 30 – October 3, courtesy of Adobe.
