Mefeedia was one of the online video aggregators that Josh Catone reviewed in his Guide to Video Aggregation Sites. It claims to aggregates video blogs and web shows from over 15,000 websites. Their index include 3.3 million episodes from over 24,000 different video feeds.
In a recent blog post, the Mefeedia team noted that YouTube (and Flash Video generally) has revolutionized online video, “making it easy to browse and view what you are looking for”. The problem, says Mefeedia, is that quality suffers on 1st generation video sites such as YouTube. Mefeedia thinks it’s time for the next generation of online video, which the company says will have the following attributes:
- Personalized: easy to find, organize, and subscribe to what you want to watch, with the addition of personalized recommendations (such as Netflix and Amazon do for movies and products, respectively).
- Quality Viewer Experience: we arenÄôt talking about the quality of programming – that depends on what you are looking for – we are talking about the quality of the viewing experience. We need the HD option. We need to not be interrupted for buffering. We need to not have to wait a long time for the video to begin.
- Wherever, Whenever: the video needs to be available online and offline, on the big screen, medium screen, and small screen; in virtual works such as Second Life, in feed readers, in media players, and on devices. Video needs to be able to move about as needed.
Mefeedia says it is an example of 2nd generation online video. Browsing through the site, I found it does have a lot of recommendations (by other users), there are lots of tags to choose from, over 200 guides, and you can create personalized channels and playlists. You can also watch videos in a variety of different ways – feed readers, media players, mobile devices, etc. By default, it uses Quicktime (not Flash) to stream videos – but you can also choose to download them.
Note: I wonder what Mefeedia thinks of Flash video now that Adobe Player 9 has been upgraded to HD TV quality? That may negate their second point above.
The sign-up is quick and easy and there is no shortage of content. Is this the 2nd generation of online video? It certainly has many excellent personalization and recommendation features. All in all, well worth checking out if you’re after new online video experiences.
