Video sharing at it's finest (youtube.com)

Member Name: davey_26

Product:	youtube.com
Date:	14/10/09 (26 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Huge amount of choice, free to upload videos, subscribe to video makers, easy to use

Disadvantages: Has become more strict, has become very commercialised, how long can be being free last?

You tube is a huge video sharing website which allows any user to upload video content for free. There are only 2 restrictions placed upon that, firstly some content which has copyright issues will face being removed if uploaded and secondly there videos can only be a certain size. It is because of this ethos that the popularity of youtube has exploded and you will be hard pressed to find someone who does not use this website.

Youtube appeals to such a wide variety of people due to the huge range of videos which are available to view. These can range from the very serious documentary type to the weird, wacky, bizarre and at times extremely funny videos. You are able to post a comment on the video or subscribe to a video provider.

In addition to this it's an excellent means of discovering all sorts of music which you might never heard before courtesy of the wealth of audio available on the site. In fact while not strictly ethical, people will upload audio before that album has hit the shelf. However it is most definitely a two way avenue since this is a great means of promoting music also.

Navigation around the website is made extremely easy due to a simple search bar facility or you can search by a category including entertainment, news and politics and music. My favourites are music and documentary's and there are literally millions of videos to choose from.

It is an exciting idea but it has come at a price to. Firstly when google bought youtube they began a noticable clamp down on what they deemed copyright material. Now it doesn't matter where you stand on this issue, the fact is it has adversely affected the website.

Secondly google have not been the only ones to view as google as a commercial gold mine. Corporations have come in their droves to bombard the website with promotional videos for their products. In this sense it seems to greatly undermine the original perception of this website.

Thirdly and most concerning, is the fact that as the site becomes more popular, more bandwidth is required and thus more demand is placed on the servers. At this moment in time the site is still free to upload to but I do wonder how long this can be maintained. It would be a great irony if this site became a true victim of it's own success.

Despite these misgivings this is the best video sharing site that the internet has to offer.

Summary: The revolution in video sharing