Google Video Trashing

The hype leading up to the Google CES announcement was so thick that they could never have lived up to it of course. What is a surprise to me is how upset many bloggers are about Google Video. Here are a couple of examples: We Sat Around Waiting For Google Video And All We Got Was This?, After the keynote hype, is Google Video worth all the fuss?. I might be only one, but I think Google's take on video is refreshing. Everyone keeps talking about the fact that they created their own DRM, but it's nothing more than a login. Give it up, people! How many people really think that video producers are going to give all this content away for free so it can be spread around the illegal file-sharing networks? A login is something that pretty much everyone who uses the Internet understands and is probably comfortable with. Since the login is stored at the Google site, you can move the video from machine to machine without a problem. If you lose the video when your computer crashes, you just download another copy. That's more than you can say for most other DRM schemes.

Their open approach to selling content is refreshing as well. iTunes doesn't allow just anyone to upload video or audio and sell it online. By opening the publishing mechanism wide open, they are providing a new business opportunity for lots of small-time video producers. If anything, the networks have to be scared to death of this. If you think about what the Internet did to publishing, by allowing blogs to flourish, this could do the same thing for independent video production.

So, I might be the only one, but I love Google Video. I think it's brilliant.