Game Changer? - Yes. On 4/16/07, Heath <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Check this out, interesting article > > http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070416/tc_nm/adobe_player_dc;_ylt=AqF8l.m > rZ2KqopCFainOFEjMWM0F > > SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Adobe Systems Inc. unveiled on Sunday video- > player software that lets consumers play back video online or > offline, a move that could help reshape an acrimonious debate over > video-sharing. > > Adobe Video Player builds on the leading design software maker's > Flash player, already the dominant technology used to stream video > online by sites ranging from YouTube to MySpace to MSN to Yahoo Video. > > The video player is due to become available to consumers over the > next several months, Adobe officials said. > > Analysts hailed the new Adobe Video player as a technology > breakthrough by allowing consumers to download and carry video from > the Web to computers to mobile phones, while ensuring programmers can > deliver advertising and track video usage. > > Rival video players such as Windows Media Player from Microsoft > Corp., QuickTime from Apple Inc. and RealPlayer from RealNetworks > Inc. run on a range of devices but have none of the offline tracking > features. > > "Adobe has created the first way for media companies to release video > content, secure in the knowledge that advertising goes with it," > Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey said. > > "Control is something that media companies absolutely get high on," > he said. > > Fearful of piracy, media companies have been slow to release much of > their TV, film and video programming onto the Web. > > Last month, media conglomerate Viacom Inc. filed a $1 billion lawsuit > against Google Inc. and its YouTube video-sharing site for failing to > thwart the piracy of MTV, South Park and other popular Viacom > television shows. > > At root, the debate over digital piracy has been a case of digital > tools outstripping the power of copyright owners to decide who > watches what while also ensuring they can get paid. > > The Adobe Video Player could ease such tensions by giving consumers a > convenient way to watch, and even, in certain instances, to edit, > video content, while assuring media owners they can retain ultimate > control over where the video ends up. > > "Consumers think: I bought my media, I own it, I should get to carry > it with me from device to device. Adobe's video player works the way > consumers think about media by giving them the freedom to carry it > with them," McQuivey said. > > Adobe officials said they have relied on a set of familiar, openly > accessible technologies to create Adobe Video Player and will > distribute the software, for free, using the same viral strategy that > made Adobe's Flash and Acrobat into the most popular ways to view > video or read documents, respectively. > > It relies on open standards for syndicating content, synchronizing > multimedia and advertising tracking. Consumers disturbed that media > owners can track their consumption habits have the option of blocking > such tracking. > > And because Adobe is already a primary supplier of the prior > generation of video watching and editing tools, the company may avoid > the classic "chicken and egg problem" that delays adoption of most > new Web technologies: Will consumers use the video player before > media owners embrace it? > > Adobe Media Player offers higher-quality Flash video, full-screen > playback and the ability to be disconnected from the Web -- on > airplanes, for example. Viewers also can search for shows or share > their ratings of shows with other viewers and automatically download > new episodes of shows. > > Mark Randall, chief strategist for dynamic media, said Adobe is > working with a wide range of media companies, and plans to announce > partnership deals next month. > > The Adobe Video Player offers a way for established media companies > to securely offer ad-supported video but also independent video > producers, podcasters and home movie makers. > > Adobe, of San Jose, California, timed the announcement for the start > of the National Association of Broadcasters show, a major industry > event, now underway in Las Vegas. > > Will this help or hurt? > > Heath > http://batmangeek.com > > >
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