Joost – A New Way Of Watching TV?

My good buddy Sing Chyun has passed me one of his three precious Joost closed-beta invitations (thank you!) which by now he should be able to send 99 invites like me. I hope that the number of invites one can send does not correlate with the amount of time one has spent watching Joost. Then again, according to the shocking statistics from YouTube, I have watched closed to 4,000 videos so far. How can that be true?!

Joost offers a multitude of TV channels that fit a certain segment of niche market. I suspect that more channels will open up as time goes by (hope it is not by usage). The first channel I stumbled across was “Alliance Atlantis Sci-Fi” and the first episode of “Total Recall 2070” (more than 40 minutes) was streamed into my computer in a better-than-VCD quality. I was impressed with the full screen quality. (Of course I was slightly surprised by some of the artistically filmed nudity scenes made in 1999 that by the way, it is not what Joost is about I ensure you.) Though I must say in normal circumstances I probably would not watch “Total Recall 2070” on TV but it is refreshing. The production is professional; the acting is also professional; the storyline though is strange. That is what sci-fi is about I guess. Gosh, I don’t even read sci-fi fiction. If I have time, I will certainly follow the rest of the episodes.

Joost does not offer video over the Internet Browser like YouTube. It has its own interface. The interface looks pretty though it took me quite a while to figure out how not to watch random Joost recommended videos and to choose my own. I am sure that is nothing wrong with the interface design. I am fair. I was just too overwhelmed by the experience I guess.

Joost interface has a translucent panel at the bottom that has the simple player control. It also allows you to switch videos within the channel and to switch channels within Joost. A translucent icon on the left “My Channels” upon clicked onto display a translucent list of channels that can be further explored to a list of available videos. Another translucent icon on the right “My Joost” is what makes Joost innovative. It has a list of widgets. There is a translucent clock, a rating mechanism, and amongst a few others, I like the chat-room a lot. The viewers of the same channel are brought together to chat while watching the videos. Much like having a group of friends watching TV in the same room. Of course if you don’t want to see any of these translucent features, you can just hide them all and watch TV alone. There is one more translucent icon on the top that gives forth an interactive menu that contains a little bit of history and background of the channel as well as a list of featured videos in some cases.

The next channel I watched after that mildly-shocking-sci-fi-channel was “Live @ Much” and I have watched a 40 minutes worth of live interview with Beyonce in Canada in front of her fans. It is much like E! Entertainment and I enjoyed getting to know Beyonce better. Time to get her new CD! The channel “Ministry of Sound Music Videos” is interesting. I got to see a MoS DJ from London taking the viewers a short tour on where are the DJs’ favorite hangout places such as underground record stores, restaurants, shops, and watching the street of London brought back sweet memory. London does not seem to have changed much. The Chinatown still looks the same and so does the iconic Empire theater.

“Lime” is an unique channel with a tag line “healthy living with a twist”. I have watched some of the motivational short clips and all of a sudden, I feel empowered. It is just amazing. And as someone who is passionate on music creation, I can’t give “XL Recordings Channel” a miss. They have some of the original artists under their label as well as some that license their music to them. Big names such as “The White Stripes” and “Thorn Yorke”. Inside Joost, they showcase two of the acid rock bands “The Prodigy” and “Basement Jaxx”. Again, refreshing videos.

At present I am not sure what Joost’s business model is like. It doesn’t seem to have advertisements, it is free TV, and they want to create a community within Joost. Joost is more than TV-on-demand like our MobTV (which is not free). Joost is an experience.

Edit: I just realized that from May, all current Joost users are able to invite an unlimited number of friends. Also, Joost’s advertisement partners have started to come in so I guess that answers why it is “free”.

Related Links: Joost Official Site, XL Recordings, Lime, Ministry of Sound, and Much Music.