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Archive for the ‘Joost’ Category

About a year ago I signed up to be a beta tester for Joost, the new online TV darling of everyone “in-the-know”. It was created by the two geniuses who brouhgt us Kazaa and Skype. At the time I found it vaguely entertaining, but soon lost interest.

After months of ignoring that icon on my desktop I decided to give Joost a second chance. My old beta version no longer worked so I deleted it and downloaded the latest version for Windows - it also has a version for Mac, but, alas, none for Linux. And, as a side note, no Linux version appears to be in the works either.

I downloaded and installed the latest version and launched it from the new task-bar icon (yes, this can be turned off and I am sure I will do so). My, how things have changed - they now boast over 20,000 shows from both mainstream and niche channels. CNN, ESPN and MTV are represented as well as smaller markets like (personal taste here) Cycling TV. I, of course, decided to test Cycling TV. It’s off-season now, but the channel had great repeats of all the big European races from 2007. Before I knew it I was watching the action from the ‘07 edition of Het Volk! For the rest of you, there is now a myriad of programming available.

Downside?

Now, since Joost was created by the same guys who brought us Kazaa, my next question was SPYWARE. I did some searching and found no actual spyware is installed with Joost (unlike Kazaa). Now, for the privacy zealots out there, yes, Joost reports what you watch back to the “networks”, but that should come as no surprise - they aren’t going to give their content to Joost without getting back numbers of viewers. This info goes out on port 11208 (UDP) for anyone interested. This port can’t be closed without disabling Joost so you just have to deal with it. I, for one, find this no concern.

Bottom Line

I thin Joost is coming of age. There are some bugs - I received some strange error messages at some points - but, it is getting close to being ready for prime time so give it a shot, download the latest version HERE. I think the shear number of channels and programs available is worth a look for anyone.

NOTE:

Joost defied my best efforts to bring you any type of screenshot as an example for this article. I am sure this is something mandated by the content providers, who once again prove that they have no clue about today’s market - wouldn’t want to allow that free publicity!