Slashdot Mirror
Sony Takes on YouTube with Video-Sharing Site
thefickler writes "According to Reuters, Sony has announced that it will launch a video-sharing site in Japan as part of its 'quiet software revolution'. Speaking at a press conference in Tokyo, Sony CEO Howard Stringer said that the new site will be 'an opportunity to transmit user-generated video anywhere you want to, anytime to anybody, in a protected environment.' The new site, which will be called eyeVio, will be first launched in Japan, although Sony hopes to also launch it overseas should the Japanese version prove a success. It will be free to users, and the idea is that Sony will eventually generate revenue through advertising."
...any videos of a lithium ion laptop batteries catching on fire?
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed H
Isn't enough that I ruined a pony, making a gift for you?
oy, not only will the service absolutely suck, the name is ridiculous. How much money did they pay a focus group for that?
How about a better name
UsTube
or
MeTube
Just so it's crystal clear this is an also ran to the big player in the space and an attempt to take the YOU out of the experience.
Besides, exactly why does *user generated* content need protection?
People in cars cause accidents....accidents in cars cause people
Comment removed based on user account deletion
You can only watch it on Sony Playstation 3 with 60 GB harddrive, or a PSP with the latest update, but it will check to make sure you're not running homebrew and , you have to provide your credit card number so if you ever watch anything copyrighted they can charge you the fee for the holder of the copyright.
Oh, and you better be ready to provide your SSN because they need to be able to send you to collections if your credit card doesn't go through . . . and, some videos may have viruses, but don't worry about, videos can't have viruses.
To upload, you need to buy a special upload program that only works with Vista!!
I'm so excited about this.
Oh, and ninteno sucks.
Out.
The video sharing game is won. YouTube has already achieved the name recognition and momentum to relegate all others to also-rans. The same reasoning explains why Yahoo still exists as a viable company despite Google providing superior technology and services. Yes, iFilm and other are still pretty good, but YouTube is enshrined. Sorry, Sony.
translation: "... with DRM up the wazoo"
(collary: "viewable only with windows vista")
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
First Slashdotter to upload a clip of Google's proprietary content to this site wins...
You can't talk about Wikipedia's flaws on Wikipedia
Standard rules of grammar, apparently.
(whom*)
I think rootkits! Yep, rookits and handhelds closed to homebrew developers.
Sony, the one and only.
This is the NSA, we're gonna geet U h@x0r5! Also, what is a h@x0r5?
After their last kick at a 'quiet software' , you'd think they wouldn't want to go there.
Looking at the history of Sony products, it has never been a big fan of interoperability as evident by Beta, Memory Stick, UMD, BlueRay, etc. Is it any surprise it's going do its own thing AGAIN?
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
A video sharing site from a company known for DRM and shitting on its customers!
Yeah...
Its better for them because Google doesn't make money off of it, Sony does. Of course the advantage to the user is less obvious. That side of things seems to get mysteriously lost when companies plan these things, once they know how their money is coming they are happy. Some companies seem to think just because they have something new with x and y feature people will flock to it.
---
I'm not wasting time, I'm rehearsing my retirement
---
Atlanta, GA - Benjamin Fentwitz, a 35 year old unemployed crash test dummy stand-in and amateur inventor has announced that he plans to take on the Big Three Car makers with his own brand new invention, a four-wheeled automobile he's calling the Wiz3UberPunchFugWugun.
"At first, I'm just going to make it available in Cuba." Fentwitz said in an interview. "But watch out, 'cause in a couple of years, you'll be seeing Wiz3UberPunchFugWugun all over the place."
When asked how it's superior to existing automobiles, Fentwitz explained "It's got... um... four wheels.. and... um... a steering wheel... and... and... brakes! Yeah it's got brakes. It's protected."
Fentwitz further said, "Yeah, I know I'm a little late to the party, but you know, I think I've got a real chance of making it big."
Attempts by Fentwitz to further harass media outlets were responded to with record flatulence, made on a top-end Sony media player.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Given Sony's background at consumer electronics, it won't be surprising if they put a direct link on their PSP, PS3, cell phone... anything has network capability. Basically, you edit and upload on your pc, you watch it on your gadgets. IMHO, that's a viable plan to take on youtube.
Other people touched on it already, but I'll repeat it anyway: this is just another attempt by Sony to create the Sony-net, where only Sony systems (playstations) can connect to it, and where Sony has complete control over what is shown and how. Here's the key portion of the story: "We believe there's a need for a clean and safe place where companies can place their advertisements". This is how the business model will work:
- Companies will pay Sony to play their latest ads, trailers, clips, show excerpts, etc.
- Users will pay Companies (and Sony) to watch ads, trailers, clips, show excerpts, full shows, movies, songs, etc.
- There will be cheap pay-per-view stuff, and expensive full downloads-to-own (complete with heavy duty DRM).
- There will be some user-generated stuff, but it will come from people with a Sony passport equivalent and who can't be arsed to upload stuff to YouTube.
I'm thinking it will be a cross between XBox Live, iTunes and YouTube. The YouTube connection is there to generate buzz (hah! I'm surprised there was no mentioning of the word 'viral' in the story), the XBox Live model is there because Sony sees how this is a money-press for MS, and iTunes is there because everyone's drooling over its market penetration. Except it will combine the sucky aspects of all its components and make them worse: paying for ads in XBox Live (I'm still amazed that MS pulled off that trick), DRM in iTunes and crap content in YouTube.
Could it work? Sure could. Except that I haven't seen anything that tells me that Sony has moved away from its holy grail: to completely lock its users into an all-Sony all the time world. Which means that the DRM will be unwieldy, the network too small and the content too expensive to generate much inroads against the established powers. At least Sony isn't hailing this again as the next coming of YouTube... maybe it has learned after all.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
crappy rap videos made by Sony PR flacks pretending to be kids who want a PSP for Christmas...
Sony vs. Sony
the article it's not complete, today sony also announced the new eyetoy for ps3 that can save video to the ps3's hdd and then they can be also edited with a bundled software, so they probabily want to push ps3 + playstation eye with this new site