Today Adobe rolled out its Media Player...or was it this coming Wednesday that they did it? Their press release is dated April 16. The news must have been "For sooner than immediate release." Anyway, let's just call it today because writing in the Future Past Perfect tense will have was too difficult (or would that be "will was have been"?).
According to the future press release, "This desktop application expands Adobe's Internet video solutions, adding to an emerging ecosystem that enables new ways to distribute and monetize media, while helping viewers discover and view high-quality content both online and offline. Leveraging Adobe's Emmy® Award winning Flash® arechitecture, the Adobe Media Player delivers more engaging video experiences to viewers while offering content publishers new abilities to distribute, track and build businesses around their media assets." (Adobe.com. "Adobe Unveils Next Generation Internet Video Solution." 16,04, 2008. http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/200704/041607AMP.html).
When they say "...discover and view high-quality content" I wonder if they mean substantive content or high-def content. Having downloaded the player, watched the handy tutorials, and futzed around with the app for a bit, my initial impression is that this may be a bit of an overstatement in either respect. The player is capable of delivering high-def content (it plays H.264 encoded MPEG4's as well .flv's) but I didn't see much high-def representation in their offerings. And their offerings, from a substantive stand point, are rather lacking (though you can catch some very brief clips from Good Eats and Nova which is never a bad thing).
Of course it would not be fair to criticize paucity of content on the app's very first day and I don't mean it as a criticism so much as an observation. I look forward to seeing what else shows up -- not only for the sake of my viewing choices but also as proof of viability. Most folks don't produce their video content as .flv's or H.264's and it will be Adobe's challenge to change this (and hopefully while larger content producers may get onboard, will the typical user really utilize the "Personal Videos" portion of the app? Adobe's media encoder is going to have become a lot more visible).
I wonder if pushing format adoption is the real motive behind the player...hmm, just some speculation but YouTube is a huge reason for the insanely fast adoption rate of Flash Player 9. But then again, that was content driving application adoption and this would be application adoption driving content format which is quite a different scenario. Anyway, enough of that. I'm not nearly savvy enough to anticipate Adobe's marketing machinations.
The app itself is quite slick-looking with an appreciably Adobe aesthetic and having been designing for a Flex application on the AIR platform for the last nine months, I'm really excited to take a closer look at it. You can download the app for your very own right here.
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