Adobe is well-known as a success story in the world of software, so any new products by the company tend to be taken very seriously by IT experts. Having said that, the company has recently launched its new Adobe Media Player that works in conjunction with their new free online video site, Adobe TV, and so far the experts are less than impressed.
The Adobe Media Player version 1.0 is a cross-platform application compatible with Windows, Mac and Lenox operating systems, and is designed to be a user-friendly method of interacting with Adobe Flash content online. The software was originally announced last year, and expected to be available in the fourth quarter of 2007, but development delays pushed back the launch until now.
As far as functionality, Adobe claims the new Media Player will be similar to QuickTime or Windows Media Player, allowing users to watch video content stored on their computer, and supporting a variety of file types. Unfortunately, when compared to Apple’s QuickTime, or Windows Media Player, the new Adobe software doesn’t exactly cut the mustard.
In reality, the initial launch of the media player will only handle MPEG-4 files or the ubiquitous Adobe Flash Video format. And even though the player will allow you to import various other file types, once imported the player will simply inform you that there is a problem playing the video — with no further explanation. So much for the user-friendliness.
Adobe’s player does have its merits though. For example, as well as being able to play video files from your desktop, it can also play streaming media, providing separate channels for different types of content. Thankfully, several networks have made video content available for the Adobe Media Player, including Comedy Central, MTV, CBS and Nickelodeon, so there are some interesting short clips and even a few full episodes to watch.
For the time being though, video content is quite limited, though this situation may improve if Adobe can convince more networks and users to adopt its media player format.
Another bothersome aspect of the Adobe Media Player is that it will handle a variety of video resolutions, but playback results can be erratic, so depending on which network the content comes from you could have beautiful full-screen resolution, or a lame 1990s low resolution “video in a box.”
The media player currently does not offer any way to share videos with friends, even if they also have the Adobe Media Player installed. This is a fairly annoying quirk in the age of Web 2.0 social networking standards, and something Adobe could have easily designed into the software.
On a positive note, playback of streaming video is generally smooth, with few if any “buffering” pauses, even in full-screen mode. With time (and a few updates) the Adobe media player may eventually be a force to be reckoned with. For now though, it offers no threat whatsoever to Windows Media Player or QuickTime.
