YouTube is not only expanding its reach on mobile devices, but it has its eye on your living room, too. Today, the company is launching the beta version of YouTube Leanback, the company’s biggest attempt yet to dominate the TV screen and the living room.
YouTube Leanback was actually revealed back in May at the Google I/O conference as part of the announcement of Google TV. Now, the made-for-TV version of YouTubeYouTube has made it into TestTube, the video site’s version of Google LabsGoogle Labs.
While YouTube has already proven its popularity on mobile devices (100 million mobile video views per day), one giant question remains: Can YouTube Leanback compete with traditional TV shows and video games to become a mainstay of the living room?
The Leanback Experience
Leanback is a simplified YouTube experience designed for TV screens, especially ones equipped with Google TV. In a demo we received from YouTube Product Manager Kuan Yong and UI Designer Julian Frumar, we learned that pretty much all actions come in the form of four buttons: up, down, left and right. The down button opens up a navigation menu, where you can browse a collection of videos based on categories such as entertainment or music. You can also access your video playlists or just watch random videos. Hitting “up” opens up the quick search box.
As you would expect, the design is very simple and intended to allow users to “lean back” and watch YouTube videos one after the other. It was very simple for me to use and understand in my hands-on demo.
But Will Regular People Use It?
Leanback is just a part of Google’sGoogle larger strategy to dominate the living room, but it’s a very crucial part. If people aren’t interested in browsing YouTube on their TVs, then how interested can they be in surfing the web or checking their e-mail from Google TV?
YouTube has addressed the TV screen in the past. Last year, the company launched YouTube XL, another stripped-down version of the live video destination optimized for bigger screens. According to Yong, Leanback is actually the evolution and successor to XL, although it will remain live for the foreseeable future.
Here’s the problem with YouTube in the living room: The site’s catalog is mostly composed of short clips. Most of these clips are just two to five minutes long. The average person doesn’t go to YouTube to be entertained for two-hour blocks; more often, people turn to TV, where hour-long episodes of House or Saturday Night Live keep them entertained with a single story. If you watched YouTube Leanback for an hour, you’d probably get 15-20 different videos with their own stories.
We’re not saying consumers won’t embrace Leanback; this product is the next logical step for Google. However, unlike YouTube’s mobile efforts, Leanback is a gamble — an assumption of risk based on the premise that YouTube can be more than a video destination, it can be an operating system for videos. It means that when you think of video, you think of YouTube. It becomes the central point for your video entertainment.
Will we be couch surfing YouTube a year from now? Or will the novelty of Leanback quickly die out in favor of the traditional TV viewing experience we have all come to know and love? Google has a steep hill to climb.
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Today, Roku and MP3tunes announced a partnership that will bring your iTunes music library to your television. MP3tunes, for those not familiar, is a company that provides “secure online music space” and features “unlimited listening.” The company’s website boasts, “With just a couple clicks, Locker users can sync their personal digital music and video up to ‘the cloud’ for enjoying from any web browser and a wide variety of mobile and home entertainment devices.” And starting today, you can add the Roku to that list. MP3 offers 10GB of storage for free — ad supported of course — with paid options all the way up to 200 GB. Hit the jump for the full press release.
MP3tunes and Roku Partner To Bring Personal iTunes Music Collection To TVs
An Industry First: No PC or home server required to play iTunes music libraries on Home Entertainment Systems
San Diego, CA – For the first time, music lovers can play their personal iTunes music collection on their TV without a home server. Roku, the market leader in streaming entertainment devices has added expanded support for personal music collections with the addition of MP3tunes. Available now on all Roku players, the MP3tunes channel connects securely to a customer’s personal music stored online in their MP3tunes Locker. After a few simple steps to connect and sync music to a web-based locker, any Roku becomes a rich music player.
“Now customers can get their music library to their TV without the complexity or cost of a home server,” said Michael Robertson, CEO of MP3tunes. “For less than $100, iTunes users or any music enthusiast can turn a TV into a home stereo and take advantage of the best speakers in their house.”
Roku customers can find the free MP3tunes channel in the Roku channel store. By adding this channel to their Roku, customers can access their song libraries and playlists which have historically been available only on their PC in iTunes or portable players which they sync. The MP3tunes channel defaults to a one-click shuffle mode, which immediately plays a random mix of music along with a visual display of accompanying cover art. Customers may choose to browse their music and select artists, albums or playlists to hear.
All Roku customers receive 10GB of free storage space for their music which, on average, will store music libraries up to 2,500 songs. Additional storage for larger music collections is available with MP3tunes premium locker accounts up to 200GBs. For a limited time, customers may also buy a Roku player with a $20 discount and get a free MP3tunes Premium Locker. See www.mp3tunes.com/rokubundle for more information.
“Roku customers are increasingly taking advantage of streaming music services, and now with MP3tunes we are giving them access to their full iTunes music library right on the TV,” said Jim Funk, vice president of business development for Roku, Inc. “In addition to being a terrific video player with support for Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand, and a whole host of other great sports and entertainment content, the Roku player is also a gateway to rich audio entertainment thanks to MP3tunes.”
By choosing Roku as its first launch partner in the home entertainment category, MP3tunes joins major streaming services like Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX), Amazon Video On Demand (Nasdaq: AMZN), MLB.TV, and the Ultimate Fighting Championship®. The Roku digital video player joins a growing family of devices that play music from a secure MP3tunes locker including Apple iPhone, iTouch, Google Android and Logitech radios. MP3tunes’ unique open music API (www.mp3tunes.com/api) allows any net aware device for car, home, mobile to play a personal music collection.
A video tour of the service can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/user/mp3tunes#p/u/6/ctn4Dx0IGPE
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