[macintologist]

I was on the Carnegie Mellon and UC Berkely websites and I wanted to watch the videos they made to show off their colleges. Well both of them were streaming RealOne videos. I didn't believe it. Although I have dsl, it isn't that great, during the afternoon which is when I surf the most. So I chose the broadband option and it was rebuffering every 45 seconds. VERY annoying. Why wouldn't they just let you download the damn video. And what about 56k users? Who the hell wants to watch a postage stamp-sized mess? Not a great way to advertise your college. This is what I don't get: if you want to watch the video a second time= more bandwidth wasted for the user and the server.

If they let you download it, it's better for the user because you can download it once and watch it as many times as you want. You can also download a high quality version overnight if you have a 56k modem. It's good for the server because your user will only get it once and never have to access your server again to get it again.

I've always seen the point in streaming video to be for live broadcasts and for protected free content like 30-second previews on Amazon. But it seems like more and more sites want you to stream everything. I find it utterly annoying.

[FXWizard]

Maybe they want to retain control of their intellectual property?

Or, maybe it's never occurred to them and if you ask them nicely, they might reconsider their policy?

[@ho]

Even before buying m first mac or even knowing apple I have always prefer Quicktime for anything on the web, even with dial-up, because I find it with better download time and dont have to wait in the middle of the video.
Now with a powerbook I still look for chosing the format you whant a video and always quicktime gives a better image quality.
I love to download videos to my hard drive I dont know if this is kind of copyright infringment but love to have some apple videos and tv ads and other stuff to watch when I want it.