YouTube

I choose to look at YouTube this week mainly because it's something that I force upon my students every other week. It's only fair that I use the resource on a regular basis so that I know what my students are going through to use the resource.

Overall, the look and approach to YouTube is easy to use. Create an account and you are ready to go. Most users go directly to the videos for viewing. Uploading videos and making adjustments to your profile is not the most intuitive approach. The "Upload" button needs to be easier to find. It's multiple chicks to edit your profile that seem unnecessary. Once it's uploading you are at the mercy of the "upload gods" when it comes to the speed.

YouTube does not play nicely with .mwv video formats. If you read their FAQs about the subject, YouTube knows that it is happening and recommends that you use a .avi file format if you are going to pre-record your video before you upload it. What happens with a .mwv file is that the audio and video become out of sync. Most webcams with software for recording does offer the ability for you to export as an .avi file, but warning, these files are HUGE meaning longer upload time.

My LEAST favorite thing about YouTube is the limitation of 10 minutes or less on the videos. I struggled with my assignment this week to upload three videos. I record tons of videos and tried to upload a good number of them, but YouTube blocked my actions since my videos were over the 10-minute mark. NO! I understand that the average person listens for less than 10 minutes, but sometimes a longer video is warranted. Please of this limitation, I would not recommend YouTube is a primary solution as your media repository.