Top 20 video sharing sites rated

If you consume only mainstream media you'd be forgiven for thinking that there is only one video upload service on the net: the ubiquitous YouTube. Its stratespheric rise has left even the mighty Google in the shade in the burgeoning area of video sharing.

Of course, there are dozens of video upload sites with more springing up every week. Below is a round up of twenty of the best, with a comparison of key features. In order to make the comparison as fair as possible I uploaded the same video clip to each of the sites.

1.) Vimeo
http://www.vimeo.com/



Register to upload: Y
Cost: Free
Upload limit: 30Mb per week
Upload from e-mail/mobile: Y
Upload progress indicator: Y
Download clips: Y
Privacy settings: N
Converts to: Flash
Comments: Y
Ratings: Y
Tagging: Y
Killer feature: integration with Flickr

Appearance: 5/5
Ease of use: 5/5
Features: 5/5
Overall: 5/5

2.) Dailymotion
http://www.dailymotion.com/



Register to upload: Y
Cost: Free
Upload limit: 150Mb per clip
Upload progress indicator: Y
Download clips: N
Privacy settings: Y
Converts to: Flash
Comments: Y
Ratings: Y
Tagging: Y
Killer feature: Categorisation by location

Appearance: 5/5
Ease of use: 5/5
Features: 5/5
Overall: 5/5

3.) grouper
http://www.grouper.com/



Register to upload: Y
Cost: Free
Upload limit: 110Mb per clip
Upload from e-mail/mobile: N
Upload progress indicator: Y
Download clips: Y
Privacy settings: Y
Converts to: Windows Media
Comments: Y
Ratings: Y
Tagging: Y
Killer feature: Download to iPod or PSP

Appearance: 4/5
Ease of use: 5/5
Features: 5/5
Overall: 5/5

4.) vSocial
http://www.vsocial.com/



Register to upload: Y
Cost: Free
Upload limit: 100Mb per clip
Upload from e-mail/mobile: N
Upload progress indicator: Y
Download clips: N
Privacy settings: N
Converts to: Flash
Comments: Y
Ratings: Y
Tagging: Y
Killer feature: Creative Commons license

Appearance: 4/5
Ease of use: 5/5
Features: 5/5
Overall: 5/5

5.) YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/



Register to upload: Y
Cost: Free
Upload limit: 100Mb per clip
Upload from e-mail/mobile: Y
Upload progress indicator: N
Download clips: N
Privacy settings: Y
Converts to: Flash
Comments: Y
Ratings: Y
Tagging: Y
Killer feature: Huge user base

Appearance: 3/5
Ease of use: 4/5
Features: 5/5
Overall: 4/5

6.) motionbox
http://www.motionbox.com/



Register to upload: Y
Cost: Free
Upload limit: 100Mb per clip
Upload from e-mail/mobile: Y
Upload progress indicator: N
Download clips: N
Privacy settings: Y
Converts to: Flash
Comments: N
Ratings: N
Tagging: Y
Killer feature: filmstrip timeline

Appearance: 5/5
Ease of use: 4/5
Features: 4/5
Overall: 4/5

7.) Metacafe
http://www.metacafe.com/



Register to upload: Y
Cost: Free
Upload limit: 100Mb per video
Upload from e-mail/mobile: N
Upload progress indicator: Y
Download clips: N
Privacy settings: Y
Converts to: Flash
Comments: Y
Ratings: Y
Tagging: Y
Killer feature: Video podcast

Appearance: 4/5
Ease of use: 4/5
Features: 5/5
Overall: 4/5

8.) Bolt
http://www.bolt.com/



Register to upload: Y
Cost: Free
Upload limit: 100Mb per clip
Upload from e-mail/mobile: N
Upload progress indicator: Y
Download clips: N
Privacy settings: Y
Converts to: Flash
Comments: Y
Ratings: N
Tagging: Y
Killer feature: Record direct from webcam

Appearance: 4/5
Ease of use: 4/5
Features: 5/5
Overall: 4/5

9.) blip.tv
http://blip.tv/



Register to upload: Y
Cost: Free
Upload limit: None
Upload from e-mail/mobile: Y
Upload progress indicator: Y
Download clips: N
Privacy settings: N
Converts to: Flash
Comments: Y
Ratings: Y
Tagging: Y
Killer feature: Option to play in original upload format

Appearance: 5/5
Ease of use: 4/5
Features: 4/5
Overall: 4/5

10.) Revver
http://www.revver.com/



Register to upload: Y
Cost: Free
Upload limit: 100Mb per clip
Upload progress indicator: Y
Download clips: Y
Privacy settings: Y
Converts to: Quicktime
Comments: N
Ratings: Y
Tagging: Y
Killer feature: Appends revenue-generating ads to the end of your video

Appearance: 4/5
Ease of use: 3/5
Features: 4/5
Overall: 4/5

11.) ClipShack
http://www.clipshack.com/



Register to upload: Y
Cost: Free
Upload limit: 100Mb per clip, 5Gb in total
Upload progress indicator: Y
Download clips: N
Privacy settings: Y
Converts to: Flash
Comments: Y
Ratings: Y
Tagging: Y
Killer feature: Upload from webcam

Appearance: 3/5
Ease of use: 4/5
Features: 4/5
Overall: 4/5

12.) Google Video
http://video.google.com



Register to upload: Y
Cost: Free
Upload limit: 100Mb per clip
Upload from e-mail/mobile: N
Upload progress indicator: N
Download clips: Y
Privacy settings: N
Converts to: Flash
Comments: Y
Ratings: Y
Tagging: N
Killer feature: Video sizing options

Appearance: 3/5
Ease of use: 4/5
Features: 3/5
Overall: 3/5

13.) ZippyVideos
http://www.zippyvideos.com/



Register to upload: N
Cost: Free
Upload limit: 20Mb for free acounts (10Mb for anonymous uploads)
Upload from e-mail/mobile: N
Upload progress indicator: N
Download clips: N
Privacy settings: Y
Converts to: Windows Media
Comments: Y
Ratings: Y
Tagging: Y
Killer feature: Choice of video qualities

Appearance: 3/5
Ease of use: 3/5
Features: 3/5
Overall: 3/5

14.) DropShots
http://www.dropshots.com/



Register to upload: Y
Cost: Free
Upload limit: 2 minute clips for non-paying users
Upload from e-mail/mobile: Y
Upload progress indicator: Y
Download clips: N
Privacy settings: N
Converts to: Flash
Comments: Y
Ratings: N
Tagging: N
Killer feature: Dropbox desktop uploader

Appearance: 3/5
Ease of use: 3/5
Features: 3/5
Overall: 3/5

15.) Sharkle
http://www.sharkle.com/



Register to upload: Y
Cost: Free
Upload limit: 100Mb per clip, 1Gb in total
Upload progress indicator: N
Download clips: N
Privacy settings: Y
Converts to: Flash
Comments: Y
Ratings: Y
Tagging: Y
Killer feature:

Appearance: 3/5
Ease of use: 3/5
Features: 3/5
Overall: 3/5

16.) vidiLife
http://www.vidilife.com/



Register to upload: Y
Cost: Free
Upload limit: None
Upload progress indicator: Y
Download clips: N
Privacy settings: Y
Converts to: Windows Media
Comments: Y
Ratings: Y
Tagging: Y
Killer feature: Playlists

Appearance: 3/5
Ease of use: 3/5
Features: 3/5
Overall: 3/5

17.) SelfcastTV
http://www.selfcasttv.com/

Register to upload: Y
Cost: Free
Upload limit: None
Upload progress indicator: N
Download clips: Y (iPod & PSP)
Privacy settings: N
Converts to: Flash
Comments: Y
Ratings: Y
Tagging: N
Killer feature: Thumbnail video previews

Appearance: 3/5
Ease of use: 2/5
Features: 3/5
Overall: 3/5

18.) Pixparty
http://www.pixparty.com/



Register to upload: Y
Cost: Free
Upload limit: 10Mb per video
Upload progress indicator: Y
Download clips: Y
Privacy settings: Y
Converts to: Windows Media
Comments: Y
Ratings: Y
Tagging: Y
Killer feature: None

Appearance: 2/5
Ease of use: 3/5
Features: 3/5
Overall: 2/5

19.) eVideoShare
http://www.evideoshare.com/



Register to upload: Y
Cost: Free
Upload limit: 100Mb
Upload progress indicator: N
Download clips: N
Privacy settings: Y
Converts to: Flash
Comments: Y
Ratings: Y
Tagging: Y
Killer feature: None

Appearance: 2/5
Ease of use: 2/5
Features: 3/5
Overall: 2/5

20.) VideoWebTown
http://www.videowebtown.com/



Register to upload: Y
Cost: Free
Upload limit: 840Mb per clip, 30Gb in total
Upload progress indicator: N
Download clips: Y (iPod & PSP)
Privacy settings: Y
Converts to: Flash
Comments: N
Ratings: Y
Tagging: N
Killer feature: Download to iPod or PSP

Appearance: 2/5
Ease of use: 2/5
Features: 2/5
Overall: 2/5

Other video sharing sites (not reviewed):

AOL UnCut video - http://uncutvideo.aol.com/
Castpost - http://www.castpost.com/
eyespot - http://www.eyespot.com/
flukiest - http://www.flukiest.com/
Ourmedia - http://www.ourmedia.org/
vMix - http://www.vmix.com/
vobbo - http://www.vobbo.com/

BBC Electric Proms on your iPod

The BBC has announced the first set of Electric Proms gigs to take place in Camdem at the end of October (confirmed artists includes Guillemots and The Who). In addition to the usual website, you can also download a portable version specially tailored for use with iPod Notes. As far as I know this is the first time the BBC has formatted text content specifically for the iPod, which is good news is my book as I often find myself on the move without a net connection, idly twiddling my scroll wheel. One particularly nice feature of iPod Notes, which the Electric Proms guide takes advantage of, is the ability to create a hyperlink to play tracks by any given artist already present on the iPod, thus building a new musical experience around the music you already own. Nice. You can downloaded the zipped guide here.

Virgin Radio dips its toe in Web 2.0

Interesting stuff from Virgin Radio who are beta testing a Web 2.0 approach to music news, whereby 'VIP listeners' can submit links to music news stories elsewhere on the web and then rate them or comment on them in a digg stylee...

20 of my most favourite websites

With over four months to go until the list-making nirvana that is the end of the year I thought I'd satiate my list-making appetite with a quick round up of some my most favourite websites by category. These aren't the cool new kids on the block but the sites which I come back to day after day. You should already have most of them bookmarked. If not, I heartily encourage you to do so. Better still, post them to your del.icio.us profile :-)

Auction: eBay - don't throw away your useless junk, sell it!
Audio: Odeo - thunder unfairly stolen by iTunes podcast directory
Blog: plasticbag.org - never a dull moment with Mr. Coates
Bookmarking: del.icio.us - still the best in its field
Competition: Photo Friday - behold the power of the aggregator!
Email: Yahoo! Mail Beta - drag and drop email. on the web. lovely
Film: IMDb - the premier resource for any self-respecting film buff
Finance: smile - the way banking should be (ethical)
Maps: Google Maps - watch out multimap, there's a new sheriff in map town
Music: Last.fm - a genuine innovation in music discovery
News: BBC News - quite simply in a league of its own
Personalised homepage: netvibes - still my homepage after 3 months
Photography: Flickr - quite possibly the most finely crafted website ever
Reference: Wikipedia - how did we manage without it?
Retail: Amazon - loving that long tail...
Search: Google - still the daddy, still not evil (hopefully)
T-shirts: Threadless - awesome business model, awesome site
Travel: TripAdvisor - never stay in a shit hotel again
Video: Vimeo - smoother than silky the silk worm's silk pyjamas
Web stats: StatCounter - stats can be fun!

(Yes, t-shirts did warrant it's own category...)