Friday, March 13, 2009

FootyTube - a review

Let’s be completely honest here, one of the single most annoying things in the history of mankind is trying to find a proper football video on YouTube.

Sure, we can all claim that once in a blue moon we’ve seen a recap of a match we missed or a must-see goal that decided a match, but for the most part almost everyone out there would agree that every time you DO find a video the picture showing up on the screen is either A) not the video you were looking for or B) says “video now longer available.”

Like Indiana Jones looking for the temple, footy fans have yet to find their temple of gold that is on-demand football videos when we want them. Enter FootyTube.com. Whilst the site might not get the publicity of YouTube, it is slowly going a niche user group that is looking for one thing only — and that would be as much football as humanly possible.

The original version of the site had the occasional hiccup with sketchy video quality and a shorter video than you’d like to see on a recent match, but for the part the site got the job done. Well the new and improved FootyTube.com version 2.0 seems to take the issues we had with version 1.0 and make them a thing of the past.

Built with a sleek new look and an easy to use drop down on the top of the page, FootyTube 2.0 aims to make the search for a particular video as simple as possible. Whilst the old site made searching for videos a task, the v2 allows users the opportunity to see what the top 5 most viewed matches of the day were, as well as a top 5 list for the best goals and the most popular videos. The best way to put it is that FootyTube took the most important feature of the site, which was ability to search for a high-quality video in the least amount of time, and made it their top priority with the new version.

When you do view a video the site gives you the option to rate the match and nominate a goal in the video for goal of the week. It’s a football fans version of YouTube’s rating system — only geared towards the fan enthusiast.

It’s easy to admit that FootyTube.com’s v2 is the real deal. The site is currently looking for new users to demo the new site, so I’d suggest you get over there and try it for yourself. My only caveat is that you demo the site when you’re not at work since FootyTube.com has a knack for stealing hours in your day. - Arseblog