Orb Networks Drops Subscription Fees and Is Now Free!

[Filip Norrgard]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/entry/786/orb_networks_drops' target='_blank'>http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/entry/786/orb_networks_drops</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Orb Networks, Inc., a developer of streaming media software and services, today announced the company’s groundbreaking streaming media software, Orb Media, will now be FREE to all users. Orb’s software and service gives consumers the ability to spontaneously access their live TV, music, photos, videos, and other digital content located on their home PC from virtually any Internet-enabled device, from anywhere in the world, and now provides that service without adding any new monthly fees for new and current customers."</i><br /><br />Wow! The guys at Orb Networks thinks it is time for the season of giving, and are very kind to drop that subscription fee. Has anyone here try out the free Orb Media yet?

[jeffd]

I tried this. Its crap. they actually have little content of their own. Instead they try and create a front end for all your stuff and stuff on the net. They can help organise your video, picture, and audio files. They can tie into your tv tunner and offer a GUI tv schedual. They can control your web cams. The online streaming video part is nothing more then (non working) links to allready public realvideo and MS video streams from not so popular tv stations from around the world on the net.

Even worse is this front end is online, so in order to see my pictures on my hard drive.. I need to go to their web site. Now this freaked me out at first because i had wondered if at some point, it had uploaded all my pictures in the pictures directory without telling me, but that didn't seem to be the case. Instead the web pages create the UI, and it ties in with a small client that will plug in the local content where the web page tells it to.

Pass.

[tshelton]

Jeff:

Why do you say that it is crap? You write that it is because we have little content of our own?? But the whole point is to give you access to YOUR content. Today it is very difficult for consumers to access their own personal media collection, typically collected on their home computer, from anywhere outside their home. This is what we are fixing -- and we offer a fix for FREE.

Our philosophy -- if you own it, you should be able to access it, anytime anyplace and on any device, for free.

The reason we use a web interface is so that you don't need any client software -- any IP connected device with a web browser will give you access to your personal media collection. And if you have a Real, Windows Media, or 3GP player, you can also play your TV, videos, and audio files.

What other product in the world lets you do this??

In the future we will also offer a native client for an improved experience but we'll always support a browser so that you can access from any device, even if you haven't loaded software.

And we'll be adding content subscriptions with partners so that you can add to your own media collection. That's part of our revenue model.

But now tell me -- what should we do with the product so that you don't think it is "crap" ?

best.

Ted Shelton
[email protected]