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Well, kidlets; it turns out Flickr is now more than a place to show off your photos (and art, and screenshots). Now, Pro users can add 90-second videos.
I’m not all that thrilled. Here’s why…
1) Bandwidth. It may be just 90 seconds; but come on. Video takes more bandwidth from a site than pictures or text. What would happen if all of the site’s bandwidth were sucked away due to all the videos? Those of us who want to upload photos and connect with other users we know there would have to wait until the following month to do so. Things can get lost (if you will) in the shuffle, you know?
2) Potential for abuse. Say this takes off; and the Flickr heads decide to loosen the restrictions on video — e.g., open it up to free accounts, extend the time limit for videos, et al. This would not bode well at all.
3) “This ain’t what I paid for!” Like lord-knows-how-many pro users, I paid for the ability to share my photos (and, to a lesser extent, screenshots) with people. I did not pay for video. Besides that…
4) It won’t work out. Why would someone pay $25/year (or $48 for two years) to upload 90-second videos to Flickr, when they can upload longer videos to Youtube, Dailymotion, Veoh, et al for free?
5) Myspaceification. Need I say more?
6) No way to filter out vids from contacts. So far I’ve yet to see this option. If Flickr did this, maybe I’ll feel a bit better about the whole thing.
Overall, though: I joined Flickr and got a pro account (currently at no cost via Verizon Yahoo) for the photography, not for videos.
