14 DAY TRIAL // YouTube may have the online video market pretty much cornered, but there are a few online video sites out there that have had some success by going for a slightly different market. Vimeo is one such site and, while its traffic numbers are nowhere near YouTube's, the overall quality of the content available is leaps and bounds above what Google's video site has to offer. Now, the site has released a couple of features that should prove useful to the budding video artist, like a desktop uploader and detailed video-usage statistics.
First up is the upcoming desktop uploader that greatly simplifies the task of uploading multiple videos, while also saving the user a lot of headaches. “You've been asking for it for years, and now it's coming: the Desktop Uploader is a fancy new way to upload your videos without ever launching your web browser. This should be perfect for those of you who sometimes have trouble uploading, and for folks who would like to batch upload a bunch of videos at once,” Vimeo's Andrew Pile writes.
The tool is built on Adobe AIR, so its cross-platform, working on Windows, Linux and Mac. It will allow users to upload up to ten files at a time, pause the uploads and edit basic details like titles and tags without launching a browser. The uploader should be released in public beta soon.
Along with the desktop uploader comes a much-needed stats feature. “It's taken us a while because we want to get it right, and so far it's looking great. The majority of the features will be for Plus users with a few key stats available for Basic members as well,” Pile adds. The stats will allow users to view data for all of their videos or each one individually. It will also list referrers, to see where the viewers are coming from, plus useful info like the number of likes, SD vs HD play and the likes.