Qello.com

This site looks promising but I'm not quite geared to give them my money yet. Qello is a new streaming service like Netflix except it's completely dedicated to concerts and music-related DVD titles. Examples for metal include Dio in NY, Heaven and Hell in EU, Destruction at Wacken, Kreator at Wacken, Priest's Epitaph, and more. Of course there's a lot of crap in there too, but the majority of the titles (including those other than metal) look like great picks. You can also stream to other devices.

It's 4.99 a month, cheaper than Netflix. However, the reason I'm hesitant is because...

...well, isn't this shit up on youtube anyway?

I mean, the quality may be slightly lower, but I'm not picky when it comes to streaming. I'm wondering how much of Qello's library--which of course will most likely expand--is already available on YouTube, and if the answer is "pretty much everything," than forget it. Thoughts?

Interesting idea, but I don't watch enough music content to warrant a pay service. I find enough entertainment, music or otherwise, on Netflix and cable to fill what precious little time I have every day.

Their selection is very sparse when it comes to metal. Pretty much everything is on youtube as was already stated.

It seems to me this service is doomed to failure. They would need to have a massive library for me to be interested.

Quote :

Pretty much everything is on youtube as was already stated.

...and if not there, then it's probably being re-run to death on VH1 Classic.

Sounds like a good idea but for me , I watch very little when it comes to music. I'd just be wasting that $5.00.

I watch a lot of concerts ( I own about 75-80 concert DVD's) but as MG stated this stuff is pretty readily available on Youtube, which is where I watch the stuff I don't own...yet!

I don't care for music videos or concerts. I'd rather listen to a live performance on album than on DVD. Still, the idea sounds promising if the quality is higher than what you get on YouTube. But as I said, it's more something I'd recommend to friends than use myself.

It's a neat idea, but there would need to be one hell of a library to sell me on paying every month for it.  I've taken to watching DVDs and the like while on the treadmill, so something along these lines could work incredibly well for it, but I have a sneaking suspicion it'd be one of those "300 channels with nothing on" setups.

EDIT: Actually, I may take that back. They seem to have a lot, if not all, of the "Classic Albums" documentaries and those are addictive as hell even if you don't like the album in question. That may well be worth the $5 a month.

Those Classic Album series are really cool. A great insight into the thought process and motives of the artist at that time. And they are usually filled with interesting factoids about the albums; like the British Steel one where we learn that the marching of the Metal Gods is someone banging a tray of cutlery on a counter. So cool.

I've had some gripes about the newer ones (Pink Floyd "Wish You Were Here" primarily) where they seemed to focus more on band turmoil than the music. It's not irrelevant, but let me hear more of those glorious multi-tracks!

I might do a comparison of Qello's library vs. YouTube availability. If things look good I may go for it.

See, the thing is I've always dreamed of a service like this. There have been so many nights where I've searched Netflix high and low for a concert to watch, and either I find two or they pulled the ones I was already interested in. But then I discovered the ability to stream YouTube on my television. That changed everything. So this came a little too late, it seems.

$4.99 buys you a second hand DVD. Double that and you get an unused one (provided it's a couple of years old, of course). How many concerts a year would I likely watch using that service? I could probably buy those, and be left with a physical copy to rewatch years from now, or re-sell once that particular streaming service is out of business.

I signed up for the trial period. It's actually a pretty solid collection of concerts and docs. Now, if you're ONLY interested in metal, it'll wear out its welcome pretty quickly.

On first blush, there are two things I noticed about it that make me wonder if I'll keep it past the trial period:

1.) It seems to lag and freeze more than Netflix is prone to on the Wifi connection to my PS3.
2.) There doesn't seem to be a "resume" function where you can watch a portion of something and come back to it. You have to remember which song you were on and manually resume it. Nitpicking, but still kind of a pain in the ass since most of my viewing is during the hour I'm on the treadmill and I retreat from the TV pretty rapidly once I'm done working out.