Forget Bittorrent, forget Limewire, forget sites like TV-Links (R.I.P.). Graboid offers high quality videos at nearly on-demand speeds for free. Finally, nearly every TV show or movie at is at the tip for your fingers in seconds.
It’s not exactly the next P2P boom, but a platform like this is closer to the future of online entertainment than anything else today.
Sure, the program’s a little buggy (still progressing from beta stages), but once you get it up and running, you’ll feel like you’re in heaven. The interface is similar to P2P platforms, and easy to navigate. Within thirty seconds, I was streaming a full-length high quality TV episode. When downloading I averaged 1mb a second.
Pros:
- Huge selection (20,000 videos and growing)
- No ads or spyware
- High quality (no YouTube rips here)
- Fast streams (quicker than Torrents or Limewire)
- Instant IMDB info
- Free!
Cons:
- Can’t share files (not really P2P)
- Must restart entire video if connection is lost
- Must pay for more than 4gb of transfer
- Media only only accessible ONCE (you must re-download if you want to watch it later)
- Questionable Legal Issues (see below)
Bottom Line: Kazaa All Over Again?
Remember when Kazaa was hot? The P2P concept was still fresh and organizations like the MPAA were sluggish to react. But this is 2008.They say that what they are doing is completely legal, but why hide the real location of the servers? If sites like TV-Links are no longer safe, then why would a program like Graboid be?
Enjoy this while it lasts. Hopefully in the future, there will actually be a real legal alternative. To me it just seems like Kazaa all over again.
Rebuttal from Graboid
Update March 2009: A representative of Graboid contacting WebTVHub with the following:
Graboid asked for their comment (sent to WebTVHub by email) to be removed.
