Even the most popular, loved, and revered sites on the Web need to evolve and change. Otherwise the next big thing will emerge to take its place. Which is why YouTube is currently embarking on a sizable redesign, with new features emerging every week.

YouTube Redesign

YouTube began testing its new redesign as part of TestTube, YouTube’s ideas incubator, last December. And while not all of the features and changes of Feather made it through to the final redesign, most have.

The redesign proper began in January, with all extraneous and unnecessary elements removed in favor of a more minimalist look and feel. Those first changes of a month ago were mostly aesthetic, but the newly-unveiled changes are a little more nuts-and-bolts.

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It’s all well and good having a multitude of different options for watching TV on the Web – and the options are increasing all the time – but you need to be able to find the content to be able to watch it. Which is where Clicker comes in.

Clicker has just raised $11 in funding, and must be hoping that traffic will now follow.

But Where Is It?

There are so many ways of watching television online now. YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, iTunes, and the TV networks own Web sites are just a smattering. But with so many sources it’s sometimes hard to know where to start.

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It feels like YouTube has been with us for ever. It’s such an essential part of the Web, and known by almost everyone, and yet it’s only been five years since the domain name was registered. Time to take a look at the past, present, and future of the ubiquitous video site.

YouTube’s Fifth Birthday

The YouTube.com domain was registered on Feb. 14, 2005. Chad Hurley, CEO and co-founder, marked the anniversary with a post on the Official YouTube Blog.

In it, he talks about how important online video has become, how building partnerships are important, and how YouTube is constantly striving to be the standard-bearer in this constantly-evolving industry.

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TubeMaster++ is software for capturing video files to your computer and converting them to different video or audio formats. It includes a video and music search feature as well.

What is TubeMaster

TubeMaster++, available for PC, Linux and Mac, is a free downloadable video conversion software that includes search engines for video and audio.  Goofy name, but an impressive variety of features for a free product.

It can capture multimedia files from your internet browser, or you can drag and import files you want to convert. Files can be saved on your PC or converted to other video or audio formats (such as AVI, MPEG, MP3, MP4, IPod, PSP, etc.)

Giving it a Spin…

I downloaded TubeMaster and gave it a try, and was impressed by how well this worked. The software is built around three primary components: media capture/conversion, video search and MP3 search. The audio/video search features in an of themselves are impressive features.

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WatchUWant.tv offers an endless stream of videos to watch, based on your search criteria, and functions in a manner similar to streaming radio sites like Pandora and LastFm.

What is WatchUWant?

From their site, WatchUWant describes the internet as being a new infinite number of videos, but states that its site “automatically separates the wheat from the chaff, recommends new and interesting content, and moreover, tailors its selection to you.”

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Rippol is an video search engine for searching and rating various TV programs and movies online.

The Idea Behind Rippol

Rippol is a straight-forward search engine for finding television programs and movies online, with searches broken into various categories for searching. From my experimentation with it I found it to be a comprehensive engine yet still a work in progress that could use a little tweaking.

What Rippol is About

According to the site, Rippol works based on how users view and rate films, with content changing dynamically per user preferences. According to the site:

“Every video you watch, rate and review affects The Butterfly Effect Network which changes the order you and others see content in real-time. The Butterfly Effect Network cross references videos similar to what you like and have watched with the habits and opinions of your friends and demographics.”

It’s a clever idea, namely the idea of cultivating similar videos based on what others are doing, in addition to your own preferences. Makes me wonder, though, if your tastes are completely eclectic, are really going to find many similar cross references?

Getting Started with Rippol

Registration is required to get started, either via Facebook or Twitter account, or you can just create a Rippol account, which is what I did.

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There’s a definite feeling that Microsoft is bouncing back after a dismal last few years which saw Bill Gates leave the company and Windows Vista hit the shelves. Windows 7 is now with us, its Bing search engine is competing with Google, and the company is also making efforts with online video.

Microsoft Returns

Microsoft is doing all it can to replenish its tarnished reputation. The release of Windows 7 is huge, and Bing is a search engine which may actually manage to provide competition for the ubiquitous Google.

Silverlight 3.0 is obviously proving popular with media companies seeking to stream video over the Internet but 2009 has also seen a few changes take place in terms of Microsoft’s approach to online video.

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