Stop for a moment and think how much time you spend watching online videos. I bet, not less than couple of hours a week. And where do you usualy go for videos? YouTube? I bet yes, because it seems to be the No.1 place for videos. But don’t you ever get tired of Tube’s interface? And don’t you ever wonder if a video service can be more than that? In this article I’m going to familiarize you with some really good alternatives.

In fact, anyone can set up a video service of his own. So, there are many of them present in the web. But very few are well done and seem to be really interesting. Here are short reviews of the video services I liked very much:

Current TV is a huge peer-to-peer news and information network. The site is produced and programmed in collaboration with its audience. Despite the fact that anyone can submit any kind of information, Current does not look like a junkyard at all (which YouTube actually is). The whole website is done in black, white & green and looks really nice. The interface is very friendly, so that you won’t need to spend hours getting used to it. Speaking about the content, it has no concrete concept and I’m sure you will find many interesting things while just scrolling the front page. So, if you want to watch some viral news & unique videos - go to Current and enjoy yourself in a big & really friendly community. And as an example, in case you love the Beatles - here is a unique thing for you to watch on Current.com

This website has a unique design that from the first second makes you feel very comfortable & relaxed. It is done in white, black green & yellow, but apart from current, which makes you concentrate, Revision3 gives you a feeling of sitting on your favourite sofa & watching your favourite show. Revision3 is an actual TV network for the web, creating and producing its own original, broadcast quality shows. The content is designed for passionate committed fans who want to watch shows that entertain, educate and help expand their life experiences. All in all, Revision is both a good relaxing and educating video service. And the high quality content will make you want to come there again and again.

Another place you shall visit for unique videos and interesting design is Videojug. It was launched in September 2006 and is actually a huge library of free factual video content online. The website provides professionally-produced, high definition videos which cover every conceivable topic and the site is the definitive online “encyclopaedia of life”. Anyone is free to upload his own videos and there is also a forum, where you can ask for answers after watching a video(in case something will be still unclear to you). They also have a contest for the best “How To” video, so if you are a creative person, you’d better give it a try. Speaking about Videojug in general, it can be a great source for answers to any problem you may experience in your life. And the best thing is that everything is explained through videos, so that it’s both informative and very intertaining.

Expert Village is a video service that provides answers to your everyday questions. As you can guess from the name of the service, all the tips & advices are given by experts. At the moment Expert Village provides 148,873 videos and the number grows every day! This video service is a one stop destination to get well-researched, practical, and free information. In addition to the scores of educational and informative videos, Expert Village has interactive community features that allow visitors to provide video reviews as well as have a user-to-user “Q & A” sessions where members can ask a question about a topic and then have the community contribute helpful answers. This way, Expert Village is a video service that will give answers to all of your questions!

All the video services listed are growing incredibly fast and for the February 2008 Current had 492,721 unique visitors, Revision - 77,873, Videojug - 334,132 and Expert Village - 616,607, which appears to be more than 100% growth for any of them. I hope you liked at least one of them and in case you have some favourite video services of your own - please, let us know and in case they are really unique & interesting we will write about them with a great pleasure. And of course, do not forget that once you’re bored you can visit our video section.

About a week ago a new, similar to YouTube service has been launched by Viacom’s MTV . MTVmusic.com is a very clean, simple, good looking site full of music videos only which vary from vintage videos like Elvis Presley’s “Baby I Don’t Care” to the most recent like Radiohead’s live videos “From The Basement“. Still there is an opinion that the majority of people will continue using YouTube for music videos. Here are some reasons why I strongly recommend MTVmusic:

1. On MTVmusic.com you have ability of watching full length music videos in good quality which is not quite true with YouTube, where you have to sort for hours good ones out of the trashy search results. I always get extremely nervous when instead of watching a music video I have to stare at some crappy slideshow made by a fan. I want REAL music videos and NOT fan art!
2. It’s much easier to search! I think you happened to face the problem of not knowing the proper spelling of a band/ song name (usually with the new ones) and on MTVmusic they have a feature of browsing bands by the first letter. Try to search for “R” or “S” on YouTube, I bet it will take you a month to bump into Radiohead or Sigur Ros. There is also a great feature of browsing videos by genre or poularity.
3. Today more than 16K music videos and live performances are waiting for you to watch them on MTVmusic.com. It’s all like good old MTV and you call the tune without even paying the piper!
4. A great feature on MTVmusic is exclusive unplugged and live videos. So far I’ve spent hours enjoying them.
5. And the greatest thing I love about MTVmusic is that there is no copyright violation there. Can anyone say the same about YouTube? I mean, they run that message saying: “Do not upload any TV shows, music videos, music concerts or commercials without permission unless they consist entirely of content you created yourself. The Copyright Tips page and the Community Guidelines can help you determine whether your video infringes someone else’s copyright.” But why do they have all those music videos then?

Anyway, I think there are many things about using YouTube for music videos to reconsider now, because copyright, ease and exclusiveness really matter. So, if you want your MTV - just go there and take it!