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February 4, 2006
A Review of CNN's Pipeline
I finally decided to give CNN's new video service, Pipeline, a try on Thursday. I was originally going to take advantage of their 14-day free trial on Tuesday night so I could watch the State of the Union address (I don't own a TV) but ran out of time and didn't end up watching the speech anyway. But today I thought I'd give it a shot and figured I'd write up a little review for those who might be curious.
Signup
The signup process was quick. You do have to provide a credit card number and select a plan ($2.95/month or $24.95 for a year) in order to get the service. It is assumed that you'll cancel before 14 days if you don't want the service, in which case you will not be charged. I picked the yearly option since $24.95 is a pittance for a year's worth of news.
Once I had signed up and my system had been tested, I launched the web player because I'm using a Mac. Mac users have to use the web player which basically opens a Safari (or Firefox) window with Windows Media Player 9 embedded in the middle. To use Pipeline on a PC, users have the option of downloading a standalone application which has some more powerful options including a mini mode and system tray alerts for breaking news. CNN as a more detailed comparison of these two options.
Interface
The overall interface is easy to navigate, and practically any news story can be found with just a few clicks. The video window sits in the middle with the Top Stories, a News Update button and a menu which lets you browse by section (Sports, World, US, etc.) on the left. The right side of the window gives a description of what's playing and web links related to the current story. The right side also shows breaking news and a schedule of the day's previous and upcoming news events. The bottom window has three buttons (Live Feeds, On Demand, Browse) which I'll describe next.
Live Feeds
Four pipes provide live feeds and are selected by simply clicking on the thumbnails at the bottom of the screen. Around primetime Thursday for example, pipe one was a documentary style program about human trafficking, pipe two was breaking news in California, pipe three was showing C-SPAN-type stuff like Bush's speech in Maplewood, MN earlier today and pipe four was the current weather and forecasts for the country (I didn't watch this channel long enough to see if they give weather for the rest of the world).
On Demand
This section shows horizontal, scrollable thumbnails of some of the producer's picks. This part of the display actually looks a lot like the front page of the iTunes music store. Many of these stories are less than five minutes long but they did have Bono's entire speech from that morning's Prayer Breakfast which I watched part of (he seemed really nervous).
Browse
Clicking the browse button gives a list of stories from the day. I'm not sure how these are selected but they can be sorted by time, section and most watched. There were over 80 stories in this section when I was checking on Thursday. The screenshot shows Epiphanny Price, the girl who scored 113 points in a high school basketball game on Wednesday, and her coach (who had to address some tough sportsmanship questions from the interviewer).
Verdict
After having this service for a few days now, it is certainly worth the low price. I would expect that this method of getting the news will keep me better informed, especially when it comes to breaking events. I would even go so far to say that CNN Pipeline is indispensable for someone who doesn't have a TV and wants to stay informed. In fact, the lack of a news channel was the only big problem of not having a TV but that gap is now filled. Now if only MLB.com would put something like this together for the 2006 baseball season...
Posted on February 4, 2006 at 1:27 PM
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Comments
Please tell me how to cancel the cnn pipeline service. I have been trying for months to no avail
Thanks
Serge
Posted by: serge Podtetenieff at June 23, 2006 11:33 AM