Attention Video Publishers: New Adobe Desktop Environment for Web Shows Could be Cooler than QuickTime Podcasts

There's been a good bit of anticipation about the Adobe Media Player (AMP), the application that will allow users to download videos to a desktop environment.  Up until now, virtually all Flash video files are streamed and watched in a browser.

Over the next few weeks, video publishers, including Beet.TV, will launch branded "channels" using the Adobe Media Player.  Unlike podcasts, which are downloaded and saved as files along with some enclosed metadata, the new AMP environment will appear as a sort of rich, Web-like environment.  It is on the desktop, but connected to the Web and updated via RSS.

The Adobe Media Player, (available in pre-release) sits on Adobe AIR. 

Will consumers and publishers adopt the AMP environment? Or will they stick with Flash or more conventional podcast downloads?  Might they gravitate to Microsoft's new Silverlight which will be in the spotlight next week?

Not sure, but video publishing tools and the consuming environment are about to get much "richer." 

For an overview of AIR and its implications for video, I interviewed Ryan Stewart in San Francisco on Monday.  The self-described "Rich Application Internet Mountaineer" and ZDNet blogger was recently hired by Adobe as the Rich Internet Application Evangelist.

Love his titles.

-- Andy Plesser