CTube! Internet Television Review

Climbing prices for television subscription services have consumers everywhere looking for alternative ways to get their broadcast fix. CTube! delivers over 1300+ Internet television stations and Web cams, with no subscription fees and no additional hardware requirements.

What is CTube?

CTube! is an onscreen guide and interface for Internet TV. The application works with Windows Media Player and RealPlayer to broadcast content on your PC.

CTube! Features

• No subscription fees. CTube! includes hundreds of channels without charging an ongoing fee.
   
• No additional hardware requirements. Your computer's video card will work for playing all CTube! stations. Internet TV broadcasts do not require a TV tuner card.
   
• Over 1300 channels of content. Sports, news, music, entertainment, government programming, science and educational broadcasts, as well as religious services are available via the CTube! station menu. Available content is different than traditional cable network offerings. International content, including BBC coverage and sporting events are given exceptional coverage. Some broadcasts offer more than one language version, so expect some duplicates in the list. Like cable and satellite TV, the CTube! station guide includes some adult material; if you have children, this application should be supervised the same way you supervise your TV.
   
• New Channels added at no additional cost. As more Internet TV broadcasts become available, CTube! adds them to the channel listing without charging more for the additional content.
   
• Organize your favorites. With more than 1300 channels available, keeping track of the stations you like is a must. Highlight a station you like, click the Add to Favorites button.
   
• Sorting of low and high bandwidth stations. Users can filter station listings by connection speed. For example, if you use dial-up Internet access, you can easily filter out stations optimized for cable and DSL customers.
   
• Scan multiple stations. Select two or more stations and CTube! loads content, giving you a thirty-second preview of each station before moving to the next broadcast in the scan. This feature is great for previewing unfamiliar stations or for channel surfing. If you happen to find a station with something worth viewing, stop the scan and watch.

The CTube! User Interface

All functions of this application are self-explanatory, making it easy for novices and experts to navigate station menus. My one feature request would be capability to view the station menu and the channel I'm currently watching simultaneously (something cable and satellite don't do either).

Conclusion

No subscription fee is the single biggest selling point of CTube! I'm a huge music fan and love the coverage of independent music. For access to international news and sporting events, nothing offers the same content depth in any price range. If you're addicted to network sitcoms, CTube! won't replace your current TV selection; it will offer alternative programming at an affordable price.

The trial version only allows you to view 10 stations in each menu subcategory.

Easy Bay Technologies is currently running a special offering a free copy of IMSpeak (regularly $24.00) to anyone purchasing CTube! IMSpeak adds speech capability to instant messaging applications.

You can download a trial version of CTube by clicking here:

http://www.infopackets.com/articles/ctube.htm