Screencast-O-Matic

The first web 2.0 site I chose to review is “screencast-o-matic”. I chose it because it seemed to be useful for anyone wanting to explain how to use something on a computer, and I would imagine many people all over the world could make use of it. Before I start my review, I should probably let all of you people out there know what a screencast is… The Wikipedia definition is:
“A screencast is a digital recording of computer screen output, also known as a video screen capture, often containing digital audio narration”. In laymen’s terms, a screencast records a video of your computer screen while recording your voice (if you choose) so you can save it for other people to see.
Okay, so now that we have all of the starting mumbo jumbo out of the way I can start with the stuff that matters! The first ‘thumbs up’ for screencast-o-matic I found is that it’s very quick and efficient to use. You don’t have to sign up to create a screencast, but if you want your screencast saved onto the site so you can edit them if you exit your browser you need to sign up. Most web 2.0 sites ask so much personal information when you’re signing up for them, like what city you’re from, first and last name, etc. Screencast-o-matic just asks for your e-mail, and a password for the site. I liked that a lot because even if you do sign up, it makes it so easy, and efficient. You don’t waste time on doing things other than what you’re on the site to do: creating a screencast. Before creating your screencast there’s a few different screen size options you have. I think this area could be improved by showing how large the frame would be, rather than just saying the measurements, because I had to go back and change my size a few times and that was pretty frustrating, going back even froze my computer once and I had to re-boot then start all over again. When setting up my screencast, I did like that I could test my mics when I was setting up my screencast and it automatically had what mics I had so I didn’t have to browse my computer and find what type of audio recording device I wanted to use. It also let me test my mic so I could see how loud my voice had to be and what mic had the best quality, which I also liked. After you decided what mic to use and how large you want your screen cast to be, a black frame comes up on your computer and allows you to drag it around your screen and decide where you want to record. Once you’ve chose the spot you would like, you press a button and a record, pause, and play option comes up so you can choose one of these options and start to create your screencast. I have to say, it takes a few times to get your screencast right (which is why it’s so good that it’s so easy to set up) so give yourself about an hour because you’ll probably want to re-do it a few times if you make mistakes or what not. After you’re done, you can choose if you want to upload to a few different sites (like youtube) or you can upload and save it onto your computer. I like his tool because it’s useful to have different options since everyone makes screen casts for differant reasons. Even when you’re done, you can still edit the video, which also a good tool. All in all, I would definetly recommend screencast-o-matic and I give this web 2.0 site FOUR STARS! ****

ps.. this is a screen cast I made with screencast-o-matic for a charity auction site



Want to learn how to use screencast-o-matic? Take a look at their how-to-video on Youtube by clicking HERE.... or take a look at it on the screencast-o-matic website by clicking HERE.