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October 28, 2008 8:30 AM PDT

MTV Music is, like, the raddest thing ever

by Caroline McCarthy
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It seems like the only complaint that the cranky digital-media press can come up with for MTVMusic.com, the legendary pop-culture brand's new music video hub, is, "Why wasn't this here years ago?"

Yeah, yeah, we know. There are licensing issues, especially for all those campy '80s videos that haven't seen the light of day in years. And launching a product prematurely could have led to bad press, as opposed to the "wow, we like this" response that MTV Music seems to have gotten thus far.

The issue, of course, is that most music videos are already available on YouTube, and it's not clear yet whether people will change their browsing habits and actually go over to MTV Music for videos now.

Viacom-owned MTV Networks has built in community features through its Flux technology, so that members can comment on videos, rate them (not surprisingly, Rick Astley's 1988 song "Never Gonna Give You Up," which has experienced a wild surge of Internet-meme popularity in the past year, is near the top of the chart), and share them on Facebook, MySpace, and blogs.

There are a couple of ads for Rhapsody, MTV's music retail partner, but I haven't seen any actual "Buy This Song" links accompanying videos. That'd be a good move for MTV.

So I leave you with Weezer's "Buddy Holly," one of my favorite videos of the '90s, back when we all thought they'd turn out to be a dweeby, one-hit-wonder novelty act:

Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline.
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by theunclesam October 28, 2008 8:56 AM PDT
They even let you upload your own music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSsJ19sy3JI
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by inachu October 28, 2008 10:53 AM PDT
MTV was in its best form before rap came out.
Pure rock music. Why cant Rock music be played on the BET channel then?
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by mpitogo October 28, 2008 1:58 PM PDT
Guess its not ready for prime time.

Internal Server Error - Read

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.
Reference #3.d1d39ce.1225227429.17d58d46
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by mtvmusic October 31, 2008 1:11 AM PDT
thousands more videos coming all in hi def... stay tuned ;)
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About The Social

CNET News' Caroline McCarthy is a downtown Manhattanite who believes that, despite popular opinion, the Web can actually help your social life. She's happily addicted to fun social-media tools from Twitter to Yelp to Facebook, sends an inordinate number of text messages, and has a tendency to waste time at the office reading restaurant blogs. Here, she explores all facets of the Web's gregarious side, as well as the unique tech culture in her home city of New York. (Don't call it Silicon Alley.)

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