CNN Pipeline Rocks

Right now, CNN Pipeline is airing on one of its four channels the 2004 State of the Union Address, to be followed, presumable, by the 2005 speech, leading up to live feed of this years's address.

Yes, a snore fest, but for a newshound like me its a godsend.

CNN Pipeline isn't perfect, but its one of the greatest web services around. For $2.99/month you get live streams and archives videos from CNN 24/7. At its best, it offers a choice from four simultaneous streams of live news at once. I was in heaven when last week I could switch between TWO high speed police chases in Southern California happening simultaneously... best of all, I was listening to the helicopter chatter, not the sanitized comments of a news anchor. During the mine disaster drama that unfolded a few weeks ago I was getting most of my news from live correspondent feeds... including dialogue between the journalists and cameramen while they weren't on air.

And the video quality is surprisingly awesome.

Unfortunately, CNN Pipeline will occasionally lack live streams at all... usually in the late hours. But for the most part, there's always something happening, even if its a static shot of the White House front lawn, traffic going over the Golden Gate Bridge, or live doppler radar.

The obvious benefit is being able to watch the news anywhere you can find an internet connection... but I tend to have it on even when I'm switching my TV between Fox News and the actual CNN.

Pipeline currently offers a two week free trial, as well as .99 cent daypass, so its worth giving a shot even if you think you'll only use it on occasion. But for $2.99 a month, for me its a better deal than the $20 I spend for Netflix.