OFFICIAL
75.0
pretty good |
|
Content
|
| Quality : |
15.0 / 20 |
| Quantity : |
15.0 / 15 |
| Entertain : |
11.5 / 15 |
| Updates : |
9.0 / 10 |
| Exclusive : |
2.0 / 05 |
| Download : |
2.0 / 05 |
| sub-total : |
54.5 / 70 |
| Navigation |
| Easy : |
8.0 / 10 |
| Features : |
3.0 / 05 |
| Design : |
4.0 / 05 |
| sub-total : |
15.0 / 20 |
| Other |
| Originality : |
2.5 / 05 |
| Hard Facts : |
3.0 / 05 |
| sub-total : |
5.5 / 10 |
Scoring Criteria New
New Update!
As of Aug 15th, 07, price of a site is no longer factored into the overall score/rank. |
|
| Editor: Spencer |
Initial Review: 12-25-06 |
|
1. Lots of content available.
2. Updates come multiple times daily.
3. In-browser videos are streaming at least.
1. Very expensive.
2. Videos play in-browser only.
3. Content still seems pretty old.
4. Video quality could be better.
"The changes are nice to see, but they're still a ways behind most sites these days." |
|
|
Kara's Adult Playground is one of the longest-running sites out there today. They celebrated their 10th anniversary this year, which is ancient in online terms for sure. What used to be a pioneer in the adult industry quickly faded into the background as they didn't keep up with the times. Older, generic content was available, as were links to way too many feeds with the thinking that that was enough for most people. They also charged through the roof for this service. Now Kara (if there even is someone named Kara) has updated things a little bit by adding a large DVD collection, making the site worthwhile again. We had an old review up, but the site is so different now that we're scraping that and starting over. The first bad news comes in the form of their "free" membership which doesn't let you download any of the main content, for which you'll actually need a $40 a month membership to access.
The goods:
- Lots of content available. I believe they have 702,006 photos online right now, though that could be 702,006 galleries - I'm not really sure! Add that to the over 1,200 DVD's they have online and you have a lot of content to check out here. Unfortunately you'll pay for it, but at least there's a lot of actual content to see.
- Updates come multiple times daily. While they don't date anything, they claim to add a full DVD and three new photo galleries each day. If that's true, that'd be a pretty nice update schedule going on here as well.
- In-browser videos are streaming at least. I hate in-browser only videos, but at least you can jump around them pretty easily since they're on a true streaming server. That makes finding the good parts that much easier.
The bads:
- Very expensive. $40 a month is just too much for most any site. Things would have to be absolutely perfect here in my mind to warrant the price, and that's just not the case here at all. A lower price would go a long way in helping the score here.
- Videos play in-browser only. They do come from a streaming server, but there's no zooming (except for a full-screen option they provide) or anything. You're stuck with the little window in your browser which isn't what most people would want. Since they don't offer downloads anyway, I don't see why they don't give you a link to play it in WMPlayer through their streaming server.
- Content still seems pretty old. From the Max Candy pictures to the videos that look like they were from last century (okay, the 90's), it just all seems a little dated here still. There are a few too many bad hairdo's and old pornstars floating around for me.
- Video quality could be better. They only go up to about 700-900kbps and 320x240 as their maximum "broadband" rate. That's just too far behind today's standards and will hurt them as well. Bump that up to the 640x480 and 1000kbps range at a minimum just to get to the norm.
Conclusion:
I like all the content and changes here, and am glad to see them offering something new. Unfortunately, as before, they're still quite a bit behind the times, just not as bad as it used to be. You get a decent deal, but the price is sky high, the quality is low, the content seems old, the options are limited, and more. It's better, but still not good to me. However, I like to see positive changes and commend them for how far they've come.
|