PluggedIn.com is a new online music site backed by Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment and others. It currently featuring over 10,000 music videos and live concerts from major music companies such as EMI Music, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, and other major and independent labels.

The site also includes over 1 million artist profiles, and updates these profiles in real time. “A search of a favorite artist will display videos, photos, playlists, news, blogs, biography’s, recommendations and more”, the Santa Monica company said.

We decided to take a look at this new free service and give you a quick overview on how this new service works.

When you first go on site you will notice a large video player in the center of the page. After clicking on it for the first time it will ask you to install a plugin to load the player. After you have installed the plugin the video will start playing. (I wonder where they got the unusual name? From “plugin” I suppose).

On the right side of the main page is the top videos box showing the most popular videos. Just below that there is a box showing you their 4 currently featured artists. Clicking on one of the artists will take you to their very own dedicated web-page chocked full of their music videos, YouTube videos, and even play lists with multiple videos. The player on this page is a bit smaller then the one on the home page but it still looks good and is about 400 x 300 in size. Just below the player window is a “Market Place” area with albums, concert tickets, merchandise and other related paraphernalia for sale.

Clicking on the “VIBE” along the top bar of the browser window you can see what other users of the site have been watching and see the most popular videos and artists. Over at the “MIXER” Page you cam create your own playlists simply by clicking and dragging videos into the playlist box.

Pros:

• It’s FREE and is not loaded full of ads like some sites.
• Simple to use and easy to navigate.
• Streams over Sprint EVDO connection.

Cons:

• When scrolling the video player jumps around causing the page to jump as you scroll. (See video at 3 minutes in.)
• You have to install a plugin to play videos.
• Fullscreen only maximizes the browser window, and when you exit fullscreen the browser does not go back to its original size.
• Videos, while clearer than YouTube, does not look to be in HD (compare to Vimeo for quality!).

Video Walk Though:

Image Gallery: