Microsoft has given its Bing video search feature a much-needed makeover and the result is surprisingly good. In an era when YouTube frequently doubles as a music player for many people, the old Bing had looked a bit outdated and this update addresses that issue while also adding a few nifty features on board.
The first thing you will notice when doing a video search on Bing are the larger thumbnails. They are easier to read at a glance, and users can even preview videos straight from the results to get an idea of what they are looking at. Just hover your cursor over a result to watch a small bit of the video.
There’s also a lot more new information given about every video. Users can now see the view count, upload date and up-loader before clicking to the result.
Search for music on the new Bing and it gets even better. Type in the name of an artist or song, and Bing will show you a module up at the top for the artist with a photo and a list of other top songs. The suggested videos will be shown half-way down the page in another module, with more recommendations. These results are chosen based on relevance and popularity. User can also watch the entire video straight from the search result. And, oh, Bing shows results from all over the web, not just YouTube.
While YouTube’s own search engine is generally good, Google, who owns YouTube, doesn’t fare well when it comes to videos and especially music videos. Bing’s recent changes makes it a snazzy and fun-to-use alternative to the search giant, at least until Google wises up and revamps its search likewise.
