The first thing you'll notice is the very slick interface. Joost 1.0 has improved the interface over its previous versions, although the layout is essentially the same. The controls are self explanatory. On the bottom pane are your video controls, including a power button (when powering off, it will minimize to the taskbar), slider for fast-fowarding through a show, pause, back and next buttons. On the left is the "Explore" button, which will take you into the channels browser. You are presented with every channel Joost offers, divided into categories. When clicking on a category, a list of channels shows up as small thumbnails with a description of the channel. You'll see some familiar faces, such as Comedy Central, CNN, and MTV. On the right panel is a social networking feature where you can chat with other users about a show or add widgets and RSS feeds. Joost 1.0 is much better organized than its predecessors, and has a lot of extra features.

An example of the channels browser.
Even with all of the familiar channels, not everything is offered. For example, the Comedy Central channel has an extensive collection of popular shows including Strangers With Candy and Dog Bites Man, but some of its most highly popular shows, such as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, are not available. On MTV, shows like Laguna Beach and The Andy Milonakis Show are available, but newer shows are not. However, Joost continues to improve, and new shows pop up on the site daily.

Joost is a great start for those wanting to get started with Internet TV. But with its restrictive hardware requirements and its lack of portability (the program does not run on set top boxes such as AppleTV), Joost is still not for everyone. And even though it's now available to the public, it's still a Beta release, and the company is still working out some kinks. But overall, Joost is an excellent program that will have you addicted from the start.