Crackle: It’s Cracklin’ Good Fun!

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If you haven’t yet heard of Crackle, you are in for a treat. Crackle allows you to watch video over your mobile devices, computer and tv. Sit back, grab a bowl of popcorn and relax. You have a lot of video enjoyment ahead of you.

What is Crackle?

Crackle, owned by Sony, allows you to watch full length movies and tv series, including original content, recent releases and some older favorites. Crackle occasionally has live streaming concerts as well.

Not all episodes of each tv series are available at one time, but you can sign up to be notified when new episodes of a series are released on Crackle.

What Types of Shows Are on Crackle?

Hundreds of movies and tv series are available on Crackle and the content changes often. Here are some examples of  what’s currently available on Crackle:

Movies – 21, A Few Good Men, Ghostbusters, The Da Vinci Code, Arlington Road, Brian’s Song, Big Daddy, Easy Rider, Seems Like Old Times.

TV Shows – Seinfeld, The Three Stooges, Mad Men, Bewitched, Soap, Casper: The Friendly Ghost, Young & The Restless, Dr. Who, Married with Children, I Dream of Jeannie, The Partridge Family.

How Can I Watch Crackle?

There are many ways of watching Crackle:

• on your mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet, using the Crackle app
• on other mobile phones with tv packages, such as mobitv, Sprint TV, AT&T U-verse, Verizon V CAST and T-Mobile TV
• on your computer through YouTube, Hulu, or tv.com and
• on tv through a set top box such as PS3, Boxee, VerizonFios, TiVo, Bravia, Roku, Google TV and the Sony Blu-Ray Player.

How Much Does Crackle Cost?

It’s free for you to watch Crackle using the iTunes Crackle app on your iOS devices (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch) and on your computer or tv. No subscription necessary, watch as much as you want.

But other means of watching Crackle are going to cost you.

To get Crackle on your mobile phone through a carrier, you will have to pay monthly fees:

1. Sprint TV $5.99
2. AT&T Uverse $9.99
3. Verizon Vcast  $10
4. T-Mobile TV $5.99

For the Android app, Crackle charges a subscription fee of $4.99 per month, though limited free content is available. Why does Crackle charge for viewing on Android phones but not iOS devices? It’s not clear, and some people are reporting problems when trying to stream video using the Android Crackle app: Turnabout: Crackle Video Stream Free Everywhere Except on Android

Where Can I Watch Crackle?

Crackle is available in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia.

Crackle streams video, so you must have an active Internet connection to watch the shows. I recently watched the Soup Nazi episode of Seinfeld using Crackle on my iPad. I watched the show over a 3G network and the streaming was perfect, no stuttering, pixelation or pauses. But if you use a 3G network to watch Crackle, remember the limits of your data plan and Mind the Cap!.

Bottom Line

If you can watch Crackle for free, such as on your computer or tv, then you should definitely give Crackle a try. You can enjoy some of your favorite shows and perhaps discover new favorites!

The content currently available on Crackle probably doesn’t justify paying a subscription fee to watch it. If you want to watch streaming video on your Android device, you could sign up for a Netflix subscription instead for a few more dollars a month and get a lot more content than Crackle has. (Netflix became available for Android earlier this month.)

If you have an iOS device, then you should definitely grab this free app and check out all that Crackle has to offer.

Have you tried Crackle? Are you a Three Stooges, Seinfeld or Mad Men fan?  Does Crackle have any of your favorite movies? Let us know in the Comments section below!