I’ve often wondered why software review sites like download.com do not offer screencasts of the various products they are reviewing. After all, in many cases the software producer is paying to have their software reviewed in a timely fashion (or ever at all). When I’ve paid $500 to get listed and reviewed, I’d often hoped for something more than a simple 4 X out of 5. If someone else doesn’t start to provide better consumer focused software reviews I might have to take on the task myself. Other than for reviews, screencasts are also starting to appear more frequently in blogs, Web help sites and instructional aides. Personally, my first screencast was created using RoboDemo which has since been aquired and rebranded by Macromedia. Now named Captivate, the product makes the creation of screencasts fast and easy. Instead of walking prospects through the same product demo over and over, I can create a screen recording complete with audio in about the same time it would take to deliver two such demos. Other tools do exist, and I’m going to try some of the alternatives in the near future. Screencasts are an effective method for communicating software-related behaviors and processes over the Web. Any company that is onboarding project members mid project would appreciate a library of screencasts to facilitate new staff in getting up to speed from a functional perspective. In this sense, many screencasts can be considered lightwieght CBT (Computer Based Training) modules.