Vimeo quietly shakes up world of video players for small business websites

Vimeo is increasingly being used by small businesses to showcase website video on shared hosting packages, dedicated servers and reseller hosting platforms.
While it still lags far behind YouTube in terms of user penetration, it is often the first choice for website owners who wish to elegantly display business video to a qualified audience.

The Google Insights graph chart above shows you just how far YouTube remains ahead in terms of search engine queries. However, Vimeo is not letting YouTube dictate its future with recent news that it has revamped its video player to include an Enhancer tool that enables users to add music to videos inside its Music Store.  This does not require any video editing and takes less than 3 seconds to implement.
“You can even adjust the music and video volume levels like a DJ working the crossfader at the club. The Enhancer is quite powerful, but also incredibly easy to use: If you know how to drag and drop, you can rock the Enhancer,” said Vimeo.
According to Vimeo, SmartSound is now supplying over 4,000 tracks as part of a new partner program. Of course, this service is not free.
“SmartSound tracks are designated by the cute little gear icon in Music Store. They cost $1.99 each with a personal license, or $19.99 each with a commercial license, which either way is a lot cheaper than hiring a fleet of kazooists.”
Vimeo has also announced the following updates to its player:

• Jump-to-anywhere player — Skip to the middle of a video or see how it all ends
• A new site just for developers — Especially for code jockeys and API aficionados
• Recommended members to follow — We can help you make new friends
• Improved stats design — Enjoy a more handsome view of some hard data
• New logged-out homepage — This is where we tell people what makes us the best
• Forum redesign — We made it easier to find the info you need
• “Private” banner on private videos — So you always know who can see what