you tube stops

Sometimes when I watch a you tube video it stops for a while in the middle, then resumes after a few seconds wait. Then is usually stops periodically. Is this because my internet connection is too slow (Earthlink DSL)? Or is there some setting in the Macbook that is not optimal?

As you guess it's most likely your slow internet. Most streaming videos you watch on the internet will have two progress bars. One tells you were you are in the video while the other tells you how much of the video has been downloaded.

If the first bar catches up to the second bar then you have to wait for more of the video to download before you can watch it. This is why it pauses. You can't watch something that hasn't been downloaded. Either get a faster internet or pause the video so the video buffer size can become greater for less choppy playback. The slower your internet the longer you will have to wait for a good sized buffer.

I agree with EndlessMac. That screams bandwidth issue with your internet There are times when you tube is overloaded with people that some videos take longer than others but almost every time I have seen it pause and wait for You Tube to catch up, it's been the users Internet connection is not fast enough.

How fast is your DSL supposed to be? I am only running 3Mbps DSL here and never have that issue. The bar showing the download is always way ahead of the one showing where I am in the video. If I go to a friends with 768 Kbps DSL, it pretty much like you are describing. When over there I just let the video load then click play.