

Early access means getting access to the game prior to its 1.0 release. It also usually means you can provide feedback to the dev(s) and help shape the game’s development. EA games can also be priced less than their 1.0 launch price.
Shortcomings of the system are mainly that there’s no guarantee the game will be finished or the dev may just slap 1.0 on it and call it done, despite it being in an unfinished state.
I don’t know if there’s a way to “fix” the system and I think it works well for the most part. I think people need to not buy into hype so quickly and also be aware that they’re buying an unfinished product that has no guarantee of actually being completed.



A few more that haven’t been mentioned yet:
Alton Brown - cooking mad scientist
How Money Works - how the rich bastards of the world are screwing the rest of us over
Adam Savage’s Tested - the Mythbusters guy’s channel for building things, talking with other makers, videos on movie props, models, and similar items