Beta Readers

I was wondering if anyone has ever participated in beta reading?

And if you did, did it benefit you either by doing the reading or having one of your ms's read?

I was reading something on a site, so I was just curious.

Not sure what a beta reader is.

I belong to a critique group. We all read each others stuff and comment on it.

That is a tremendous help.

Beta testing? You know what that is? Its when you test something, a product or machine, to make sure you have all the bugs worked out and to find ways to improve it.

Beta reading is the same thing. In particular, Beta readers are those who read stories and give opinions for improvement. It's not a "critic", who evaluates a story for its goodness... its an editor, tester, and critic all-in-one. Beta readers are typically used to help fix up a story that you know will/might need it. Not like a critic who reviews a finished product.