Is the Kickstarter (crowd funding) model the future, or is it a fad?

Crowd funding has been getting a lot of attention lately. Especially with projects like the Ouya which raised $1 million in under 9 hours and, as of this writing, is at $4,744,299; or the Pebble watch which raised over $10 million after being rejected by venture capitalists.

Do you think this is a good way to get funding? Things are going well now, but happens when some of these projects fail to deliver and people can’t get their money back? Is the risk worth it? Is this a passing fad? Will it become a more popular alternative to getting investment funding?

Have you invested in a project? What was your experience?