It's official, Kaleidescape, the company that started out by offering a high-end (and high-priced) server-based solution for ripping and playing CDs and DVDs and was founded in 2001, has closed its doors and is going out of business. It had expanded into ripping Blu-rays, but spent years in contentious legal battles over copyright issues. More recently, Kaleidescape made strides in cloud-based content delivery by offering downloadable Blu-ray-quality files through its online store, and had even made the leap into UHD/4K. Now, it's curtains for Kaleidescape.
When I read that Kaleidescape was shutting down this morning, I started to dig for evidence it's true. Its website was still up, and the store was open for business. The first bad sign I found (aside from all the forum posts saying that it's so) was the company's Twitter account, which had not been updated since June. The strongest evidence Kaleidescape came from various forum members, and I found myself scrambling to verify the news.
Now, there is no doubt about the company's fate. CE Pro has just posted an interview with Kaleidescape CEO Cheena Srinivasan where he confirms the closure is real and due to a lack of funds. Simply put, the company ran out of money, as hard as that is to believe considering the cost of its gear. The employees got the bad news yesterday, and customers were left to find out the party is over the hard way—by reading the news.
Srinivasan did not address the future of the company's platform and technology in the CE Pro piece. He told the article's author, Julie Jacobson, that "Basically we had sky-rocketing costs, we had the solution, but we had to spend money. We exhausted our financial resources." The article goes on to note that "Moving forward, Srivinasan says the company is assembling a 'small SWAT team' to wrap up the process. 'We’re going to take care of the customer.'"
Is there hope of a resurrection? Srinivasan told CE Pro "My prayer is there comes a buyer out of this, we want to make sure the beautiful work we’ve done doesn’t go to waste. The world deserves to see how close to the finish line we were." Meanwhile, some forum members are suggesting grabbing what you can from the still-operational kaleidescape store, while you still can. It's as sad day for folks who invested in this pricey system and enjoyed the convenience it offered.
Read the complete CE Pro article here: " Kaleidescape is Shutting Down: Interview with CEO Cheena Srinivasan " by Julie Jacobson
When I read that Kaleidescape was shutting down this morning, I started to dig for evidence it's true. Its website was still up, and the store was open for business. The first bad sign I found (aside from all the forum posts saying that it's so) was the company's Twitter account, which had not been updated since June. The strongest evidence Kaleidescape came from various forum members, and I found myself scrambling to verify the news.
Now, there is no doubt about the company's fate. CE Pro has just posted an interview with Kaleidescape CEO Cheena Srinivasan where he confirms the closure is real and due to a lack of funds. Simply put, the company ran out of money, as hard as that is to believe considering the cost of its gear. The employees got the bad news yesterday, and customers were left to find out the party is over the hard way—by reading the news.
Srinivasan did not address the future of the company's platform and technology in the CE Pro piece. He told the article's author, Julie Jacobson, that "Basically we had sky-rocketing costs, we had the solution, but we had to spend money. We exhausted our financial resources." The article goes on to note that "Moving forward, Srivinasan says the company is assembling a 'small SWAT team' to wrap up the process. 'We’re going to take care of the customer.'"
Is there hope of a resurrection? Srinivasan told CE Pro "My prayer is there comes a buyer out of this, we want to make sure the beautiful work we’ve done doesn’t go to waste. The world deserves to see how close to the finish line we were." Meanwhile, some forum members are suggesting grabbing what you can from the still-operational kaleidescape store, while you still can. It's as sad day for folks who invested in this pricey system and enjoyed the convenience it offered.
Read the complete CE Pro article here: " Kaleidescape is Shutting Down: Interview with CEO Cheena Srinivasan " by Julie Jacobson