Sonicblue files for Chap 11

An anonymous reader writes "ReplayTV and Rio maker Sonicblue is a goner, filing for bankruptcy and selling their assets to D&M, the Japanese parent company of Denon and Marantz. No word what will happen to all those Replay users out there -- that $140 deal on Amazon isn't looking so hot now, is it?"

Comments

Re:Poor Sonic :-(

[x_man]

While I'm sad to see the only other real competitor to Tivo go under, my personal experience with SonicBlue was abysmal:

I bought the Rio 600 when it first came out and it's a piece of junk. On the hardware side, the device stopped working after about a week and I had to return it. Also, the batteries constantly discharge even if you don't have the device turned on so after a week of sitting in my workout bag, I still have to recharge the darn thing. The little cassette adapter they sell that you plug into your car stereo has also quit working. On the software side, you're forced to use this horrible, non-intuitive download app to load MP3 files. Luckily, I found the Linux variant and I use that now.

After a few months, I realized 32 MB was nowhere near what I needed so I broke down and ordered the PROPRIETARY memory expansion module - no CompactFlash memory slots here. SonicBlue's online web site ordering mechanism failed to inform me that they were out of stock when I placed my order. Two weeks later I decide to call and only then did they tell me that the device was out of stock. So I canceled my order, or so I thought. I found another web site and ordered the expansion and forgot about SonicBlue for awhile, that is, until four months later when I received a memory expansion box from SonicBlue and my credit card was debited $80 or so.

So I call up Sonic again - believe me you don't want to sit on hold with this company - and finally got the charge reversed and returned the item. And thankfully, that has been the last dealing I've had with SonicBlue.

If Sonic's Replay service was anything like their web ordering and MP3 player divisions, I think it's safe to assume that this company needed to go.

On the lessons learned side of things, always research your tech and open standards can mean the difference between paying $40 for an generic add-on and $80 for the proprietary version.

X

Long Time Coming

[MachineShedFred]

As a former employee that went through the transition from Diamond Multimedia to S3 and eventually to SonicBlue, and being layed off when they decided to close the communications division, I saw this happening two years ago.

Working in the Rio / Comm Division QA labs, I saw that the place to be taking these products was to converge the digital media devices you make with home networking solutions that you also make. There were a few products that made it out the doors that did this (the Dell Digital Audio Receiver and Rio Receiver), and they worked quite well; but soon after, the communications division was to be shut.

In that reorganization, I saw some incredibly talented engineers (who had been around since before Diamond had bought Supra, and were responsible for the incredible SupraFAXModem and SupraSonic lines) laid off and get instantly hired by other companies in the SW Washington / NW Oregon area, such as Sharp Labs, Logitech, and Intel. These people still work there, creating great products.

Now that the age of wireless-in-the-home and broadband networking are upon us, SonicBlue has to buy home networking equipment that they once engineered to incorporate into devices that they once had on the engineering roadmap. Due to incredible mismanagement, along with exorborant costs of moving offices, and newfound competition from the digital audio core market (thanks, Apple!) the strain was too much to bear.

Now I will finally get some form of profit from the Employee Stock Purchase Program, in the form of a failed-investment tax writeoff...