Sony kills Grouper: say hello to Crackle

Sony's flailing attempts to get some traction in the online media space continue on today, as the company has announced that it's shuttering its video-sharing site Grouper and relaunching it as Crackle. We can't say we're surprised -- although Sony bought Grouper last year for a cool $65 mil, it's not like it was ever a real threat to YouTube, drawing just 4.3 million viewers the month it was acquired. The new site, Crackle, aims to be something of a filmmaking incubator -- uploaded videos can be entered in contests and judged by panels of editors, with the promise of up to $20,000 in additional funding and pitch meetings with Columbia Pictures execs for the winners. On top of that, Crackle content will be made available on the Playstation Network and Bravia sets that have the Bravia Internet Link accessory -- which isn't exactly the type of vertical integration from Sony we've been hoping for, but it's a start. Crackle went live as of today, any bets on how long it'll last?

[Fatima @ Jul 16th 2007 11:05PM]

They should really concentrate on a iTunes type store for PSP, PS3.
That has non DRM music, now then they would get lots of respect. And a HD movie rental service thats cheaper than the PoS XBL ones would be cool.

[humpty @ Jul 16th 2007 11:27PM]

I use the PS3 web browser to find and download music using google:

intitle:"index of" (mp3|mp4) songname - html -php -htm -asp -js

You download straight to your hdd.. no guff.

[ssuk @ Jul 17th 2007 8:45AM]

Sony wouldn't go for DRM-free stuff. 1) The RIAA would bitch and bitch at them for using their... I mean, their artist's music DRM free so they wont have to pay for it multipul times. 2) Sony are big on DRM. 3) People loooove putting DRM on things for no reason what so ever (see: BBC iPlayer bullshit).
As much as a DRM free sollution would be nice, today's age of bullshit makes it near-impossible to do. And they wonder why Piracy is up...

[Rob @ Jul 16th 2007 11:12PM]

Although I agree with you, I really doubt that Sony will put together a DRM-free store. That's just not their style, as history shows it. I'm not bashing them, as I own their PlayStation products. But, so far, they haven't shown any indication in taking that route.

Sony needs to allow their engineers to step outside their labs and let them enjoy the sun a bit. They're putting out products with great potential, but go underutilized because of all the restrictions around them.

Come on Sony, start listening your customers for a change.

[kingofwale @ Jul 16th 2007 11:55PM]

*sighs*, if it was Apple instead of Sony, I bet the title would read. "Apple rescue Grouper: born Crackle"

[nikster @ Jul 17th 2007 1:25AM]

Thats because it would have been true. Sony hasn't had a real success since the PS2. Apple has been flying ever since the iPod.

that said - .Mac still sucks. Can't wait until it gets the Google makeover.

[NineT9 @ Jul 17th 2007 1:56AM]

Sony hasn't has success since the PS2???? holy sh*t thats the most crazy comment ive ever read! wow that is truly amazing someone can think that!

I don't even know where to began to prove you wrong... I don't even think im going to bother... buddy go wiki/google Sony and find out some facts about the company and how their doing, then come back here and provide facts to backup your ignorant statement "Sony hasn't had success since the PS3", ha nice1

[yoshi @ Jul 17th 2007 12:15AM]

yawn....

[michael @ Jul 17th 2007 12:36AM]

Sounds kinda interesting. YouTube has spun off a few stars. Like Terra Naomi and her "Say It's Possible" song made her kinda famous.

Crackle could make you famous, and get you cash. Sounds kinda neat, if they do it right. I wasn't even aware Grouper was owned by Sony. Nor did it do anything more amazing.

Other video-sharing sites that I found that were interesting:

MSN Soapbox: All Flash. Works real nice. Video player stay in one side, and you can search while you watch with no problems. Real slick. Still in beta, but it's real nice: http://soapbox.msn.com/

Viddler - Mainly because the video player is neat, and cna do tons of stuff, and you can embed tags within the video: http://www.viddler.com/

BrightCove - First video-sharing site made for users in mind. Great player, and style: http://www.brightcove.com/

Just thought you might be interested.

[severus @ Jul 17th 2007 10:10AM]

I am a serious troll in need of some sweet, sweet spam: [e-mail]

[strider_mt2k @ Jul 17th 2007 6:40AM]

Crackle is wackle, yo.

werd

[ratnikh @ Jul 17th 2007 7:25PM]

A) Retarded name.

B) Sony has the most intensely piss-poor marketing and public relations. Evar.

C) Sony is renowned for their unwavering stance on DRM, proprietary formats and poor security-software choices.

D) Sony has already proven themselves to be untrustworthy in the blog/vlog community (see B).

E) Although Sony is now marketing a handheld digicam that preformats video to "Crackle" format, who would like to place bets on the ineroperability of their online video formats, the plugins required to use it, or software/membership costs associated with creating/uploading "premium" content (that can be judged/promoted)?

F) Read the fine print before submitting your work, lest you find you've lost all rights to it by handing it over to Sony in perpetuity.

Summary: Sony is a non-web savvy bunch of greedy liars and thieves. Stay away from Crackle and stick to Youtube, Myspace or other free blogs. If your work is good, people will take notice.

[madcrabs @ Jul 17th 2007 8:57PM]

Word. That would be my plan. They have an online movie site, a music download service. I believe they still own Acid, which allows you to create your own music and videos. Why don't they incorporate this junk into the PSN?

[narcszm @ Jul 22nd 2007 11:51PM]

Crack LE