It’s sad news that Digital Railroad is shutting its doors. They were good people who meant well. Unfortunately, I don’t think they focused on the right people. They paid a lot of attention to photographers, but not as much (at least it looked like it from the outside!) to the photo-buyers. I had to use the DRR interface twice to judge the APA contest and both times it was awkward and confusing to build a lightbox, order the images in the box, etc. I’m no technical geek, but I’m not a total n00b either. I had concerns about that and when I was approached by them personally about my advocation for Livebooks, I told them I didn’t think that they were in the same department as LB. To me, as an end-user like a photo-buyer, DRR was a stock image library system company whereas Livebooks is a website design company.
Maybe, technically, DRR was superior to anything out there, but it looked less than slick. I think that bit them in the butt a lot. Image counts for a hell of a lot in this industry.
But, as I said earlier, the people meant well and were sincere in their desire to help photographers. I hope they manage to shut down with grace and without screwing over those who stuck with them to the end. And I hope all the DRR people land on their feet.
*****UPDATE: Apparently my hopes aren’t gonna happen. They’re shutting down their servers in less than 24 hours and seriously screwing their clients. Note I didn’t write “ex-clients” because the photographers have the expectation of being active clients until they get their files moved.
Shame on DRR for acting like this–it shows a totally self-centered way of thinking. Okay, so your company is eff’ed, that doesn’t mean you need to drag others down on your way out.
