Photofocus

By Rich Harrington — Follow Rich on Twitter

Adobe has just announced that they are closing down its Photoshop.com storage and sharing service as well as Photoshop Elements membership areas.  They instead are migrating client accounts to their other service called Revel (formerly Carousel).

Here are some quotes from the Adobe site/press release (as well as my commentary and analysis).

“When we launched Photoshop.com five years ago, you told us you were excited about having access to your photos even when you weren’t in front of your computer.”

The idea was good…  but the space was of course MORE than crowded.

“The world has changed so much in the last five years — from how you take photos, to the type of ‘camera’ you use, to how you share those photos with family and friends. We believe you deserve the best possible experience regardless of the device you’re using. We’ve been working hard to provide just that with Revel. Today, Revel is based on a modern technology platform and includes apps for iOS, Mac, and the web. You have the convenience of storing all your photos and accessing them on virtually any device, and you have the ability to effortlessly create and share beautiful web galleries. For those who wish to edit their photos, the apps feature an editor that’s based on industry-leading Adobe technology.”

Hopefully apps for other platforms (like Android) as well as direct camera integration will emerge.  In my experience, Revel is still a little rough around the edges, but hopefully this consolidation will give it more resources to properly develop the platform.

Here’s the recent reviews from the Mac App Store… looks like they’re going more in the right direction.

Of concern… Mac only.  But they offer signup links and promise Windows and Android soon.

There is a free version of the service (limited to 50 images a month) and a paid unlimited version ($5.99 per month).  To me, it seems a bit expensive for a service that is currently JPEG only.

The move starts automatically beginning April 2, 2013.

If you use Photoshop.com or the Elements subscription service, consider the following steps (and deadlines).

• April 2 – June 18, 2013:We’ll be moving your JPEG photos to Revel.
• June 18, 2013:Photoshop.com storage and sharing services will close.

If your library contains file formats other than JPEG photos, please be sure to download your complete Photoshop.com library before June 18, 2013, as Revel doesn’t yet support the following file types – any video, PSD, RAW, ACR, PNG, TIFF. Archive now.

To find out more on the closing, see this FAQ.

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