Akimbo cancels boxes and media center

[gaarcham]

Akimbo is stopping support of the RCA boxes, and the Windows Media Center on August 1st. They are only supporting their own software. This stinks because you won't be able to stream it through the Xbox 360.

I do give them credit though. They are refunding lifetime memberships, minus the $10 a month you would have paid. I have never heard of a company doing this before.

I know Akimbo isn't popular on here, but it's been a nice addition to my free tv.

I don't know if this will work very well though, given that Joost will have a larger library, and it's free.

 

[thxdan]

This stinks because you won't be able to stream it through the Xbox 360.

Actually, you can! Any shows or movies that you download via the Akimbo PC software can be streamed to your Xbox 360, as long as you have the new "Spring '07" free Xbox update.

On any XP or Vista PC, download the Akimbo software, get a title or two, then share the folder that's holding the WMVs using Windows Media Player 11. It will stream the DRM-protected content to your XBox and your TV--even the Akimbo HD content.

Right now, the metadata isn't displayed on the Xbox, but that's something that we're looking into improving.

-Dan

 

[bidger`]

I don't know if this will work very well though, given that Joost will have a larger library, and it's free.

I'm not sure once Joost is out of beta that it will still be free, but if it is, I'll be happy to keep using it.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Usually when a service goes down the screw all the people who have already paid!

 

[gaarcham]

Thanks for the info on the 360. I used that feature with itunes podcast, just didn't think about Akimbo.

My understanding was that Joost will be supported by ads. But that could definately be wrong.

I know that companies usually screw the people that paid. That is the one really good thing Akimbo is doing. Now if they can just get the same channels on the PC version. I'll miss the Discovery networks.

 

[Brewer4]

I tried the service on my Media Center a few times and it wasn't bad. However, it just seemed to disappear. Marketing dried up and there was no link when I installed Vista. It never really caught on for me since they just didn't sign any major provider deals.