Products C-Labs Founded 2002 | Website Cdigix.com Type of business Private | |
 | ||
Key people Larry Jacobson Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer Headquarters Seattle, Washington, United States | ||
Cdigix, formerly known as Cflix, was a digital media provider for institutions of higher education. The company ceased operations at the end of 2008, citing the difficult economic times. It was, at one time, an online music store, serving as a content provider for college students. Their software allowed students to access media such as recorded lectures, podcasts, and educational films from any computer with an internet connection.
Contents
History
Cdigix was founded initially as Cflix, a college campus test pilot for major studio movie rentals. The company soon shifted gears to a music subscription service and later "introduced" the online movie service featuring video content from major studios and distributors. In 2002, Cdigix launched the music subscription service Ctrax as a response to the widespread illicit file sharing on college campuses. This coincided with the record and film industries’ campaigns against such actions. Starting with Duke University, Cdigix eventually provided 75 universities and colleges music service for their students. At one point, Ctrax carried more than two million songs from every major label. Due to Cdigix servers being deployed within campus networks and the introduction of fiber enhanced school networks, on-campus downloads were blazingly fast. Complaints about the lack of iPod support from college students led to a waning interest in the service as the iPod gained mass distribution. On the contrary, student owners of Microsoft compatible MP3 players often responded positively.
In February 2007, with former RealNetworks COO Larry Jacobson as CEO, Cdigix announced that it was pulling the college music service from all universities, shifting their focus to other services, primarily an educational content delivery service that allows students to view multimedia for their classes.
Cdigix "quietly ceased operations" at the end of December 2008, with a "lack of clients and an inability to raise money to continue" as its main reasons for dissolving. The president and COO of Cdigix, Mark Brodsky (now at Deltak edu), also mentioned the poor economic situation playing a large factor in the company's decision to end all operations.
Media Player
In October 2006, Cdigix launched the Cdigix Media Player, which represented a shift away from a web-based music store to a software based model. The Cdigix Media Player was based on JRiver Media Center and allowed subscribers to download and play music. The player and subsequently the service faced criticisms on several points including the size of the library when compared to competitors like Apple's iTunes Store, media having to be periodically renewed, poor support for external devices, stringent digital rights management, and incompatibility with certain operating systems.