'Catch Notes' to Suspend Service on August 30

[MacRumors]

Notetaking and archiving service Catch Notes has announced that it will be shutting down service on August 30. The service is providing current users instructions on how to obtain stored documents from its server in the form of ZIP or CSV downloads, and is also optimizing the files for use in other note-taking services such as Evernote and Simplenote.

Catch has made the difficult decision to take the company in a different direction. As such, we will be terminating service next month. We value our users and have greatly enjoyed providing Catch to millions of people over the last several years, but it is time for us to move on.

Catch Notes [Direct Link] originally launched in February 2010 and earned various accolades, including being featured on Apple's "New and Noteworthy" list for apps. The app currently holds a combined four star rating across all versions in the App Store, although the most recent version released just a few days ago has been hit with poor reviews due to crashing issues.

Article Link: 'Catch Notes' to Suspend Service on August 30

 

[Accipiter]

Then it would seem to be that they're terminating their service, not suspending it.

 

[Brandon263]

Catch Notes is doomed.

 

['Arry]

Another day, another proprietary service announces it won't be taking care of your life any more.

When will we learn?

The only sustainable future is in standards-based services that allow you to transfer all data and settings in a user-portable package to another provider, whether in the cloud or on your own machine.

 

[Baumi]

Another day, another proprietary service announces it won't be taking care of your life any more.

When will we learn?

The only sustainable future is in standards-based services that allow you to transfer all data and settings in a user-portable package to another provider, whether in the cloud or on your own machine.

From the article:

The service is providing current users instructions on how to obtain stored documents from its server in the form of ZIP or CSV downloads, and is also optimizing the files for use in other note-taking services such as Evernote and Simplenote.

Sounds perfectly fine to me, or am I missing something?

 

['Arry]

Sounds perfectly fine to me, or am I missing something?

Catch users got lucky that their provider is making this available. There is nothing in the T&Cs of these companies to guarantee that they would do this in the event of the service being shut down. Even if they do make some provision, it may not be as compatible with other services as you'd like.

This case is just another reminder that these services are provided only as long as they are profitable to the owner, and there's very little you can do to protect the investment of time you've put into your data.

 

[maxosx]

Another day, another proprietary service announces it won't be taking care of your life any more.

When will we learn?

The only sustainable future is in standards-based services that allow you to transfer all data and settings in a user-portable package to another provider, whether in the cloud or on your own machine.

I used Catch, it was fast and quite good.

However I only used it for files that did not contain personal / confidential data. Catch was used as a convenient tool for notes.

All my personal data resides on my personal server, backed up both onsite and off. Not connected to the internet, it's completely secure. Local storage is something I've never abandoned, nor do I plan to no matter how "secure" the cloud is.

----------

Sounds perfectly fine to me, or am I missing something?

No, you're not missing anything. It was very fast and easy for me to take my data and move it. Less than 15 minutes, when one's prepared it's no big deal.

 

[g88bo]

is there anyone else who thinks it's a little suspicious that they end a program which icon looks very similar to the upcoming iphone 5C (<- [C] ) just days or weeks before it should get announced?

 

[theBB]

The only sustainable future is in standards-based services that allow you to transfer all data and settings in a user-portable package to another provider, whether in the cloud or on your own machine.

I definitely agree.

I just started using Catch a few weeks ago. It had the best UI among all the apps I looked into and it gave me the option of accessing my notes through the web for compatibility across different platforms even if I'd need that infrequently. I am basically looking for something as simple as Apple's Notes app, but with folders and the ability to attach multiple pictures to each note.

Catch seemed the best app for my purposes with only one caveat. I wanted the ability to export my data, in addition to emailing each note one by one. Their website was silent on this capability, so I only added a few notes and did not sign up for their paid service. (Way too expensive for casual use anyways. I could pay $5 a year, but $5 a month is too much.) I am sure I was not the only one who was reluctant to use such an app backed by a small developer with uncertain financial resources. They could have improved their chances in the marketplace if they looked less proprietary.

Even now with their ZIP option, it is not clear to me whether each note in a space will come out as a nice rtf file which has universal support or as a bunch of pictures for each attached picture along with one txt file for the typed portions. It is also not clear whether the app would keep on working with my locally saved notes even if the syncing and web interface will obviously be gone at the end of the month. In any case, I gotta find another nice app.

 

[Eduardo1971]

is there anyone else who thinks it's a little suspicious that they end a program which icon looks very similar to the upcoming iphone 5C (<- [C] ) just days or weeks before it should get announced?

Wow; someone has way too much time on their hands.

 

[thebeans]

is there anyone else who thinks it's a little suspicious that they end a program which icon looks very similar to the upcoming iphone 5C (<- [C] ) just days or weeks before it should get announced?

What?? Are you on dope?!!?? But seriously, everything with a C must now go away so Apple can have all of them? One leg is both the same for sure.

 

[pickaxe]

What?? Are you on dope?!!?? But seriously, everything with a C must now go away so Apple can have all of them? One leg is both the same for sure.

Yep. Can't wait for the new ht One with Google hrome.

 

[Shrink]

is there anyone else who thinks it's a little suspicious that they end a program which icon looks very similar to the upcoming iphone 5C (<- [C] ) just days or weeks before it should get announced?

Wait...all you doubters.

I think this post could be right on the mark.

Really....

No kidding...

 

[Razeus]

I heard of this news a few days ago. Too bad for them. I really liked that app. Was going to use it to replace Evernote

 

[glutenenvy]

Cloud based entertainment is sustainable and makes a lot of sense. Content changes all the time and you probably will not ever feel like crying when something is lost.

For businesses in a stationary location, cloud based business and service is questionable proposition. You can often do with less staff but is your data safe from hackers? Are you sure it is safe? Is internet up 99.9999% so your business can run? What if the place closes? Where is the help to transfer when the doors of the cloud service are shuttering? A notes

We're going to see this more as new providers gamble on becoming one of the biggies or being purchased by one and not making it sustainable in the process.

Hopefully the next try will work out better for them.

 

[Chrjy]

That's the problem these days, it's such a tough market out there now for app developers with so many available, hopefully they can succeed in their next venture.

I use NotesBox which looks good and allows you to create folders, although it's only available for iPhone at the moment, hopefully this will change in the future.

 

[charlituna]

is there anyone else who thinks it's a little suspicious that they end a program which icon looks very similar to the upcoming iphone 5C (<- [C] ) just days or weeks before it should get announced?

Take off the tin foil. If it was just the icon (assuming that is the name for the new phone) they would change the icon.

The real issue is likely that services like Evernote have gotten way popular and they couldn't keep up. It's a bit of a pity that someone like Evernote didn't buy them and then gently mend them into that other service. Or even Apple. They might have been able to leverage it into their own iCloud Notes, Reading List etc

 

[theBB]

No, you're not missing anything. It was very fast and easy for me to take my data and move it. Less than 15 minutes, when one's prepared it's no big deal.

The options are to export the data to another proprietary service and most of the instructions end with a note that says images will not be imported, awesome. Exporting a folder as a ZIP will get you your text and images in separate files, so if you want to form your notes again, you need to rewrite them all. I don't quite see how being prepared makes much of a difference. If the files were exported as RTF files, that could be valuable, assuming you could find another note taking service that could read RTF files, but everybody is trying to lock their users.

Another practical option is to email each note to Evernote to @notebook, but EN started asking for money to have offline access to your own notes, no thanks...

 

[infinitech]

More suspensions from those above

 

[palpatine]

It's too bad to see a note-taking option go away, but there are some nice alternatives out there like Evernote (everything is easily exportable as HTML) or VoodooPad (also easily exportable as HTML and TXT). I have migrated in and out of Evernote and VoodooPad quite easily, they run well on OSX/iOS, and they are inexpensive (Evernote is free).

Against competition like this, Catch really needed to do a lot more. I had an account, but couldn't see any way that it was superior to its competitors. I think they were just a little too late to the game.

 

[Catlanta]

So frustrating!

I'm so sad! So mad! After looking endlessly for a note taking app with BOTH tags and folders to organize my prolific note making, I found Catch and was loving it. After the announcement I started the daunting task of finding a replacement. I don't want to pay for an Evernote Premium subscription to get the organizing features that were inherent in Catch. And I use other apps for Tasks. I need something for jotting down and ORGANIZING ideas, thoughts. I use Notability on my iPad and love it but they don't have a smartphone version. I checked out NotesBox - thanks, Chrjy - but it doesn't come close to Catch's cool interface. Nor does it seem to have tagging. There simply isn't anything that can replace Catch for me. I want to beg them to bring it back or sell it to someone!

 

[Reason077]

Notetaking and archiving service Catch Notes has announced that it will be shutting down service on August 30.

The correct term for this - to shut down a popular service with little notice and with no good reason other than you can't be bothered to maintain it any more - is "to do a Google".

e.g.:

"Catch Notes just laid down a Google"
or
"Catch Notes just Googled all over its users"