The Death of the Flip Camera - What a Big Mistake!

http://http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/14/the-tragic-death-of-the-flip/?ref=personaltechemail&nl=technology&emc=cta1 Although I have had only three occasions to use the Flip Camera, I am totally sold on what a great product it is! As I am not very tech-savvy, I appreciated the user-friendly appeal of the conveniently sized device. I just used the Flip camera yesterday, to capture our kindergarten mega-learning stations event, with about 12 different measurement centers and 44 rotating kindergarteners, over an hour's time. I had never used the Flip without a tripod, and so I was a little doubtful about the quality of the footage I would create. I went from station to station, to try and record the essence of the station's objective - kids having fun learning about various facets of science. I have to say that, in that hour's time, I was able to video each child, engaged in whatever station he or she visited, experimenting, exploring, sharing what was learned with their group members. I must have recorded about 25 different short segments, and I was impressed by what I saw on each one. The picture quality was great - the color and clarity were super! If I decide to use the audio, that was audible in each case. I found that due to the light-weight aspect of the camera, it was so easy to manipulate, as I panned from one child to another. Also, by just the touch of one button as a toggle switch, I could quickly catch special moments on video, which I probably would have missed with a more complex device. As to the New York Times article by David Pogue, I would totally agree with him. He was absolutely correct in giving the Flip camera a '10', for all the reasons I stated above. I didn't know all the 'behind the scenes' reasons that the parent company likely discontinued the Flip. If Pogue's allegations are correct, what a sad decision the company made, on several counts. Getting rid of a great product, eliminating all those employee jobs, not realizing what a gold mine they really have - all ridiculous, from the point of view of those who would be buying such a wonderful product. All future novice videographers will be truly missing out on access to a tool that could ease them into the world of technology. I plan to get as much use out of our school's Flip camera before it dies a natural death - at least ours will have lived a useful life and made this teacher happy!