In an email letter sent to all its members Zing.com has confirmed that it will be shutting down permenently as of July 2, 2001. However, what's new in this letter is that Zing are encouraging users to transfer their images to Ofoto (who are of course now owned by Kodak, oh, the irony). Zing users will soon have a 'Transfer to Ofoto' option which will transfer images directly to Ofoto. The question now of course is whether Ofoto can cope with the thousands of users transferring all their images... These are interesting times. NOTE: FotoTime also supports import from other photo sharing sites.

Here's a useful guide to photo sharing sites: Guide to Free Online Photo Albums

Here's the content of that letter:

Dear Zing user,

With the greatest regret we must inform you that, as of July 2, 2001, the Zing.com service will be shutting down permanently. After this date, your photos will no longer be available on Zing.com.

We understand how important your pictures are to you, and are pleased to announce that we have arranged for Ofoto, a Kodak company and the leading online photo service, to be the ongoing resource for all your future online photography needs.

Ofoto, a subsidiary of Eastman Kodak, is a fun and secure way for you to continue enjoying your photos online. Ofoto is an excellent long-term solution for all your online photography needs, including sharing, online storage and ordering high-quality prints.

Zing members who become Ofoto members for the first time will receive 15 free 4 x 6" print credits, as well as an exclusive introductory offer of 20% off every purchase at Ofoto between now and July 31, 2001.* Click here to join Ofoto and get started.

To help with the transfer of your photos from Zing to Ofoto, we have developed methods for you to retrieve your images from our site before July 2nd:

· Picture Downloader - Available for all Windows and Macintosh users, the Picture Downloader allows you to pull your images off the Zing site and into a local directory on your computer, where they will be organized by album. You can download and install the Picture Downloader application from the link above, or any of the other Picture Downloader links on the site.

· Save To Your Machine - Clicking this link takes you to a page that displays all your images. If your images do not all fit on a single page you may see multiple pages. From here, you can save each image individually or, if you are using Internet Explorer 5.0, you can save all of the images displayed on the page.

· Transfer to Ofoto - We're working with Ofoto to allow you to transfer those images you want to share or print directly to Ofoto. Please check back here soon for more details.

If you decide to download your images from Zing rather than use the direct transfer method, you can upload to Ofoto those images you want to share or print using their free OfotoNowTM software, now available on our site. OfotoNow is a convenient way to upload your images all at once, and it also comes with easy-to-use photo editing tools.

We at Zing will miss the wonderful interaction with you, our members, and regret any inconvenience this may cause. Thank you for all your support, and may you continue to enjoy your photos online.

Sincerely,

David Ezequelle, CEO Zing Network, Inc.