Jonathan Rogers

Soon you know how those old people feel when they mention 8 tracks and get blank stares from young people.

Polaroid has announced they are going to stop producing polaroid instant film and cameras. With the proliferation of digital cameras, sales of polaroids were falling rapidly and keeping the format alive simply wasn’t worth it.

They do appear willing to sell the technology to another company who wants to cater to the instant film enthusiast crowd.

 Meanwhile, Polaroid is seeking a partner to acquire licensing rights for its instant film, in hopes that another firm will continue making the film to supply Polaroid enthusiasts.

In order to keep the brand alive, the company is ditching the instant film and reinventing itself as a digital camera and printing manufacturer.

“We’re trying to reinvent Polaroid so it lives on for the next 30 to 40 years,” Tom Beaudoin, Polaroid’s president, chief operating officer and chief financial officer, said in a phone interview Friday, after the company’s plans were reported in The Boston Globe.

As it seeks to gain a foothold in digital photography this year, Polaroid plans to sell an 8-ounce photo printer slightly bigger than a deck of cards that requires no ink and prints business card-sized pictures. It uses thermal printing technology from Zink Imaging, founded by private investors who bought technologies from Polaroid as it was coming out of bankruptcy.

Polaroid also has its brand name on foreign-made TVs, DVD players, digital photo frames, cameras and MP3 music players. Those products generated nearly $1 billion in revenue last year for Polaroid’s parent firm, Beaudoin said.