Founded in 1992 originally as "Latshaw Software", Latshaw Systems has
slowly expanded to a customer base that now spans 54 countries around
the globe. Latshaw Software's first products in 1992 included a BBS add-on,
a DOS menu which utilized the (then new) VGA graphics standard, and a program for
tracking video tape collections. In August of 1993, Bob Latshaw moved to Selbyville,
Delaware, opening a computer store in Ocean City, Maryland, and eventually moving
the location to Fenwick Island, Delaware. From 1993 to 1998 during the years
on the coast, Latshaw Software began work on developing software for the newly popularized
Windows operating system, converting the old DOS app that tracked video collections
into an app that tracked virtually every form of physical media, calling it "All
Media Library". All Media Library won various awards from industry icons
like Windows Magazine and ZDNet. After moving back to Baltimore in 1998, Bob
took various corporate programming and consulting positions with companies like
Prometric, Catalyst IT Services, and eventually on the new intranet system
to track Baltimore County School system records.
In 2002, Latshaw Software and its 2 commercial products were sold to another company
after the infamous collapse of the tech industry. The same year, Bob began
suffering from kidney stones, which after some research on the internet, found that
drinking beer once a week is actually a cure for kidney stones (yes its true), so
he decided to go out once a week and "clean" his kidneys. On the
very first week, a friend invited him to a local bar that had karaoke.
Long story short, Bob had found a new hobby after discovering the joys of
singing karaoke.
The following night, the same friend took him to a place called "The Ridge
Inn" where he began to come sing on a regular basis. Being a computer
programmer since the age of 9, Bob had converted his entire music
CD collection to the new MP3 format on his computer as early as 1999. After
finding karaoke in 2002, he began working with local KJs helping them convert their
karaoke discs to the new MP3+G format. The process of building music and karaoke
libraries presented a few problems when it came to synchronizing the collections,
creating song books, and properly naming files, and he couldn't seem to find
existing products that did the job effectively. He developed a couple of programs
that fixed some of the problems and initially began letting KJ friends around Baltimore
use them. As the products developed, it became clear that KJs outside of Baltimore
could probably use them as well. Even though he was reluctant after the previous
Latshaw Software venture and the dot com bubble burst a few years earlier, in the
summer of 2005, Bob buckled down, bought the latshawsystems.com domain name, and
as they say "The rest is history..."
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