This article does NOT mention SNDK, but it should:
yahoo.cnet.com
Napster popularity boosts gadget
demand
By Rachel Konrad
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
July 31, 2000, 6:50 p.m. PT
Napster's legal pain has become the computer industry's financial gain
as millions of people download digital music to burn onto CDs or
transfer to portable players.
The San Mateo, Calif.-based company is entangled in a daunting legal dispute
with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which wants to
shutter the popular site. And despite an estimated 20 million customers,
Napster can't figure out how to collect revenue from file-swapping technology.
Not so with electronics companies, which are
cashing in on Napster's popularity boom--and even
the publicity surrounding its potential doom.
Although they are careful not to endorse Napster
because of its bitter legal battle, many computer
veterans praise the site for spurring demand for
pricey devices. Regardless of what happens in the
courtroom, experts say Napster has served nobly
as a "killer app"--a catalyst to make people pine
for faster, more expensive computers and related
equipment.
"Napster has created a lot of enthusiasm around
this market," said Mike Reed, vice president of
marketing for S3's Rio division, which sells
portable MP3 players. "It demonstrated that people
want access to digital music online. I hope to see
a lot of ways for people to get digital music online
in the next year. The more access to digital music,
the more this segment grows."
Napster was not the first site that allowed people
to download music free of charge, and many
file-swapping aficionados say that so-called
peer-to-peer technology such as Gnutella is
superior to Napster's server-centric software.
But Napster's 20 million users certainly make it the most popular file-swapping
site. And publicity surrounding its possible demise at the hands of the
recording industry has recently made it a martyred hero to college students
and others.
Demand for MP3 players such as
the Rio, which looks like a
smaller version of the Sony
Walkman and holds MP3s on a
flash-memory card that can be
reused, are partially to blame for
creating a severe dearth of flash
memory--possibly the most
coveted product in the tech
industry this year. With flash
sales expected to climb from
$4.5 billion to $10 billion this
year, manufacturers such as
Intel, Advanced Micro Devices,
Atmel and Fujitsu are expected
to reap substantial revenues.
(there's more -- click on URL above) |
