MP3/CREAF gets major publicity in N.Y. Times 4-24-99
Top of Saturday 4-24-99 Business section, long article, very
favorable.
nytimes.com
Required reading for CREAF followers...........
-------------------partial quote---------NY Times 4-24-99------
April 24, 1999
Pirate-Proof Music on Web? So Far, That
Does Not Compute
By NEIL STRAUSS
---------------------------------
"For example, Creative Labs, whose SoundBlaster card became a de
facto standard for computer audio in the early 1990s, is a consortium
member, but it is not sitting around waiting for a green light from the
recording industry. The company is well into development of its own
portable MP3 player, the Nomad, which it plans to begin selling this
summer. As for releasing a player by Christmas that is compliant with the
digital music initiative, the company now says it is undecided.
"We're definitely interested," said
Hock Leow, vice president of
Creative Labs' multimedia division.
"But it depends on how difficult it is
to implement their specification. If it's
very hard for consumers to use, or
cost prohibitive, I don't think we'll
manufacture it."
There are areas where both sides feel compromise may be possible. For
example, on the MP3 front, one proposal is a sunset model, which would
result in players that would initially play unprotected MP3 files but would
stop playing them after some agreed-upon time, perhaps 18 months. This
plan assumes that future formats -- with the wrapper of the new security
standard around them -- will supplant MP3." |
