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Technology Stocks : Creative Labs (CREAF) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alan Chan who wrote (4706)	10/22/1997 9:21:00 PM
From: Jon Tara	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13925

Alan, I'm afraid that I have no idea what you are referring-to regarding the "zones" of a DVD disk. Perhaps this has to do with re-writable disks? I'm also a bit puzzled by some comments here suggesting that the new Creative DVD product is re-writable. While they perhaps may have such a product "in the works" the $350 (or so) kit they recently introduced does NOT have a rewritable drive. I beleive that moving the audio processor onto the CPU would be a very difficult task which nobody is likely to undertake. The CPU chip would be a very hostile environment for the analog circuitry needed for the audio chip. Furthermore, some of the analog circuitry uses considerable chip real-estate, which is at a premium on the CPU chip. (One partial step in the direction of audio-on-the-CPU, though, would be to incorporate an audio chip onto a Pentium-II-like substrate. Could be one of the reasons that Intel has taken this approach. Right now, the only thing on there is the CPU and cache memory. But could video and audio be next?) I'm sure that what Intel would have in mind would be a separate audio chip that could be used in board-level products. Remember that Intel is a board-level producer as well. (In fact, I beleive that they are actually the largest manufacturer of PC board-level products!) At one time there was some speculation here of CREAF as a takeover target, or as a supplier/partner for such an effort. Haven't heard any of that lately. Doesn't hurt spreading rumors, though. :) Intel would be a prime candidate as the acquirer. Remember, they recently purchased a video chip maker. With further diversification, though, I beleive that CREAF would be less receptive to a takeover, but a marketing partnership with a major CPU maker like Intel certainly could be one possible future for Creative's PCI CPU-board-level chips.