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Creative Boycotts CeBit Over MP3s
underwhelm writes "According to ZDNet, Creative Labs is boycotting CeBit because the trade show has banned all MP3-related devices, presumably at the behest of the 'content industry.'"
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CeBIT and Creative were argueing about the target audience. MP3 and copyright issues were *not* the problem, a very loud consumer-oriented booth was. CeBIT wants to become a business fair (again), but Creative wants to attract consumers.
As someone who has worked on CeBIT as booth personnel, let me tell you that multimedia booths are a real problem. There are regulations against too loud exhibitors, but many companies on CeBIT don't care. The organizers are now trying to enforce these rules a little bit more.
CeBIT did *not* ban Creative, but *Creative* decided not to be there. Instead, Creative will be on next years' largest German consumer fair, the "Funkausstellung". This fair is not a specific IT business fair, but targets your average TV / vcr / dvd / stereo / videogame consumer.
I *am* getting a bit nervous about Slashdot's namecalling recently.
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You may like my a cappella music
I just can't believe it...What would you think if SIGGRAPH banned jpeg? This insane!
Beware the dangerous codec!!!
Please, think about the future. Consider Vorbis instead.
It's "out of the frying pan and into the fire" if you stick with MP3. [remember the patents?]
DNA just wants to be free...
I recently attended a conference and the Australian Online Musics industry. There was one panel on 'Digital Downloads' that demonstrated just this sort of mentality on the part of high-moment-of-inertia-type music executives, most of them were talking about how MP3 wasn't the appropriate format and then proceeded to plug their own ideas on the subject. One proposal even involved encoding the music with "unbreakable" encryption and requiring a user to log on to a central server for the key.
Finally one of the panel stood up and said. I'm sorry, MP3s are here you're too late. There is hardware available, consumers like it and it has already been adopted as the defacto standard. You have no place to decide whether it gets adopted or not.
I stood up and clapped.
:wq
Oh... Wait...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Just FYI, the SB Live! MP3+ soundcard doesn't have hardware mp3 compression/decompression. That's a common mistake, many people make it. The reason it's called the "MP3+" is merely because of the software bundle, which contains mp3 software--just as the "X-Gamer" version contains gaming software. You may as well just buy the plain Live! Value OEM and save money though, since it's basically the same card and there is plenty of mp3 software readily available and the bundle with the X-Gamer version has older games which can be picked up cheap if you really want them--but if you really wanted them you'd have them already, they're so old.
I myself got the Live! Value OEM, and am very happy with it. I just wish I could have afforded the Live! Platinum, since the LiveDrive is both cool and useful. I mean, having all those audio connections mounted on a front drive bay is just plain cool looking, plus I'm always reaching behind the computer to switch audio connections anyway since I use it for a DVD player (Hollywood+ cards rock).
But, the very idea of banning any mp3 players at CeBit is just disgusting. I mean, it's just a type of audio player, which you can use with your own paid-for CDs after all, just as you can legally make a mix tape or CD from CDs and tapes you bought. Funny how they're not banning MiniDisc devices, since they can be used to pirate music too with any soundcard that has an SP/DIF connector--just decompress the mp3s and burn them to MiniDisc. But, oh, wait, Sony makes a fortune from every MiniDisc device and media sold, so it's okay to have them present.
And yes, Sony makes mp3 players, but half-heartedly--after all, at least one of their "mp3 players" requires that mp3 files be converted to the proprietary Sony "ATRAC" format before downloading them to the player. This takes time and effort and makes the files almost twice as large as a normal mp3. They obviously want to make it more complicated than necessary to use their mp3 players, so that customers will switch back to CDs and MiniDiscs. And, am I the only one who notices the ironic sound of "ATRAC," so similar to the doomed "8-track" format? Arrgh, the more I learn about Sony, the more I start to think that they're the most evil corporation this side of the future "Disney's AOL/Time-Warner" which I'm convinced will happen one day... They introduce a proprietary format for everything, in the attempt to keep people from using better, open formats--like trying to get their new 1.3GB CDs to be used by consumers instead of the better DVD and DVD-R formats which they are actively trying to hamper.
But, I digress. All I can say is, you can bet that Sony had a hand in ensuring that mp3 devices would be banned from Cebit. I personally buy nothing Sony, and nothing by another brand which I know is made for them by Sony.
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws."--Tacitus, *The Annals*
Thank you very much for your e-mail!
We would like to inform you that we in fact never banned MP3 Players or the MPEG storage format from CeBIT. There will be around 25 companies in hall 9 this yearshowing MP3 players.
ObviouslyCreativeLabs released a press article serveral days ago, saying that they are cancelling the CeBIT becausewe excluded MP3players from our nomenclature. This isdefinately not true and wedo not understand the reasons for such an article.
Sincerely
Deutsche Messe AG
Interesting, no?
Having spent the better part of the last four months on a project to build an mp3 player for commerical sale, I can tell you that this statement is WRONG. MP3 is incredibly expensive, and if Fraunhoeffer don't want you to license it, you won't.
Commercial decoding:
15k annual pre-pay + 2.50 / item shipped.
Commercial encoding:
Their object code:
15k annual
$250k minimum
$5.00/copy shipped
Their patents:
15k annual
$2.50/copy shipped.
This is US dollars. I hardly consider this "free" by any means. They have over 13 patents on the format alone, who cares if you can encode it? You can't USE it unless you pay!
Our project was scrapped because of these costs, and management's inability to grasp that there are other formats.
Vorbis is free. Period. You can get and change the code. You can make free players. You can make commerical players. You can use it in your other products. No one will come after you with a team of lawyers for not paying for Vorbis.
I get sick of hearing about how "open" mp3 is.
The copper bosses killed you, Joe. 'I never died', said he.
Here is their Website and here is their Contact Information
.sig --
--
Never doubt the power of government(s) making something illegal.
Exactly. Just like Marijuana is illegal, as are "bongs." And we know nobody uses those right....right?
There's only one thing more powerful than big business - and that's the will of the people. When the public is divided, politicians can do whatever they want. In this case, i think we all know where the public stands (the vast majority, at least) - all the corporate money in the world won't save a politician once he's been voted out of office.
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
Wow - they're banning all devices related to mp3's???
does this include sound cards, speakers, hard drives, RAM (which is evil because it loads mp3's partially into memory before playing them)??
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
This is not simply stupid, or careless, it's just plain WRONG!
This is just another case of people assuming that MP3's themselves are bad!
***NEWSFLASH - MP3 is just a FILE FORMAT***
Regardless of how people use it, MP3's and all their associated gadgets have done nothing wrong, they are a part of technology as much as anything else!
I say "go Creative", because it's about time that someone, or some company had the guts to take a stand!
In fact, we should all take a stand, because I've had about enough of this. I like to be able to listen to all my songs without changing CD's. I also like to be able to have a backup of them all on one CD and on my HDD!
It's time we showed some support for this move and all Boycott CeBit too, and instead use the time and money to go out and buy a Nomad!
Power to the People!
"How much truth can advertising buy?" - iNsuRge - AK47
"How much truth can advertising buy?" - iNsuRge - AK47
Did the VCR destroy the movie industry?
Sadly, no.
Did the tape recorder destroy the music industry?
Um... no. *Damn*
Did CD Burners kill the CD music business?
Nooooo! *SOB* Cease your cruel, cruel taunts!
Will the CD-ROM drives that allowed Digital Audio Extraction kill the CD market? Will MP3 do it either?
WE CAN DREAM, CAN'T WE?!
Seriously, these technologies are not "okay" because the music and film industries will still rake in bucketloads of money despite them. Rather, they are "okay", period-- even if Jack Valenti and Edgar Bronfman are left sharing a tin of tuna warmeded over a back-alley fire. Sorry, dreaming again.
According to the local press, the differences between CeBit and Creative are not about MP3, but about their conduct on the last CeBit.
CeBit is currently a large fair, in fact it is the larges computer trade show on earth. Hannover cannot longer take all the people.
CeBit tried to split the show into a consumer show called "CeBit Home" and tried to promote the curent CeBit as a strictly business tradeshow. They have not been doing well: CeBit Home is actually shrinking, and many consumer product specialists are showing on the main CeBit.
Specifically: Creative undermined their marketing strategy at the last CeBit by having a loud and gaming oriented booth at the supposedly business oriented main CeBit. CeBit directorate wanted Creative to switch over to CeBit home, but Creative was not interested into a shrinking low profile fair.
© Copyright 2000 Kristian Köhntopp
Ohh, righty then, we better call for some new laws then ...
--
Why pay for drugs when you can get Linux for free ?
echo '[q]sa[ln0=aln80~Psnlbx]16isb572CCB9AE9DB03273snlbxq' |dc
I say.
It's nice to see the larger players in the whole multimedia finally saying out loud that the whole MP3 thing is getting way out of hand.
The RIAA are doing everybody a massive dis-service by their actions. What I find very offensive is that an American company's whinging and bitching is telling me what I can and can't do here in Australia.
Still, money buys influence just as well in Australia as it does in the US, so I shouldn't be surprised.
Alas gallinaceas de urbe bovis volo
I mean, CeBit is just a major technology Convention. its purpose in being is to keep tech companys aware of what each other are doing, and to hype up the media, so they can sell products to people that like gadgets, right?
And everyone knows that MP3s and related technology are'nt enjoyed by people that will spend rediculously large percentages of their personal income buying gadgets, right?
Its just a fad, and its a good thing that the MPAA and its friends are keeping the research going on 8-tracks, as thats where its at.
-- Crutcher --
#include <disclaimer.h>
-- Crutcher --
#include <disclaimer.h>
You think SDMI-related devices are going to be banned? I see this as a lame attempt by the RIAA to push their standard into the limelight. All the mainstream media will be touting the *new* SDMI standard for music which *all* the major labels will be supporting and which is better than MP3 because it provides smaller files while providing better quality...
An MP3 player is like a gun, it is only as good or as bad as the person using it. It is silly to ban devices that can play an established, very widely used protocol, simply because some of the users choose to use it in ileagal ways.. Wired uses Mp3's in many of its audio only interviews, perhaps they should be dragged out onto the street and beaten for using a "Bad" protocol, I mean, if its in MP3 format, then i guess it should automatically be made illeagal right?
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If God Droppd Acid, Would he see People???
What are we going to do tonight Brain?
What can possibly be gained by banning mp3 hardware? Think about it logically...
1) The software exists. There is no way mp3 encoding/playing software is going to go away.
2) The hardware exists. Plenty of mp3 players have been sold, and continue to be sold. There's no basis for a lawsuit against hardware manufacturers, as there's nothing remotely illegal about playing or creating mp3s.
3) Consumers *love* mp3. Isn't the whole point of business (and by extension, trade shows) to create, market, and sell products and services that consumers want?
This seems to indicate that either the CeBit organizers or some MAJOR participants had a very good motive to get mp3 devices off the floor. Bribery or stock deals (really just another form of bribery) wouldn't surprise me. Perhaps one of the exhibitors will be showing off some new audio encoding technology and use the fact that they're the only thing being shown to impress people?
Yeah, I know Creative is doing this for their benefit. Companies just don't do those sorts of things if it isn't in their interests.
;)
Still, I feel a great need to send a big hug and kiss to the people at Creative Labs. Even if your beating on the bully for your own reasons... the little guy who got his milk money taken last week will still be there to laugh and enjoy it.
I'll start taking it like a man when I'm done crying
"You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." -- Yogi Berra