That whole "Artist->Album->Song" method? Creative "invented" it, and God help you if you try and use it yourself in a mobile player and subsequently gain market share over them. Nevermind that it's the fundamental way that files have been stored and sorted on computers since...well...since we left punch cards behind, slapping "mobile" on the patent makes it new!
Creative never claimed that they invented how people organize music. They patented an interface , which, according to their patents, was based on the fact that their mp3 player automagically sorted the music into these neat little categories, which everyone has found so useful since...well..since we left punch cards behind, based on the tags on the music, and furthermore builds hierarchical menus for easy navigation and playing of music.
Creative claims that apple stole this patented idea from them. While I agree the claim as a grab for some part of the profits Creative lost in market dominance to Apple, there are at least some legitimacies behind their claim. Whether or not Creative should have gotten the patent is pretty debatable (I personally believe they should - had a Creative Jukebox long time ago, big ol' bugger of a thing, but the menu was easy to use and hierarchical and all that jazz, long before the iPod existed), but once they've gotten the patent for that system, it's pretty clear that Apple's interface is based on the same exact principles.
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That whole "Artist->Album->Song" method? Creative "invented" it, and God help you if you try and use it yourself in a mobile player and subsequently gain market share over them. Nevermind that it's the fundamental way that files have been stored and sorted on computers since...well...since we left punch cards behind, slapping "mobile" on the patent makes it new!
Creative never claimed that they invented how people organize music. They patented an interface , which, according to their patents, was based on the fact that their mp3 player automagically sorted the music into these neat little categories, which everyone has found so useful since...well..since we left punch cards behind, based on the tags on the music, and furthermore builds hierarchical menus for easy navigation and playing of music.
Creative claims that apple stole this patented idea from them. While I agree the claim as a grab for some part of the profits Creative lost in market dominance to Apple, there are at least some legitimacies behind their claim. Whether or not Creative should have gotten the patent is pretty debatable (I personally believe they should - had a Creative Jukebox long time ago, big ol' bugger of a thing, but the menu was easy to use and hierarchical and all that jazz, long before the iPod existed), but once they've gotten the patent for that system, it's pretty clear that Apple's interface is based on the same exact principles.