There are waaay more songs available through CDs than MP3s. For example, when I saw this article I went looking for the CD right in front of me: Chicago - The Musical (not the soundtrack). It ain't on iTunes, or on the Sony equivalent (which sucks, BTW; scripting bugs render it basically useless).
My point is that CDs will be driven by their sheer, established catalogue for a long time to come yet, as well as all the other reasons that have already been pointed out.
Okay, the majority of the comments thus far come from a PC-centric mindset, that is, you assume that the consumers of this chip will have PCs so why would they bother? I see this product as far more likely to be aimed at South-East Asian (e.g. Malaysian) markets where people are far less likely to have computers, but practically everyone has a mobile phone. In those markets, a chip that can play Quake 3 is pretty damn awesome.
And let's not forget that video encoding and decoding are vital steps in video calls; if this chip can make those steps faster/better, an increase in the quality of those services is just a step away.
Slashdot Mirror
There are waaay more songs available through CDs than MP3s. For example, when I saw this article I went looking for the CD right in front of me: Chicago - The Musical (not the soundtrack). It ain't on iTunes, or on the Sony equivalent (which sucks, BTW; scripting bugs render it basically useless).
My point is that CDs will be driven by their sheer, established catalogue for a long time to come yet, as well as all the other reasons that have already been pointed out.
My most sincere apologies, my example came from a conversation I had with a partner in Malaysia and I must confess I didn't follow it up.
Okay, the majority of the comments thus far come from a PC-centric mindset, that is, you assume that the consumers of this chip will have PCs so why would they bother? I see this product as far more likely to be aimed at South-East Asian (e.g. Malaysian) markets where people are far less likely to have computers, but practically everyone has a mobile phone. In those markets, a chip that can play Quake 3 is pretty damn awesome.
And let's not forget that video encoding and decoding are vital steps in video calls; if this chip can make those steps faster/better, an increase in the quality of those services is just a step away.