July 2002 to September 2002

Peter Gabriel's "Up"
September 22, 2002

The Sound Blaster site is promoting Peter Gabriel's first album in 10 years, titled "Up." All tracks will be released in 5.1 format using Microsoft's latest Windows Media 9 audio codec. It will be released on 25th September, but you can download the first single now. The track will expire in 30 days. (Ah, the wonders of DRM!) More: SoundBlaster.com

Windows Media 9
September 5, 2002

Microsoft released the beta of their latest Windows Media version 9, with new codecs aimed at squeezing file sizes down. Download the beta and find out more at the Windows Media 9 Series site. More: CNET News

Update: Beware! For some reason, Microsoft does not provide an easy uninstall option for the media player.

Audigy DriverPack Released
August 30, 2002

Creative has released the driver update package for Audigy users in Windows 2000 and XP. This fixes the SoundFont playback issue, removed distortion of AC-3 soundtracks, and even allows Dolby Digital decoding through the S/PDIF input! More Info | Download

Licenses Required for MP3 Players
August 29, 2002

Thomson and the Fraunhofer are beginning to impose a $0.75 licensing per decoder. Companies like AOL, which owns Nullsoft (Winamp), have already paid up. More: Slashdot

Creative Technology Releases Financial Results
August 17, 2002

Press Release: Creative Technology Announces Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2002 Operating Results (Americas, Asia)

Here are some analysis and news articles from Singapore's Business Times:

• 3Dlabs: key to the extent of Creative's return to the black
• Creative Technology narrows down net loss in 4Q
• Creative cautiously upbeat after cutting loss

Windows Update
July 30, 2002

If you haven't checked Windows Update lately in Windows XP, the latest "media driver" is available:

Latest Live! Drivers Released
July 19, 2002

Creative released the latest Live! drivers, now called a "DriverPack" in several different download sizes. This resolves compatibility issues in Windows 2000 and XP and the notes make no mention of new features. The drivers are not for Windows 9x/ME OSes. Check out the drivers section for more information. You can also see new drivers released in the last 7 days on Creative's Asia site.

Audigy drivers are coming later. Thanks for all your mails.

News Roundup
July 18, 2002

Are record labels gunning for individual users who download music over the Internet? More: CNET
ZDNet Commentary: How to beat the record labels on the Web

As this Time magazine article reports, the labels are having great success with copy-protected CDs because the return rates are as low as normal CDs!

Creative's THX Investment
July 18, 2002

Here's another article on Creative's investment in THX, with Lucas saying: "I am excited about the opportunity to expand THX into new markets and to have investors with additional technological expertise."