Uh-oh. Creative has its wallet out and Aureal is just sitting there on the shelf.

[paulcs]

http://www.vortexofsound.com/news.htm

I want to see Aureal saved, but by anyone but Creative. If this goes through, good-bye competition. We may never see a driver update again.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Helevitia]

Paul,

I realize Creative is the Microsoft of sound cards, but what are the reasons people tend to not like creative? I'm asking because I have an SBLive! and had very little problems with it. I will admit that I did not use creative before then so I do not know there track record but they seem to be on par now? I actually used a Media Vision sound card with the add on SCSI port for my CD-ROM(it's been a while). And last but not least, if they buy Aureal, then they will probably implement A3D into a newer driver set I won't complain if they add more sound fucntionality to the drivers.

Dave

[thecurse]

well the only reason we now have mass pci sound cards is because of ensoniq and creative came along and bought them out

[paulcs]

I own two Soundblaster Lives and another Creative board as well. I don't like the idea of one major player in the consumer soundboard business. I think it's bad for business and I think it's bad for the consumer.

I doubt the FTC and Justice Department make distinctions between gaming cards and non-gaming cards, but I can, and I see nothing but bad stuff coming from a Creative/Aureal merger.

If AMD ceased to exist, I can't help but get the feeling that PIII's would be slower and more expensive. A lot more expensive.

I dislike the idea of Creative purchasing Aureal because I like paying competitive prices (the word competitive is key here) and getting the occasional driver update. I dislike the idea on principle as well. Complicating matters further, I just don't think Yamaha, ESS, et al, are cutting it.

A prevailing view on the Soundblaster newsgroup is that the Live's engine has some hardware limitations, and the newer Aureal algorithms won't be implemented until Creative's next board. I don't pretend to understand the issues.

I don't think there is an overriding dislike for Creative here. I think it's just that the Aureal fans would prefer the company to be independant of Creative, and the Creative fans would prefer the same.

I also suspect a lot of people believe that Creative's lawsuit against Aureal was specious, and although Creative lost, they accomplished exactly what they set out to do when they filed the suit. I think Aureal had financial problems that went far beyond the lawsuit.

No slight against Creative intended. I just think it would be better for all of us if Guillemot or 3dfx wins this bidding war.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Himself]

I don't care if A3D gets resurected or not, I agree with the Creative view that it's a stationary system, you have to be in the sweet spot without moving your head to get the effect. I don't know what Creative would be getting from the deal myself. I don't think EAX is any better though, throw around fancy words like occlusions all you want, nobody can hear the difference or it's never used.

However I do want competition in sound cards, if 3D sound isn't all that it's cracked up to be, I want better drivers, cleaner sound, no noise, and less expensive options for 6.1 sound and general innovation beyond a skinned interface from hell.

My $ .02

[nehalmistry]

i would have to agree with paul here... when you have two of the best companies duking it out, each of them will try to stay one step ahead of each other, trying to release top-of-the-line sound cards ASAP, providing better and more frequent driver updates, and selling their products at lower prices....

if creative does buy aureal... creative WILL turn into microsoft... releasing low quality, hi-priced products, only because they have no competition.....


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P5A-B AMD K6-266@300
Matrox Milleniumm G200 AGP (oh, lets party)
Creative SB Awe32 (a classic, superb card)
Realtek 8029A NIC Card
64meg Ram
Ali V agp chipset
ICQ UIN: 24730025

[isochar]

Although the bandwagon says that microsoft's products are low-quality, high priced... I have to disagree.

I personally think that Microsoft did an excellent job with Win2k. Sure a program with 35 million lines of code will have bugs, the writers aren't perfect. As for the price, $300 is a little pricey. However, if you consider you'll use this OS for about 3 years, it's reasonable. (Assuming whistler is released 2002)

[RoGuE]

It would be a shame if Creative buys Aureal - I don't have a problem with Creative, but SBLive!'s would be nearly as cheap as they are if Aureal hadn't come along when they did.

[paulcs]

Less than fifty bucks for an OEM Live. Now that's a deal!

I'd like to see them maintain that price point.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Pace]

I believe there's a 'rule' that says all programs will have 1 error in 100 lines of code - don't know if that's the figure but whatever it is Win2k is well below the rule of thumb whatever it is - I've noticed a couple of bugs but on the whole it is indeed excellent.

Also, if you're interested in Whistler there's a <a href="http://www.xlnet.net/mad/previews/ww_preview.shtml">preview</a> with screenshots on The Windows Information Centrum.

Paul.

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[EchoWars]

I have never been crazy about Cirrus Logic stuff, but it appears that they may be on to something here. Check out the new Turtle Beach Santa Cruz here

[DosFreak]

Creative has always been good.

SBPro
SB16
SB32
SB64
SBLive

Never had a prob well until Windows came around. But Creative almost always come through. They don't bankrupt and leave their customers out in the cold like some company I could name......

[Rags]

1 error in 100 lines of code

errrmmmm....maybe if you look at ATI's drivers and programs Seriously, that is totaly unacceptable to most programmers. Whoever said that was making excuses for laziness.

Rags

[Johnny Ray]

Am I mis-remembering? Wasn't Aureal involved in a lengthy litagation with Creative, costing them mucho cash? If not Creative, what company was it? If Creative, hard to believe this purchase would be approved.

John

[Mark F]

Yes, it was Creative.

There is still hope for Guillmot and Aureal.
I want my SQ3500!!!

Mark F.

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OH NO, my retractable cup holder swallowed a DVD...
and burped out a movie