DAP Jukebox & MORI: Creative Labs

MP3 - A Long Player in Digital Audio



MORI Findings Show MP3 Will Continue To Play A Central Role In Downloading

Music From The Internet



Audio technology is continually evolving, making it hard to keep pace with

trends, but according to a recent survey by leading research house MORI, MP3

looks likely to remain at the forefront of digital audio. The results

showed that over 70 per cent of those surveyed believed that MP3 would

continue to be the main enabling software for downloading digital music, and

will be complemented and not replaced by other technologies.



These results are key to Creative Labs who commissioned the MORI survey in

order to gain a solid understanding of home audio technology trends.

Creative also wanted to determine to what extent the British public has

embraced digital music, by evaluating how established MP3 is in Britain and

assessing the public's attitude to the technology which could change the way

we listen to music forever.



Not only were the public surveyed, but Creative were also interested in the

IT journalist's opinion of the technology. Of those questioned, nearly 80

per cent envisage the British public using digital audio devices to make

their music collections more portable and easier to access. Rather than

limiting users to downloading single tracks from the Internet, MP3 enables

users to create entire virtual music collections on one device. This

suggests that in time the CD may become obsolete, making digital music the

definitive for audio entertainment.



The opinions of the IT journalists are reflected by the general public,

where over two thirds state they want to store music using a digital audio

device, and almost 40 per cent already prefer to store their music on a

digital audio player. These results show confidence in the technology, and

with such a high proportion of IT journalists labelling MP3 as the dominant

digital audio format, it looks like MP3 is likely to remain at the top of

digital audio for the foreseeable future.



"Fears that new technologies will be upgraded or replaced are often
concerns

for consumers. However, developments in digital audio are a certainty,"
Said

Duncan Jackson, director of retail Europe, Creative Labs.

"By giving current digital audio players the ability to support future

digital audio formats, as Creative have future proofed the DAP Jukebox,

consumers have the choice to upgrade their devices making digital music more

appealing for everyone."



-Ends-



About MORI and its Methodology:

Market and Opinion Research International (MORI) is the largest

independent,

full-service agency of its kind in the UK, with research expertise in many

specialist sectors. The organisation recently established an international

network of agencies across Europe, America, Africa and Asia. MORI is

comprised of various business areas, each of which has a team with

particular expertise in that field. These include: advertising and media;

banking and insurance; business-to-business; charities; consumer attitudes;

corporate communications; reputation and image; customer satisfaction;

education; environment; financial behaviour; health and pharmaceutical;

human resources; leisure; travel and tourism; national and local

government;

telecommunications; new media and IT; opinion leaders; political; public

relations; retail; social attitudes and behaviour; social policy;

transport;

and young people/children. MORI offers a number of research products and

services as well as tailored ad-hoc research.



About Creative Labs:

Creative (Nasdaq: CREAF) is the worldwide leader in digital entertainment

products for the personal computer and the Internet. Famous for its Sound

Blaster and for launching the multimedia revolution, Creative is now

driving

digital entertainment on the PC platform with products like its highly

acclaimed D.A.P Jukebox. The company's innovative hardware, proprietary

technology, applications and services leverage the Internet, enabling

consumers to experience high-quality digital entertainment -- anytime,

anywhere.



Founded in 1983, Creative Technology's corporate headquarters are based in

Singapore, with its European head office based in the UK. Creative Labs

Europe was established in 1993 to capture a bigger share of the growing

European Market potential. General Manager, Michael Sullivan put a fully

fledged European operation in place, with headquarters in Berkshire, UK.

Creative Labs Europe has grown nine-fold in the past three years with

subsidiaries in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, UK, Benelux,

Denmark, Sweden and Poland. Creative's European Operations and Technical

Centre (EOTC) facility was officially opened on 19 July 1995 in Dublin,

Ireland. The EOTC acts as the central hub to Creative Labs' fast growing

European business, providing an efficient localised and customised product

supply for the European market and customer support to complement the

subsidiaries' activities in the several countries. The European operation

currently employs around 450 staff.



For further information, visit www.creativejukebox.com.



Research Summary:

For this survey, MORI interviewed 1,629 adults aged between 15 and 65

between 6 and 11 July 2000, and 60 IT journalists between 7 and 28 July

2000.