Creative awarded patent for MP3 player interface, one that the iPod uses

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by Mercator

Yes it does. Win95 doesn't support USB. Win98 supports it just fine. I'm using Win98 (not SE) right now and my USB memory stick, USB webcam, USB wireless mouse and digicam with USB connection cord work fine the last time I checked.

The difference is that Win98/98se/me need drivers for USB mass storage devices to work, while on 2000/XP you don't need drivers anymore... What does happen is that the oldest drivers manufacturers provide are for Win98se. You can sometimes find "unofficial" drivers for those too, though.

Win98 did not support usb. MSFT did not provide that until 98se (as a seperate download) and then included it with ME (as one of the selling points for upgrade). If you're running usb on win98 it's via some other software and not via the OS.

[Mercator]

Originally posted by SpencerH
Win98 did not support usb. MSFT did not provide that until 98se (as a seperate download) and then included it with ME (as one of the selling points for upgrade). If you're running usb on win98 it's via some other software and not via the OS.

No.

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/archive/usbwin98.mspx

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q258773/

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/253756/EN-US/

http://www.microsoft.com/windows98/usingwindows/maintaining/articles/004Apr/USB.asp

In short, they first added (some?) USB support in Windows 95 OSR2.1.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by Mercator
Oh, another Creative MP3 player question now we're at it. The system requirements they mention are always Windows something or other. Is that just for the software, or do they not even work as simple USB mass storage devices on Macs either? I'd need to be able to transfer data between Windows and Mac (not Just OS X) computers. Or would only the iPod work for that?



Yes it does. Win95 doesn't support USB. Win98 supports it just fine. I'm using Win98 (not SE) right now and my USB memory stick, USB webcam, USB wireless mouse and digicam with USB connection cord work fine the last time I checked.

The difference is that Win98/98se/me need drivers for USB mass storage devices to work, while on 2000/XP you don't need drivers anymore... What does happen is that the oldest drivers manufacturers provide are for Win98se. You can sometimes find "unofficial" drivers for those too, though.

That's very helpful; thanks!

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by Mercator


No.

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/archive/usbwin98.mspx

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q258773/

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/253756/EN-US/

http://www.microsoft.com/windows98/usingwindows/maintaining/articles/004Apr/USB.asp

In short, they first added (some?) USB support in Windows 95 OSR2.1.

You are correct.

I was mixing up win98se with win95 OSR2 that had the first downloadable "USB Supplement" (NTKern) that could be installed on top of the OS. The supplement was available on the 2.1 disc but did not automatically install. I was so sure I was right cos I remembered downloading and installing the supplement when it became available. I just lost track of time, something that happens in the elderly.

[Urban Ranger]

Creative has launched a patent violation suit against Apple. I have nothing against Creative, but they are going to crash and burn.

Fun.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Creative has launched a patent violation suit against Apple. I have nothing against Creative, but they are going to crash and burn.

Fun.

They are crashing and burning. Apple is raping everyone in the portable player market. Still....

[LDiCesare]

These patents are really silly.
A laptop can run this kind of music and through the web you could do exactly what's claimed in the patent. Adapting it to a dumbed-down computer (call it an iPod) is evident to anyone skilled in the art.

Even if the subject matter sought to be patented is not exactly shown by the prior art, and involves one or more differences over the most nearly similar thing already known, a patent may still be refused if the differences would be obvious. The subject matter sought to be patented must be sufficiently different from what has been used or described before that it may be said to be nonobvious to a person having ordinary skill in the area of technology related to the invention. For example, the substitution of one color for another, or changes in size, are ordinarily not patentable.

And we keep getting silly patents like that. Prior art files (directories) and computers show such a thing existed. Adapting it from a computer to a handheld device is trivial since you'll use the same tools (programming languages, maybe even the underlying OS). Blast those silly user interface patents!

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
So you are basically saying this article is a bunch of hot air meaning little.

Or in otherwords, a troll.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Agathon
They are crashing and burning. Apple is raping everyone in the portable player market. Still....

Doesn't Apple have a 2% marketshare in Japan in mp3 players or something? Similar in most Asian countries, it's flopping hardcore over there.

[Verto]

Originally posted by Asher

Doesn't Apple have a 2% marketshare in Japan in mp3 players or something? Similar in most Asian countries, it's flopping hardcore over there.

Not sure what the market share is, although iTunes Japan sold a million songs in something like 3 or 4 days. Not sure how indicative that is of the iPod's market share, or the inferiority of other music services.

[Nostromo]

I heard that iPods were selling like hotcakes in Japan

[Asher]

Originally posted by nostromo
I heard that iPods were selling like hotcakes in Japan

Apparently Apple has 36% marketshare in Japan, I was thinking of another asian country...pretty sure it's South Korea.

[MarkG]

Originally posted by Asher
Doesn't Apple have a 2% marketshare in Japan in mp3 players or something?

Originally posted by Asher
Apparently Apple has 36% marketshare in Japan

self-correcting