Comment by to11mtm

And yet they couldn't even 'get the message' to really fix their pricing model one way or another to keep Sandisk from eating a good chunk of (if not overtaking them in) most of the 'non Apple flash storage' player market.

They were a company that thrived on a combination of clever mis-marketing [0] and poor reseller treatment [1]. Their actions likely hurt the evolution of computer audio due to the capture of various patents and companies that were actually innovating (Ensoniq being the big one.) I mean FFS it took VIA and and upstart to finally raise the bar [2] in a meaningful way, and the overall lack of competition left Creative ill-prepared to handle Azalia.

[0] - i.e. Audigy settlement.

[1] - When I worked at a computer shop, around 2001 we established a rule, 'no creative product under 50$ retail will be worth the cost of trying to RMA it'. If an SBLive or 52x CD drive came in bad we'd try but if it didn't get through on first go you'd wind up in a loop where the labor time wasn't worth replacing one. Which makes me extra disgusted because that's what everyone does now with actual end consumers.

[2] - That said, that VIA/IC Ensemble did the Envy24 thing when they did is interesting, at least in the context of the XBox 360 using an SIS 'Southbridge'. Makes me wonder if they were being bold to get the bid instead?