Anyone who has ever tried to work out with a portable music device can speak to the disadvantages of portable cassette players and portable CD players. Cassette players cannot access specific tracks instantly like a CD player can. A runner cant replay her favorite song at the most difficult point in her run. The quality of the music on a cassette player is also not as good as on a CD player. CD players, even the newest, most shock absorbing models, are always prone to skipping. Neither device is capable of easily adding new tracks. Cassettes can be re-recorded but the recording process is error prone and often results in the taping over of part of a song. Once audio CDs are created new tracks can not be added to the CD. Many of these flaws may seem trivial but to anyone who listens to music on the go, these imperfections represent an impetus to seek a better mouse trap. The portable digital music player, first marketed in the U.S. in 1998, solves all of the problems associated with the portable music players that came before it. The device has no moving parts so it never skips and produces CD quality music. Since its songs are actually mp3 files written onto the devices memory, songs can be removed or added at any time. Each song can be accessed at any time and the order in which songs are played can be randomized. From reading the above description of inferior portable music technology, it is clear why inventors of the portable digital audio player sought to develop such a device. What is not clear, is why it took inventors so long after the invention of the CD player, by Sony in 19911, to produce and market the portable digital audio player. One can imagine two reasons for the timing of the entrance into the market of the portable digital music player; one is supply side, the other is demand side. On the supply side, it is possible that the portable digital audio player was invented when it was because of the invention of any one of its component parts. On the demand side, it is possible that the device was brought to the market in 1998 because of the existence of free, easily attainable, high quality, yet relatively small music files, specifically, files in the mp3 format. This paper argues that the demand side explanation is the one which was the driving force behind the arrival in the marketplace of the portable digital audio player.

http://www.uspto.gov

The portable mp3 player would never have been viable for use with previous audio file formats. The first audio format, the wav, encoded a 2 minute piece of CD quality audio in about 20 MB. In 1992 the Moving Picture Experts Group, a consortium which meets under the International Organization for Standardization defined MPEG, a standard for compressing audio files. The MPEG format was never patented because it was meant to be an international standard for audio encoding. However, many companies hold patents in the US for specific algorithms that perform the encoding and decoding of MPEG files. Since 1992 the Moving Picture Experts Group has been improving on the quality of compression of MPEGs and has introduced layers 1, 2, and 3. MPEG layer 3 has the most complex and effective encoding and is the popular format of audio files on the internet today. The file format is abbreviated mp3.2 Not only are mp3 files small and of good quality; almost any popular song in mp3 format can be found and downloaded for free from the internet. In the old days, that is, before 1999, technically inclined music aficionados could use various search engines to locate computers that acted as file servers from which they could download mp3 files. This process, however, was error prone. Computers that were not online were still included in the search engines. Additionally, many people who maintained music servers made their sites ratio sites which means that they required people to upload music files, sometimes specific songs, before they could download from the server. Still other sites contracted with third party companies and required potential music downloaders to pay the third party company for some service (for example, a magazine subscription). In return, the person would get unlimited or leech access to the music site. Finding a fast, free, low ratio site that had the music that one wanted was a time consuming task. Then in 1999 nineteen year old Shawn Fanning wrote a program called Napster in his college dorm room. Napster is an application that can be downloaded from the internet for free. The program allows users to log in and provides a search engine to locate songs from the entire body of files on the hard drives of everyone who is logged in. Once a song is located on some other persons machine, the user may download it onto her machine. Napster replaces the error prone task of locating a suitable source from which to download. It provides a way for people who are not technically inclined to get

http://www.cselt.it/mpeg/
mp3 files. Moreover, it provides an easy means for people to acquire the files to put on a portable mp3 player.3 The demand side explanation for the immergence of portable mp3 players is a powerful one because the timing is right. The portable mp3 player was launched in 1998, when the internet music industry was just picking up, and just months before Napster came online. The conception of an mp3 player has been around well before the portable models were first produced in 1998. Mp3 player applications for personal computers were developed almost as soon as the MPEG standard was published. One of the most popular of such programs is Winamp, a free application for Windows machines developed in 1997 by Nullsoft and pictured in figure 1.1. Winamps main panel displays the song that is playing, the number of minutes that it has been playing, and contains buttons like a CD player for previous track, play, pause, stop, next track, randomize, and repeat. It also has an equalizer panel and a playlist panel.4 The first portable version of Winamp was developed by Diamond Multimedia and came onto the market in 1998. The product was called the Rio and the first model is referred to as the Rio 300. (see figure 1.2) The Rio 300 came with 32 MB on board memory which yielded up to 60 minutes of audio files, depending on the quality of the files (higher quality files take up more room). Its dimensions were 3 2 5/8 inches, it weighed 70 grams, it was powered by a
http://www.napster.com http://www.winamp.com
single AA battery for 12 hours of continuous play, it had one slot for an additional flash memory card, and it shipped with headphones and a parallel port adapter to connect to a personal computer. It also included software for a Windows 98 machine that enables users to transfer mp3 files from the PC onto the Rio when the two are connected via the parallel port. The product initially went for $199.95.5 Figuring out how the Rio works might give us some hints as to what component parts might have been responsible for the Rios entrance into the marketplace. Winamp is implemented by a multi-purpose personal computer, which means that it is purely a piece of software. It was written in a high level language, probably C++ or Java, by a team of software developers. The computer hardware executes the program only after the program has been translated into the 1s and 0s that the computer can understand. The Rio is a specialized piece of hardware whose only requirement is to perform one task: that is, to play music. Therefore, the logic that performs the task can be implemented completely in hardware. That is, no software program runs on top of the Rios hardware. Instead, there are physical previous track, play, stop, next track, hold, randomize, and repeat buttons on the machine. When they are pressed, the electronic gates inside of the Rio implement the logic that is necessary to perform the task being asked of it. Electrical engineers have been designing systems of electrical gates that perform specialized tasks for years. The calculator is a much older example of a specialized machine whose functions are implemented in its hardware. The memory technology that the Rio uses is much newer than the technology used to drive the machine. It might be argued that it is this technology that was responsible for the devices entry into the market in 1998. The Rio uses flash memory cards that are literally cards about the size of a stamp. The card is non-volatile memory whose contents can be altered. This type of memory card is referred to as Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM). The card was initially

Part II Technology Diffusion
Figure 1.3, which displays all of the popular mp3 players marketed in the United States, is evidence that a patent for a portable digital audio player was never issued in the US. If a patent had been issued, one firm would hold the rights to produce such a player and these rights would be exclusive for the length of the patent. For a utility patent filed after June 8, 1995, patent protection lasts for 20 years after the filing date of the patent.10 In the event that Diamond holds a patent for the Rio, all the firms in figure 1.3 would be paying Diamond Multimedia licensing fees in order to produce a portable mp3 player. However, after my own unsuccessful search of the United States Patent and Trademark Office database and after email communication with Kelley McGrath, a public relations representative for Diamond Multimeda, I learned conclusively that a patent for the Rio was never issued. There are several viable explanations as to why the first developer of the portable mp3 player in the United States, namely Diamond Multimedia, does not currently have a patent for its product. This paper will consider the explanations and determine which is the most likely. It is possible that Diamond did not patent the Rio because when the Rio first came onto the market, Diamond was a small startup company that did not have the resources available to finance patent lawyers and patent fees. Another possibility is that in the spirit of free mp3s distributed on the internet and free mp3 player software for personal computers, Diamond tried to cater to its prospective internet-age customers by not using the government to prohibit other companies from developing similar products. A third explanation is that Diamond deliberately did not patent so that competitors would enter the market and help Diamond improve on its technology. Still another explanation is that a patent application for the Diamond Rio actually exists but is being deliberately submerged in paperwork so that the patent has not been issued and therefore has not be published. Lastly, the existence of a foreign firm which has patented a portable mp3 player in every developed country except the US, may explain why Diamond didnt patent the Rio in the US.

Mahoney, 363.

The theory that Diamond did not patent the Rio when it was developed because of limited financial resources is not likely. When the Rio first came onto the market it received a lot of interest and attention. Its November 1998 win of the Best of Whats New Award from Popular Science Magazine and its December 1998 naming of Number One Hardware Stocking Stuffer by Computer Gaming World11 would have both been signals to company management that the Rio could be an extremely lucrative product. Moreover, the Rio attracted a lot of attention in October 1998 from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) who filed a suit against Diamond Multimedia in an attempt to prevent the company from distributing the Rio.12 (Diamond won the suit on October 26, 1998) The early attention that the Rio received would have indicated that the product could be extremely lucrative. Such attention would have attracted firms wishing to finance the project, most of whom likely would have insisted on filing for patent protection. In addition, it is likely that Diamonds early relationship with the law firm that defended it in the RIAA suit, Wilson Sonsini, Goodrich, and Rosati, would have encouraged Diamond to file for a patent. Wilson Sonsini, Goodrich, and Rosati is perhaps the preeminent law firm in the world for work with clients in high tech industries. The firm is headquartered in the heart of Silicon Valley and its clients include, to name a few, Apple Computer, Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company, and Sun Microsystems, Inc. The firm has six patent attorneys and it very likely would have encouraged Diamond Multimedia to patent its Rio, even if it had to allow Diamond to delay payment on patent related work.13 Even if Diamond did not have the resources to file for a patent when it first started shipping the product, it would have had the resources to file for a patent after it started collecting sales. US patent law allows a grace period under which a company can file within one year of its first public use, sale, or disclosure of an invention.14 Because of the early signs that the Rio could be profitable and because of the grace period US patent law

http://www.sonicblue.com/default.asp?menu=Press_Room&sub_menu=&ID=224 http://www.sonicblue.com/default.asp?menu=Press_Room&sub_menu=&ID=http://www.wsgr.com 14 Mahoney, p. 363.
allows to file, it is unlikely that Diamond failed to file for a patent because of lack of resources. Another potential argument for the reason Diamond neglected to file is that the company tried to emulate the behavior of internet music industry firms such as Napster and Winamp, who offer their products free on the internet and also have not filed for patents. In choosing not to file for a patent, Diamond may have intentionally encouraged other firms to start producing similar devices so as not to alienate potential customers, who might be put off by the monopoly stature that a patent temporarily provides. This argument is weak because unlike software programs like Napster and Winamp, which are distributed free, Rio is a piece of hardware, sold on e-commerce sites and in stores, for a profit. It is doubtful that Diamond would have risked forfeiting potential profit by instead making the gamble that customers would have a greater propensity to buy a product whose inventors failed to protect its product with a patent. Perhaps Diamond deliberately did not file a patent in order to encourage other firms to get into the market in order to improve on the product. The overall strategy in this case is twofold. Firstly, the strategy was to be first in the marketplace, gain brand name recognition, and become the industry standard. Secondly, if firm X comes up with a better design, Diamond could steal company Xs design quickly, and, because Diamond already has brand name recognition, it would reap the benefits of company Xs innovation. This description of a business plan, which does not employ the use of a patent, is possibly Diamonds business plan because Diamond has already accomplished phase one of the strategy (that is, first in the marketplace, brand name recognition, and industry standard). For most American consumers, a portable mp3 player has become synonymous with a Rio. Mainstream articles describing the new portable mp3 players typically only mention the Rio or endorse it as the best or the most popular or the first portable mp3 player. Additionally, it is possible that this type of business plan is Diamonds strategy because the Rio 300, while an extremely innovative product, left much room for improvement. Perhaps a small firm like Diamond Multimedia did not have the resources to explore all the possibilities for aspects of the Rio 300 that could be improved. The

Blount, p. 11 32.

November 29, 1999.20 Therefore, the strategy of keeping a patent from being issued and published would still have been available to Diamond Multimedia. This strategy is not favored as a possible explanation for the lack of a patent because Diamond executives would have had to make business decisions that could be considered to be unethical. Moreover, the strategy would not guarantee Diamond royalties after its coming out because companies might object to the devious way in which the patent was kept from being published. More insight into why the product was not patented in the U.S. can be found by examining what patents exist for portable digital audio players outside the U.S. It turns out that a Korean company named Saehan Information Systems which produces the MPMan holds a patent for the product in virtually every developed country except the U.S. Saehan holds European patent EP00982732A1 for the MPMan which was filed on August 24, 1999 and issued on March 9, 2000. It holds Japanese and Chinese patents also both filed on August 24, 1999.21 It is clear why Saehan does not market its MPMan in the United States. Because Diamond has name brand recognition and an industry standard position since 1998, it does not make sense for Saehan to enter the U.S. market in 1999. However, although the MPMan appeared in the marketplace after Diamonds Rio, it might not be clear as to which firm actually invented its product first. It is possible that both Saehan and Diamond have filed a patent in the U.S. and that patent officials are currently trying to determine who invented first. In this case, neither patent would be published and the public would have the impression that no patent application exists in the U.S. for the product. This paper favors the possibility of a patent dispute in the U.S. between Diamond Multimedia and Saehan Information Systems as an explanation for the lack of U.S. patent for the portable digital audio placer. There are three main reasons for this conclusion. First, other plausible explanations for a lack of a U.S. patent for the product have been examined in great detail and deemed unlikely. Secondly, the fact that Saehan held patents for the product in every developed country except the U.S. leads one to
http://www.uspto.gov http://www.delphion.com
believe that Saehan would have filed a patent in the U.S. Thirdly, correspondence with Andrew Bridges, the attorney at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati that defended Diamond Multimedia in its suit with the RIAA, hints that a patent application for Diamond Multimedia actually exists. Bridges writes, Its not clear that Diamond Multimedia has not indeed filed an application to patent technology in its MP3 player. Patent applications in the U.S. are confidential. I dont handle patents personally and am unaware of any patent status regarding this technology; even if I were, unfortunately, I wouldnt be at liberty to comment.22

correspondence in email dated 11/20/00 from Andrew Bridges, Esq. of Wilson Sonsisi Goodrich & Rosati.
Part III Impact of Technology
Like most new technologies whose implementations are successful in the marketplace, the invention of the portable digital audio player has had far-reaching and powerful impacts on consumers and producers in a wide array of industries, both domestically and internationally. The most important impacts the invention has had have been the intimidation of the Recording Industry Association of American (RIAA), the decrease in sales of previous portable music technology products, and the explosion of sales of the portable mp3 player. In October of 1998, as Diamond Multimedia was getting ready to release the Rio for the first time, the RIAA filed a legal suite with the U.S. Central District Court of California in order to prevent Diamond Multimedia from selling the Rio. On October 16, the court issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) on Diamond Multimedia's Rio until a hearing on a Preliminary Injunction was to be held on October 26. As part of the TRO, the RIAA was required to issue a bond in the amount of $500,000. In the event that Diamond Multimedia eventually prevailed in court, the $500,000 from the RIAA would be used to compensate Diamond for lost sales due to the delay in the launch of the Rio.23 Hilary Rosen, president and CEO of RIAA, commented after the TRO was issued, "While we are gratified by the court's action today, it is unfortunate that we had to resort to legal action to deal with this issueOur preference has always been to work together with the many computer and consumer electronics companies to arrive at solutions to legitimize the commercial marketplace for digitally distributed music in a manner that protects the rights of artists."24 On October 26, 1998 the U.S. Central District Court of California denied the RIAAs request to halt shipment of the Rio. "We are pleased with the ruling," said Andrew Bridges, attorney at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati representing Diamond Multimedia. "This suit was brought on by the RIAA as a violation of the Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA), which imposes technology restrictions on certain types of consumer audio recording devices. Diamond Multimedia's Rio, which is incapable of

http://www.sonicblue.com/default.asp?menu=Press_Room&sub_menu=&ID=214 http://www.riaa.com/News_Story.cfm?id=162
independent recording or serial copying, simply is not a device governed by the AHRA."25 Diamond subsequently filed a counterclaim against the RIAA, and the RIAA responded with the following statement in a press release, The claims made by Diamond can only be described as preposterous and irresponsible, and a transparent ploy to gain publicity for the Rio device in time for holiday sales. There is no factual or legal foundation for their claims whatsoever, and we are confident that the court will find accordingly. The RIAA will respond to each of Diamond's frivolous allegations in court, in due course.26 Curiously, today the RIAAs website contains a glowing review of the Rio 500. This second generation player has a lot going for itThe sound quality, USB interface, 64MB of onboard memory and intuitive software are clear advantages.27 Perhaps the RIAA has chosen to disassociate itself from its attack on Diamond Multimedia in order to avoid further alienating the RIAAs customers. In any case, the RIAAs behavior toward Diamond Multimedia in 1998 clearly indicates that the new, portable mp3 player technology was seen as a threat to the RIAAs business. Since 1998, Diamond Multimedias sales have increased, largely because of the launch of the Rio. In 1997 Diamonds total sales were $443.3 million and 1998 they were $608.6 million. Even though the Rio was only launched in November of 1998, Diamonds financial statement, filed with the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), states, Net sales increased in 1998 by $165.3 million or 37% compared to 1997, primarily due to an expanded product line-up, including two brand new product lines released in the latter half of the year, Rio and HomeFree.28 In 1999 Diamonds net sales did not go up. Net sales for the second quarter of 1999 decreased by $43.6 million or 25% to $128.7 million compared to $172.3 million in sales for the second quarter of 1998. Net sales for the first half of 1999 decreased by $85.8 million or 24% to $272.7 million compared to $358.5 million in net sales for the first half of 1998. Diamonds financial report filed with the SEC states, The decrease in
http://www.sonicblue.com/default.asp?menu=Press_Room&sub_menu=&ID=215 http://www.riaa.com/News_Story.cfm?id=http://www.listen.com/riaa/hp_info.jsp?sect=hw&sub=ps&pg=rio500_pp 28 http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/936734/0000936734-99-000001.txt

net sales was primarily attributable to reduced shipments of the Company's graphics accelerator products. This was partially offset by increased shipments of sound cards, as well as revenues from new products such as the Rio portable Internet music player and the HomeFree line of home networking products.29 Thus, in 1999 sales of the Rio actually went up, but we do not know by how much. After S3 bought Diamond Multimedia, its sales continued to rise. S3s net sales were 437.5 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2000; a 154.3% increase from the $172.0 million of net sales for the nine months ended September 30, 1999. S3s 2000 financial report, filed with the SEC, states, our net revenue becomes increasingly based on entertainment-related products, including our Internet-related products such as our Rio digital music players.30 Other small companies that, for the most part, focus on the manufacture of portable digital audio players, have seen an increase in net sales as well. Sensory Science Corporation, which produces the RaveMP, had net sales of $17.1 million for the three months ended September 30, 1998, and $19.6 million for the three months ended September 30, 1999. This was a 15% or $2.5 million increase. Sensory Sciences statement at the SEC states, The increase in sales resulted from a $3.1 million increase in revenues from new product lines. These new product lines include the RaveMP Portable Internet Media Players, Digital Televisions and California Audio Labs digital home theater products.31 In fact, the entire market for internet audio related products is projected, by Frost and Sullivan, to increase exponentially in the years ahead. Frost & Sullivan's world internet audio market reports that the internet audio market generated revenues of $41.7 million in 1998, an increase of $1,516.3 percent over 1997. Frost and Sullivan predicted that the industry would expand to $1.9 billion total worldwide revenues by 2005. The market's compound annual growth rate is expected to be 72 percent.32 Refer to figure 3.1 for a graphical representation of this projection.

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/936734/0000936734-99-000013.txt http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/850519/000089161800005112/0000891618-00-005112.txt 31 http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/784721/0000950147-99-001281.txt 32 http://www.frost.com/verity/newsletter/it/99-07/art01.htm

Figure 3.1

Given such a large increase in the sales of portable mp3 players, one might wonder how sales of previous portable audio products have fared. There is evidence that these sales have, in fact, decreased. Sony is a leading manufacturer of portable CD players and portable cassette players. In 1998 Sonys audio sales were 1,127,788 , in 1999, 1,072,621 , and in 2000, 934,865. Sony defines audio as including: MiniDisc ("MD") systems, CD players, headphone stereos, personal component stereos, hi-fi components, radio-cassette tape recorders, tape recorders, IC recorders, radios, headphones, car audio, professional-use audio equipment, audiotapes, and recordable MDs.33 It should be noted that this audio category contains many devices that do not represent previous portable audio technology. In addition, causation can not necessarily be determined from this data. Just because Sonys audio sales have declined does not automatically mean that the entrance into the market of portable mp3 players has caused the decline. Still, it is reasonable to assume that many of the people who have bought portable mp3 players in the last three years would have otherwise bought other portable music solutions in these years. Since there has been such an increase in the sales of
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/313838/000095012300007096/0000950123-00-007096.txt
portable mp3 players, it is reasonable to conclude that this has contributed to the decline in Sonys audio sales. Sonys audio sales data simply is consistent with our hypothesis that the invention of the portable digital audio players has decreased the sales of substitute products. Panasonic, another leading producer of portable cassette and portable CD players, had declining sales in audio and video equipment for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2000. Sales of video and audio equipment fell 9.9%, to 1,706 billion yen.34 Again, we can not claim using this data that it was the invention of portable mp3 players that caused this decline. However, we can say that our hypothesis that sales of substitute goods have gone down is supported by data that audio equipment sales are down for two major suppliers of previous portable music technology. It is worth considering the possibility that the portable mp3 player portable is a perfect substitute for portable CD players and portable cassette players, lumped together as a single category of previous portable music technology. If this is true, we can extrapolate from the data just presented the amount of damage the Diamond portable mp3 player has imposed on sales of previous portable music technology. One must keep in mind that net sales data from Diamond Multimedia and S3 include sales from products besides the Rio. Therefore, this analysis represents an upper bound on the damage done by the invention of the portable mp3 player to the sales of previous portable music technology. In 1998, for which the Rio was only available for sale in the latter 2 months, Diamonds sales were up $165.3 million. If Diamonds sales were evenly distributed throughout the year (we know they were not because of the Christmas season hike in sales the Rio must have caused), the Rio would have generated $13.8 million in sales. This translates into a $13.8 million decrease in the sales of previous portable music technology. In 1999 the data is more confusing to interpret because Diamond actually had a decrease in sales relative to its sales for 1998. This was due to a decrease in the sales of its graphics accelerators. Therefore, I will not attempt to estimate an upper bound on damage done by the Rio in 1999. In 2000, nearly completed at the time of writing this paper, we turn to the data presented in S3s financial report, because S3 acquired

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/63271/000095012300006965/0000950123-00-006965.txt
Diamond in September of 1999. S3 had an 154.3% or $267.5 million increase in sales from the first nine months of 1999 to the first nine months of 2000. It is important to remember that during this time there were other portable mp3 players that came onto the market. However, because Rio has a large proportion of the market share because of its brand name recognition (this was explored in Part II of this paper), I will consider sales of other portable mp3 players during this time period negligible. Therefore, I conclude that an upper bound on damage done to previous portable music technology from 1999 to 2000 was $267.5 million. These estimated damages are upper bounds because Diamond and S3 sell other products, however, they are also upper bounds because clearly portable mp3 players and previous portable music technologies are not perfect substitutes. To determine a rough estimate of the degree to which the product categories are substitutes, one must consider whether two types of consumers exist. First, one must consider whether or not there are any consumers who, in the same year, would buy a portable mp3 player and a portable CD player or portable cassette player. Second, one must consider whether a person who buys a portable mp3 player would have otherwise bought a piece of previous portable music technology. At the onset, it might seem ridiculous for any consumer to buy both a portable mp3 player and, for example, a portable CD player in the same year. However, one can imagine a scenario in which a consumer buys a portable mp3 player for the purpose of listening to it during exercise, hoping to avoid the skipping that a portable CD player introduces. However, this consumer might become dissatisfied with the limited and expensive storage space that portable mp3 players currently have. So this consumer might purchase, for example, a portable CD player to be used to listen to music on long airplane trips. Other such scenarios exist in which a consumer might purchase both a portable mp3 player and a piece of previous portable music technology in the same year. Consequently, we can determine that both products are not perfect substitutes. Additionally, there are some consumers who might purchase a portable mp3 player and would not have otherwise purchased another portable music device. This type of consumer might be described as a gadget girl; a consumer who is so excited about new technology that she just has to buy it. This type of consumer bought a cell phone

when they were outrageously expensive, bulky, had a short battery life and were not at all commonplace. This person owns a laser pointer, a ferbie, and a remote controlled vacuum. Although identifying these two types of consumers shows us that these products are not perfect substitutes, one many wonder how common these two types of consumers are. The answer is probably not that common. These types of consumers are probably a small subset of all the consumers that purchase portable mp3 players. Thus, the figures presented for the damages imposed by the portable mp3 player on previous portable music technology are certainly upper bounds, but the distance between the actual damage and the upper bound is probably not very far. In the short time in which portable digital audio players have been on the market, they have had an impact on the music recording industry, on companies that have begun to produce the player, and on companies that produce substitute products. The emergence of portable mp3 players has served to threaten the RIAA and boost the sales of firms that got into the portable mp3 player market. Because the portable mp3 player is a close substitute to previous portable music technology, it has probably decreased the sales of portable CD players and portable cassette players.

Bibliography

Blount, Steve, The use of Delaying Tactics to Obtain Submarine Patents and Amend Around a Patent that a Competitor has Designed Around, Journal of the Patent and Trademark Office Society, 1999, vol. 81, no. 1, p, 11 32. Digisette Homepage, http://www.digisette.com Email correspondence with Andrew Bridges, Esq. of Wilson Sinsini Goodrich and Rosati, November 20, 2000. Email correspondence with Kelley McGrath, S3 (Diamond) public relations representative, October 2000. International Patent Seartch, http://www.delphion.com Litton, Generosa, The Internet Audio Market, Frost and Sullivan IT Market Engineering Newsletter, July 1999, http://www.frost.com/verity/newsletter/it/9907/art01.htm Marriott, Michael, Hey Walkman: Time to Face Music on a Chip, The New York Times, July 20, 2000, http://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/20/technology/20musi.html Mohoney, I.G., United States, International Intellectual Property Law, D. Cambell and S. Cotter, editors, John Wiley and Sons Publishing, 1996, Chapter 9. Moving Picture Experts Group Homepage, http://www.cselt.it/mpeg Mp3 Shopping.com, http://www.mp3shopping.com/english/mp3players.htm MPMan website, http://www.mpman.com Napster Homepage, http://www.napster.com Recording Industry Association of America website: http://www.riaa.com Rio Homepage, http://www.riohome.com Seo, B.H., Flash shortage slows MP3 player manufacturers, EE Times, 10/20/99, http://www.ebnonline.com/story/shipwire/OEG19991020S0064 Sonic Blue (formerly S3) Press Room, http://www.sonicblue.com/default.asp?menu=Press_Room United States Securities and Exchange Commission website, http://www.sec.gov

US Patent and Trade Office Homepage, http://www.uspto.gov Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati webpage, http://www.wsgr.com Winamp Homepage, http://www.winamp.com

RandomAccess

CSAOpenDayQuiz th 26 February2010
Quizmaster:SivasankarChander,SreepathiPai Topics:General(Round1)
Q: Sun Microsystems developed a filesystem called ZFS, which is used in the Solaris and OpenSolaris operating systems. Expand the acronym ZFS.
Ans: Zettabyte File System. Actually, it can store 2^128 bytes = 256 peta zettabytes, which is much more than a zettabyte. A zettabyte is the amount of data currently generated on the planet per year, according to Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
Connect the images (the list is not exhaustive).
Ans: Steiner Tree, Travelling Salesman and Knapsack all examples of NP-Complete problems enumerated by Karp in 1972.

Q: Connect:

Ans: Google Logos for: 1) Barcode Invention 2) Samuel Morse's Birthday 3) Tetris Anniversary
Q: These are alternative names and icons for which familiar software products?

Iceweasel and Icedove

Ans: Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird They were renamed by the Debian Project in order to conform to the Mozilla project's trademark guidelines.
Q: Connect the Science Fiction writer Philip K. Dick (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep [aka Bladerunner], Minority Report, etc.) to Google's products.
Ans: The androids (replicants) in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?/ Bladerunner were from the Nexus-6 series. Google's Nexus One phone runs the Android Operating System.
Q: Connect to a recent product:
Ans: The Notion Ink Adam Tablet. It is the first commercial product to use Pixel Qi's Transflective displays designed by Mary Lou Jepsen of OLPC fame.
Quizmasters:SivasankarChander,SreepathiPai Topic:Personalities
Q: Identify this person programming an IBM 650.

Prof. Donald E. Knuth

The dedication to the IBM 650 occurs in his The Art of Computer Programming books: This series of books is affectionately dedicated to the Type 650 computer once installed at Case Institute of Technology, in remembrance of many pleasant evenings.
Q: The maternal grandfather of this personality was the Chief Engineer of Southern Railways in Madras, and his father was the Collector of Chhatrapur, Ganjam District (then part of Madras Presidency, now in present-day Orissa). He himself was a middle-distance runner who trained for the trials for the Helsinki Olympics in 1952, but did not participate due to a childhood injury. Identify.

Alan Mathison Turing.

Q: He said this, about the pronunciation of his name:. Europeans call me by name, but Americans call me by value. Identify. Hint:
Ans: Prof. Niklaus Wirth, when asked how his name is pronounced. Europeans usually pronounced it accurately (Nicklouse Veert), but Americans often pronounced it Nickel's Worth; hence, Call by Value.
Q: Having invented much of the technology of software, this distinguished computer scientist eschewed the use of computers in his own work for many decades. Almost all his manuscripts appearing after 1972 were handwritten. When lecturing, he would write proofs in chalk on a blackboard rather than using overhead foils, let alone Powerpoint slides. Even after he succumbed to his University of Texas colleagues encouragement and acquired a Macintosh computer, he used it only for Email and for browsing the Web. Identify.
Ans: Prof. Edsger W. Dijkstra. His more than 1300 handwritten manuscripts are called EWDs, and are now being scanned, transcribed and made available online by the University of Texas.
Q: Although he was a notoriously bad driver, he nonetheless enjoyed driving (frequently while reading a book) - occasioning numerous arrests as well as accidents. He reported one of his car accidents in this way: "I was proceeding down the road. The trees on the right were passing me in orderly fashion at 60 miles per hour. Suddenly one of them stepped in my path." (He is said to have returned to Princeton at the beginning of every academic year with a new car, after accidents the previous year had forced him to scrap the previous one). Identify.
Ans: Prof. John von Neumann, of the Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton.
Q: Identify the person in the photograph. Hint: He looks slightly different now.
Ans: Richard M. Stallman. This is what he looks like now:
Quizmaster:SivasankarChander,SreepathiPai Topics:GamesandEntertainment
Q: What common theme connects these PC games?
Ans: All have been made into movies.
Q: In which Videogame did this Internet meme first appear?
Ans: In the Videogame Zero Wing by the Japanese game company Toaplan.
Q: In Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey, there is a malfunctioning computer called HAL 9000, whose designer is a Dr.Chandra. What is the significance of the name HAL?
Ans: HAL is a ROT-1 encipherment of the string IBM.
Q: According to the author, this programming language needed a name that was short, unique and slightly mysterious. The creator of this programming language was a fan of a BBC comedy show of the 70s. He named this language after the TV show. Name the TV show and the programing language.

Ans: The TV show is "Monty Python's Flying Circus" and the language is 'Python'.
Q: The US Government finances this free First Person Shooter that was considered one of the top 10 First Person Shooters played online between 2002-2008. Which game?
Ans: America's Army, the free game by the US Army.
Q: This is a frame from a short film released at SIGGRAPH '86, which was nominated for an Oscar in 1986. Name the short film.
Ans: Luxo Jr., the first film made at Pixar, by Ed Catmull and John Lasseter. It is the fully computer-animated film made.
Quizmasters:SivasankarChander,SreepathiPai Topic:General(Round2)
Q: Hewlett-Packard created a prototype of this theoretical last passive circuit element in 2008. Name it.

Ans: Memristor

Q: Leetspeak, Klingon, Pig Latin, Elmer Fudd and Bork, bork, bork! are officially supported languages for this online service. Which service?

Ans: Google.

Q: Acorn Computers, Apple Computer and VLSI Technology founded this fabless processor design company which now is the market leader in low-power mobile processors. Which company?
Ans: ARM/Acorn RISC Machine.
Q: Honda created a number of these, with this being the eleventh. At 54kg and a top speed of 6km/h, it costs just under a million dollars to make. In May 2008, it conducted the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. In March 2009, researchers at Honda demonstrated a helmet that allowed them to control it using thought alone. What are we talking about?

Ans: The ASIMO robot.

Q: Arimaa, named after the son Aamir of IndianAmerican Omar Sayed, is a board game designed in 2002 [the year Kasparov was defeated by Deep Blue] that can be played using exactly the same pieces as chess. However, Arimaa has been specifically designed for one goal. What goal?
Ans: Arimaa is designed to be very hard for computers to play the game successfully.
Q: This industrial research lab invented the following: 1) Laser printing 2) Ethernet 3) Desktop Computer 4) Bit-mapped GUI-based software 5) Mouse point-and-click metaphor Except for laser printing, management ignored the development of the other inventions. Other companies soon took the lead in those areas. Which lab?
Ans : Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre (PARC).
Quizmaster:SivasankarChander,SreepathiPai Topics:Tech/Gadgets
Q: This photograph shows a RepRap. What is the RepRap?
Ans: The RepRap is a 3D printer that can print most of its own parts, thus enabling self-replication! The designers wish to bring to hardware the same freedom of copying that software now enjoys.

Q: The visual form of the Shokado Bento, shown above, is said to haveinspiredGermanbornindustrialdesignerRichardSapper(who has his studio in Milan, but consults worldwide). With the help of Japanese engineer Arimasa Naitoh (and his team), this led to the development of the most successful product of its kind, which was introducedin1992andhassoldover30millionunitssince. Identifythecompanyandthevisualknockoffproduct.
ShokadoBentoBoxIBMThinkPad
Ans: The IBM ThinkPad, from the IBM Yamato Development Labs, Japan.
Q: In 1998, a little-known Korean company called Saehan built a product (the first of its kind in the world) for sale mainly in Asia, which was picked up for resale in the US by a company called Eiger Labs, and later by another company called Diamond Multimedia. Identify the product category.
Ans: The first personal MP3 player. Prior to the Saehan MPMan F10, you could play MP3s on PCs, but could not carry it with you easily the most compact solution involved a $2000 mini-notebook like a Toshiba Libretto or HP Omnibook with a software player like WinAmp.
Q: Considered to be the first Computer Game ever built, this automaton was demonstrated in the Paris World Fair of 1914, where it caused great excitement. Identify the automaton or its designer. (Hint)
Ans: The Chess Player or El Ajedrecista built by Spanish Electrical Engineer Torres Y Quevedo. It could play King-Rook vs. King Endgames perfectly. It is considered to be the first true digital automaton to have been constructed.
Q: Identify the gadget shown above.
Ans: Magnavox Odyssey (1972), by Ralph Baer. It was the world's first commercial Video Game Console.
Q: Last year, IEEE Spectrum ran an article on 25 microchips that shook the world, in terms of the novelty and impact they had on system design. Which chip (still widely used today, almost 40 years after its introduction in 1971) was #1 on that list?
Ans: Signetics NE555 timer/monoshot.