From: VanBaren, Gerald (AGRE) <"VanBaren,>
Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2004 09:27:02 -0700

This smells strongly of a marketing ploy:

<quote>
None of the security measures on Zenon, including the Serial Copy Management System, were available on Micronas' previous MP3 player chips. Micronas is unable to ship its MAS3587F to the United States because the chip, an encoder/decoder designed to support the ripping of tracks from a CD, violates the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992, von Janecek said. But a change in the chip's firmware has enabled Micronas to sell it as the MAS35x9F MP3 decoder with AAC and G.729 voice codec features.

By combining that chip with Zenon, Micronas can offer audio player manufacturers a two-chip solution for MP3 players with recording, playback and security features.
</quote>

So they "cannot" ship the MAS3587F to the U.S., but they can offer a two-chip solution which includes the chip they "cannot" ship to the U.S. My, how convenient (for their bottom line).

<IANAL>
There is a lot of legal precedence that it is NOT illegal to sell hardware/software that CAN be used illegally as long as that is not the PRINCIPLE function (i.e. reason for existance) of that hardware/software.
</IANAL>

gvb


> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-rockbox_at_cool.haxx.se [mailto:owner-rockbox_at_cool.haxx.se]On
> Behalf Of BlueChip
> Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2004 10:12 AM
> To: rockbox_at_cool.haxx.se
> Subject: Re: MAS
>
>
> http://www.us.design-reuse.com/news/news722.html
>
> "Micronas is unable to ship its MAS3587F to the United States
> because the
> chip, an encoder/decoder designed to support the ripping of t
> racks from a
> CD, violates the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992, von Janecek said."
>
> How interesting! ...Where is the Neo manufactured?
>
> At 07:13 08/01/04, you wrote:
> >I don't know how much these will help, but i decided to do
> some digging.
> >Some of it has chip data, others have some interesting talk
> about the chip:
> >
> >http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/fli/fli115.html
> >http://www.micronas.com/products/documentation/consumer/mas35
> 87f/index.php
> >http://www.us.design-reuse.com/news/news722.html
> >http://rt.cs.tu-berlin.de/lehre/aes/intermetall-mas3587f.pdf
> >
> >-Fox
> >
> >
> >
> >"Matthew P. OReilly" <moreilly_at_moreilly.com> wrote in message
> >news:MPBBJKNKCFICFDCNLBNDGEJNDPAA.moreilly_at_moreilly.com...
> > > Sorry to resurrect an old thread (at least I changed the
> subject line...),
> > > but I'm just catching up on 4000+ emails and ran across this.
> > >
> > > I have some questions:
> > > 1)What sort of money are we talking here? $10^y, y=?
> > > 2)How could we be sure that purchasing/licensing the
> requisite info from
> > > Micronas, or the experience of someone with access to
> their docs, wouldn't
> > > violate the terms of the agreement for the licensing or
> conversely the
> > > license under which Rockbox is published?
> > > 3)In light of the points brought out in this thread, what
> do we see as the
> > > big benefits of having access to the MAS programming?
> > >
> > > I'm all for contributing, but I think we need to know
> what we're getting
> > > into here before we start looking at this seriously.
> > >
> > > Thx
> > > Matt
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: owner-rockbox_at_cool.haxx.se
> [mailto:owner-rockbox_at_cool.haxx.se]On
> > > Behalf Of BlueChip
> > > Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2003 8:42 PM
> > > To: rockbox_at_cool.haxx.se
> > > Subject: Re: Re[2]: play WAV?
> > >
> > >
> > > I currently have every intention of writing the code
> myself - given that
> > > embedded code is love and living. Sadly, however, _money_ is not
> >something
> > > I can offer to the project :(
> > >
> > > So given that in this context I am classified as a
> 'developer' if there is
> > > anybody who cannot talk to their friends about this, all/any cash
> >donations
> > > will be greatfully received. If this is a serious
> option, then I will
> >look
> > > into the precise cost involved :)
> > >
> > > One post, two great ideas - cheers Donaldson,
> > >
> > > BC
> > >
> > > > From reading the micronas data sheet all you have to do
> is pay them
> > > >a nince chunk of money and you can purchase the
> development kit for the
> > > >DSP. I don't know what limitations are on the dsp code
> but I'm guessing
> > > >you could load the binary form into a freewareish
> project. So what
> > > >I'm saying is, if you want wav support that bad pay one
> of the developers
> > > >enough money to purchase an development kit.
> > > >
> > > >Donaldson
> > >
> > >
> > > >>
> > > Back in the early days of Rockbox we found a guy who
> actually had done
> > > "microcode" coding on the MAS and we emailed him to ask
> for help, but he
> > > declined as we couldn't offer him any money and he didn't
> feel like
> >helping
> > > us
> > > for the fun of it.
> > > (snipped from one of Daniel's posts)
> > > <<
> > >
> > >
>
>



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Received on 2004-01-08