3DsoundSurge Press Release: The Versatile Sound Card For Gaming, Music And Internet Entertainment: Creative Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Digital

The Versatile Sound Card For Gaming, Music And Internet Entertainment: Creative Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Digital

Dolby Digital decoding, high-end audio acceleration and exceptional value for money – the perfect all-round card.

Creative (Nasdaq: CREAF) the worldwide leader in digital entertainment products for the personal computer and the Internet, announces the Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Digital. Powered by the EMU10K1, one of the most advanced audio processing chips for the PC, it offers users a powerful, exciting Dolby Digital experience, superlative audio in 2, 4 and 5.1 channels, and advanced technology – all at a most competitive price. For gaming, music or Internet entertainment, the Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Digital also harnesses powerful technologies such as EAX to bring true-to-life audio and 3D environmental effects to the desktop, with support for up to 32 hardware-accelerated 3D channels and up to 1024 voices for incredible realism. Supplied ready for connection to 5.1 channel speakers, the card enables users to experience Dolby Digital surround sound without buying an additional decoder. In addition, the card is equipped for internet audio, containing a full 320 KB/sec. encoder capable of handling up to 9x digital audio acceleration. It is also fully compliant with MP3/WMA ripping.

According to Franco De Bonis, European Brand Manager for Audio Products with Creative Labs Europe, “The Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Digital meets users’ needs for exceptional technology with great value – it’s a really versatile home entertainment sound card. We are very happy to continue our heritage of “pulling” technology down to price points that make the product accessible to virtually every user. Prior to the launch of our recent line of Sound Blaster Audigy cards, the Live! was the most powerful audio processor available on the shelves. This high-end technology is now available at low-end price points, which is going to make a lot of gamers and PC users very happy.

“The card comes with a fabulous suite of software,” he adds. “It gives impressive realism in any gaming or home entertainment environment –especially as it includes Dolby Digital decoding. It’s also the perfect solution for internet audio enthusiasts, thanks to its MP3/WMA capability.

About Creative Labs

Creative (Nasdaq: CREAF) is the world-wide 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 1981, 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. A fully fledged European operation was put in place by General Manager, Michael Sullivan, 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 500 staff.

For further information, visit www.europe.creative.com.