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Soundcards Cry At Motherboards' Hug!

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DQC News Bureau
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Not so long ago, a typical multimedia kit (MMK) used to comprise a CD-ROM drive, a sound card and two speakers. That is no longer the case. Today's MMK kits no longer include the sound card. The reason: it now comes in-built with the motherboard.

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Most new motherboards manufactured today have an integrated sound card on it. Samsung Electronics India recently launched a state-of-the-art MMK sans sound card, for desktops. According to Samsung, the kit has been developed specifically for the Indian market. Henceforth all motherboard manufacturers will have soundcard in-built on it and Indian market has already begun to accept the soundcard-integrated motherboard. 

A couple of years ago, when sound cards were integrated onto motherboard, systems integrators were not in favor of the development. SIs stuck to the opinion that the sound quality of the integrated motherboard was not good enough. They also felt that it increased the load on the motherboard.

Paisa vasool

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But in a price-conscious Indian market, it seems to be money alone that makes the mare go. Thus, a motherboard that incorporates a sound card works out to be a cheaper option. A separate sound card would mean paying more. A good sound card costs anywhere between Rs 650 and Rs 15,000. Opting for a Pentium II, III or IV processor, would mean using motherboards with Intel's 810, 810E or 815 chipset, which anyway have an in-built sound card on it. So, "Why go for a separate stand-alone sound card?" is the prevailing market sentiment.

But the fact is, SIs were right in their initial reactions to sound card-integrated motherboards. A compulsive multimedia user would always go for a stand-alone sound card, which offers great sound quality.

However, most users belong to the value-for-money or paisa vasool category. So it is the integrated chip which is catching up. It has already sounded the death knell for sound card manufacturers. Creative, the undisputed leader then for multimedia kits, was the first one to be affected. Followed by Yamaha, which was doing pretty good business.

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With a market share of 80 percent, Creative's kits were considered the best available. There was very little room for any other kit in the market. However, the high cost of Creative multimedia kits was a factor that forced local dealers respond with so-called OEM kits. Basically, these kits were a bundle of Creative CD-ROMs, local ampli-speakers and reasonably priced sound cards. But the Creative brand name ensured the sales of these OEM kits. 

Among assemblers, Yamaha sound cards were favorites. For the end-user this was an acceptable package. A Yamaha PCI sound card, priced at Rs 650, is always a better option compared to a high-priced Creative card, which was in the range of Rs 1450 and Rs 15,000 (dealer price).

A few months ago, Yamaha announced that it would concentrate on manufacturing CD writers than sound cards. According to the company, prices of soundcards are falling as a large number of Taiwanese players have entered this segment. Besides, with the integration of soundcards onto motherboards, this business became unviable. 

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CD-ROM drives

A few years ago, having a CD-ROM drive on a system was considered a luxury. But they are very common in systems sold today. "Today PCs are anyway being sold with a CD-ROM drive. This only means that the need for a separate multimedia kit does not arise," says a local dealer for multimedia products.

CD-ROM

Drives
Price
Creative

Infra 52x CDROM Drive
2250
Samsung

52x CDROM Drive
1875
Acer

50x CDROM Drive
1750
Asus

50x Max CDROM Drive
2353
LG

52X CD-ROM DRIVE
2230
Mercury

52x CDROM Drive
1910

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Besides, Samsung is promoting its CD-ROMs and speakers as a kit. According to DQCI's research, the Samsung kit is doing very well in the market. Samsung's shrink-wrapped kit consists of a 52x CD-ROM drive, conical speakers and a collection of software titles. It also includes 15 software CDs and two-audio/video music CDs. It is priced at Rs 4300, with Rs 5,000 being the retail price. 

Consequently, Samsung's gain is Creative's loss. Creative, which has so far not launched an MMK without sound cards, is actually seeing a shift in market share. According to local dealers, the Creative kit is expensive because it includes the soundcard, while a Samsung kit is cheaper in the absence of it. "Creative could be losing its share because of the number of players introducing cheaper and good quality CD-ROM drives. Besides Samsung, there are others like Acer, LG, Mercury, Actima, and Asus who are promoting their CD-ROM drives.

DUD

ROM Drive
Price
ACER

16X DVD Drive
7450
Pioneer 16X DVD-ROM

Drive
7150
ASUS 12X DVD Drive 6246
Samsung 12x DVD-ROM

Drive
6100
Creative 12x DVD-ROM

Drive
6050
LG 8X DVD Drive 5230
Asus 8x Max DVD-ROM

Drive
5109
SAMSUNG 8X DVD Drive 4800

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Compuage, a distributor of Creative products, has refused to comment on the marketshare of that brand. According to Rajeev Chaudhari, All Indian Marketing Manager of SES Tech (distributors of Acer products), Acer CD-ROMs have picked up now has an overall market share of 25 percent. Although the official market share of Samsung's CD-ROM is not available, market sources say that it has increased considerably. 

Today, market sources also add that Creative's share has reduced considerably. Samsung and Acer are believed to be eating into Creative's share. "Possibly, the competition is on the prices front," says a retailer. A 52X Samsung CD-ROM drive costs Rs 1875, whereas Creative Infra 52X CD-ROM drive costs Rs 2250. Also comparable is Mercury's 52x CDROM drive, which costs Rs 1910. LG's 52X drive cost Rs 2230. Acer and ASUS, which are picking up their share of business, have priced its 50x CDROM drives at Rs 1750 and Rs 2353, respectively.

When it comes to vendor support, Samsung and LG score with a good network, whereas some dealers are not very satisfied with the kind of support they get for Creative products. A common compliant among users of Creative CD-ROM drives is that it makes a lot of noise. "This is because it is very fast compared other drives," explains a visiting executive from Creative.

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Speakers

The third and most important components in a multimedia pack are speakers. Vendors are doing their best to make them more attractive. For those who are very particular about sound quality, a complete range beginning from 30 watts is available. 

Speakers Price
Creative

desktop Theater 5.1 DTT2500 Digital
31698
Creative

desktop Theatre 5.1 Speaker
15876
Logitech

SoundMan X1 (200 Watts with Sub Woofer)
4540
Logitech

SoundMan X2 (320 Watts with Sub Woofer)
6180
Mercury

SR-301B 1200Watts Speaker
2700
Micro

Works Speake
14688
PC

Works CSW100
4131
Creative

PC Works Four Point Surround FPS1000
6480
Logitech

SoundMan G1 (64 Watts)
2717
Logitech

SoundMan SR20
3330
Mercury

800Watts with Sub Woofer
1500
Mercury

880W Speake
1500
Priya

Malibu Flat Speakers
950

In this segment, Mercury (Kobian) takes the lead. Creative's SBS20 speakers cost Rs 1200, whereas Mercury's 340-watts low-end speakers cost Rs 450. When it comes to high-end speakers, Mercury scores again as its 1200 watts speaker costs only Rs 2700. Although there are not too many takers for costly high-end speakers, dealers do not seem to shy away from stocking Logitech and Creative speakers.

Like sound cards, which have been incorporated onto the motherboard, of late monitors have been incorporating speakers as well. But there are not many takers for this option. As of now, consumers are happy with conventional speakers.

Webcams

Webcams and digital cameras are other multimedia products becoming increasingly popular. Players like Creative, D-Link, Logitech and Sony offer a wide range of such products in the price range of Rs 4000 to Rs 13,000. There are signs of Logitech and D-Link becoming market favorites due to competitive prices. In fact, the possibility of webcams emerging as essential communication tool must not be lost sight of. Trends like videoconferencing through Microsoft NetMeeting, CU-See-Me and ICU2 seem to point in this direction.

WEBCAMS PRICE
Creative

Webcam 3(Parallel) (USB based)
3940
(USB based)
D-Link Digital Camera &

Webcam-DSC 350
6750
Sony Digital Still

Camera(MVC-FD73)
43120
Sony

Digital Still Camera(MVC-FD85)
57970
Logitech QuickCam Home 5390
Logitech QuickCam Pro 8990
D-Link Video WebCam

USB(DSB-C00)
5000
Creative

WebCam Go
11420
Creative

WebCam Go Plus
12540
Creative WebCam III(USB) 3940

Nelson Johny in Mumbai

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