Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 453 MP3 Music Player

When Masato Takeshita arrived at Xinghai Electronics, he didn't waste any time and got straight to the point.

"Scarlissan, have you been following the company Sehan lately?"

“Sehan? Hmm, I’ve heard of it. It’s supposedly an affiliate of Samsung.”

Samsung is a household name; few people don't know it.

As for Sehan, it is much smaller in scale.

But it was a company that spun off from Samsung in 95, so Sculley, the president of Starsea Technology and Starsea Electronics, had a vague recollection of it.

However, I'm not as familiar with Samsung as I am with them.

"That's right, it's this company. As far as I know, they're currently developing a music player that uses MP3 format and allows users to download music freely from the internet."

The idea of ​​an MP3 music player took root in the mind of Samsung CEO Moon as early as 1997.

However, at the time, Sony's music players were at their peak, and Samsung's board of directors directly rejected the proposal.

Later, Samsung was forced to lay off a large number of employees due to the impact of the financial crisis, and Moon was one of the laid-off employees.

At this point, he remembered the MP3 player project that Samsung had rejected, and decided to find a new job in Sehan and then advocate for the development of an MP3 music player.

"Music players, are we going to compete with Sony?"

"That's right, you feel a lot of pressure?"

Sony's near-monopoly in the music player market is something no company can resist.

Now that the opportunity has been found, Xinghai Group naturally wants to join in.

"That's Sony."

Although Scully believed in his chairman's talent, he still felt that the company would have a hard time competing with Sony in the music industry.

This is a globally renowned entertainment giant in the consumer electronics field.

Even if you add companies like Toshiba and Panasonic to the mix, let alone Xinghai Group, a newcomer to the music player industry, they are no match for Sony.

"Sony, what's wrong with Sony? The future belongs to the internet. The ability to freely download music via the internet will soon end Sony's reliance on CDs and cassettes."

Then, based on his memories from his previous life, the young man began to further explain what a music player meant by "dimensional reduction attack".

Compared to traditional portable music players, MP3 music players are more convenient and flexible, and offer access to a wider variety of songs.

In addition, you are free to choose the songs you like to listen to, instead of only listening to a certain artist's albums or compilations.

Another advantage is that high-capacity MP3 players can download hundreds or even thousands of songs at once, and then listen to them however you like.

Walkmans are not flexible enough in this respect; listening to so many songs requires carrying dozens or even hundreds of CDs or tapes.

"Huh, is that possible? Then downloading MP3s of songs from the internet is definitely more appealing."

Scully listened more and more attentively, and finally his eyes lit up.

He realized that MP3 music players indeed had a bright future and would inevitably replace existing portable music players.

"That's right. MP3 music players are not only more convenient to use, but they also easily attract young people."

"In the music player market, having young people means having everything."

Young people are the generation that most likes to follow the trends of the times, and MP3 players that can download music via the Internet represent the trend for young people at this time.

It allows you to listen to music freely without the hassle of changing cassette tapes or CDs.

"I understand, Chairman. Please rest assured, I will immediately have the lab begin research and development."

"Okay, then go ahead and get busy."

Out of consideration for the innovative spirit of the company's employees, Masato Takeshita did not plan to immediately release the classic MP3 design that would become a classic in later generations.

He wanted to wait and test the industrial aesthetics of the company's employees.

If his aesthetic sense is poor, he will then pull out a style he can recall.

Of course, the person in charge will be in trouble then.

At best, they'll be transferred away from Xinghai Technology; at worst, they'll be completely marginalized.

After leaving Xinghai Electronics, Masato Takeshita immediately went to Xinghai Entertainment.

Fortunately, Kalinsky hadn't set off yet, so the young man didn't have to go all the way to South Korea.

"I am very optimistic about the development of the Internet, so I am preparing to focus on Internet music."

Although Masato Takeshita's words were somewhat cryptic, Kalinsky immediately understood what his chairman was talking about.

He tentatively asked, "Does the chairman intend to purchase internet music copyrights on a large scale?"

"That's right, but my main target is music from non-English speaking countries. Copyright prices in English-speaking countries are too high, so it's not worth it."

Non-English speaking countries, especially less developed countries like China, place very little importance on copyright.

The online copyright for a song might only cost three to five hundred yuan.

With a small investment, Xinghai Group can acquire the best music from Greater China, Southeast Asia, the Arab world, and South America.

It may not seem like a great deal right now, but in another decade or so, it will be a money-printing machine.

In China's past, there was a company that thrived on copyrights; that company was LeEco, founded by Next Week's returnee.

However, LeEco mostly bought the rights to TV series and movies.

But no matter how things change, LeEco is still essentially a company that made its fortune by acquiring internet copyrights.

Of course, when LeEco's president, Jia Yueting, became ambitious and started venturing into car manufacturing, that's another story.

“I understand. It’s okay to buy English music if it’s cheap, but it’s not necessary if it’s expensive.”

"Yes, that's it."

Most English copyright companies are shrewd; even if they don't care about the small profits from the internet, they rarely sell directly.

Their preferred model is to sell the copyright for three to five years, and then charge a fee next time depending on the situation.

This does not meet the requirements of Xinghai Group, so there is no need to waste too much time on it.

"By the way, when you go to South Korea in a few days, you can also buy the internet rights to some excellent Korean songs."

"This will have many benefits for our company's future development."

The copyright issue was supposedly handed over to Kalinsky, but it was actually more of a responsibility to Matsumoto Hayato.

After all, when it comes to the music industry, Matsumoto, the president of Seikai Music, is the real expert.

However, he doesn't need to go through all that trouble for these minor matters.

To break Sony's monopoly, music players, music tracks, and music websites are all indispensable.

The first two have already taken action, so the third naturally cannot be absent.

He quickly found Nishimura Masaharu, the president of Seikai Software, and planned to have a detailed discussion.

"Good afternoon, Nishimura-san!"

"Good afternoon, President. We've prepared some black tea in your office. Shall we go in first?"

Every senior leader of Xinghai Group understands the personality of their chairman, so they don't stand on ceremony or make small talk, but simply say what they think.

"No problem. It's been a while since I've been here, and I really miss your tea."

"If you like it, then drink more, or you can come often."

"There's no need. You can't enjoy all the good things at once."

Amidst laughter and conversation, the two quickly arrived at the conference room. After a brief chat over tea and some snacks, they began to get down to business.

"My purpose in coming here is simple: I want you to create music software that provides services such as listening to and downloading music on our own operating system and the Microsoft operating system."

"No problem, this is not difficult."

Online music players—this technology has become widespread on the internet.

Some are paid, but free options are just as popular.

Xinghai Software could create it in two or three months.

Of course, for more complex music players, it will take quite a bit of time.

"OK, then I need Xinghai Software to make two music players, one free and one paid."

"It's free. Let's set up a shell company to run it first, so that the big music companies won't find fault with us in the future."

"Or simply produce it and upload it directly to the free software platform operated by Sakamura-san, so that music companies can't find anyone to sue."

Creating free music software and then setting up a dedicated company to run it is possible in third-world countries, but very difficult in developed countries.

Because developed countries generally have high economic levels, they impose more severe penalties on piracy.

"As for the paid version, we'll follow the existing music software model. But we must provide music download and music upload functions."

The music download function is a feature that Xinghai Group has prepared for MP3 music players, so that in the future, when MP3s are released, there won't be any music available to listen to.

The music upload function is mainly designed to attract independent singers.

These singers may not be particularly outstanding individually, but their combined strength is not to be underestimated.

It's like the extreme sports sponsored by Red Bull in a previous life.

The number of people participating in and watching a single project is small, but these people are extremely loyal, so when combined, the effect is far greater than 3 (1+1+1).

Red Bull Group has made a fortune in the global energy drink market by packaging extreme sports projects.

However, in this era, extreme sports have been taken over by Star Sea Life's Pulse, becoming a major pillar supporting the development of Pulse beverage.

"Yes, please rest assured, Chairman."

Masaharu Nishimura quickly jotted it down, preparing to find time to collaborate with Xinghai Music.

We provide the research and development and design, while the music company provides the modification suggestions.

"Yes, and one more thing."

Masato Takeshita nodded, then continued speaking earnestly.

"I need the company to develop a peer-to-peer music software, and then release it directly through the free software alliance sponsored by the company."

Peer-to-peer music software first appeared in early 1999.

This technology quickly caused a sensation in the internet world, but it also soon brought trouble to the software inventor.

Because it's a software that allows users to download music for free, it quickly attracted the attention of large companies.

Ultimately, after a series of lawsuits, the founder's company quickly went bankrupt, and the software was acquired by another company.

To make matters worse, this technical genius, who made huge contributions to the spread of internet music and the popularization of MP3 music, has been burdened with enormous debt.

Fortunately, this genius was invincible; he later founded the ride-hailing app Uber.

If it were someone else, they would probably become homeless the moment they were burdened with debt.

Keep in mind, the debt is over twenty million US dollars. An ordinary person probably couldn't pay it off even in ten lifetimes, let alone a lifetime.

"Won't this lead to rampant piracy?"

Nishimura Masaharu hesitated, worried about offending Xinghai Entertainment.

"It's alright, I've already informed Kalinsky about this. You can continue with the research and development."

"Yes, President!"

Since Kalinsky has no problem, he naturally has no problem either.

In any case, with the advent of the internet, piracy has always been a problem that plagues everyone.

Xinghai Software is developing music playback software, and Baidu and Google, which focus on search, are no exception.

MP3 music software is a powerful tool for attracting users; Baidu relied on this tactic to attract a large number of users in its previous life.

Of course, they still took the route of sneaking into the village.

Those that charge fees can be registered under a company name, while those that offer free services can operate as shell companies.

Someone sued, lost the case, and then went bankrupt and went out of business, only to reappear under a different name.

In short, promote all kinds of music software in every way to prepare for the promotion of MP3 music players.

Since it involved free and open-source software, Masato Takeshita did not overlook Ken Sakamura, a prominent figure in the industry.

This bigwig is now the head of the open-source alliance website supported by Xinghai Group, responsible for maintaining and upgrading Jinux, currently the world's most popular free operating system.

In addition, another heavyweight figure on this open-source alliance website is Carmack.

He uploads various game engines to the open-source alliance, leading the development of the game industry.

"Let me create a few free music apps with the open-source alliance?"

"Yes, it's best to create several types of software, whether they support paid or free music."

Open source alliances are very useful. As long as there is open source code for music software in them, countless related software will be released in the future.

These software programs will ultimately form the cornerstone of the rise of MP3 music players.

What if their own music software is defeated?
The young man didn't even consider it.

If we lose, so be it. At worst, we can just spend money to acquire or invest in the company.

In any case, current music software has basically no future and poses no threat to the development of MP3 music players.

Of course, in order to make as much money as possible, Xinghai Group will eventually follow the path of Apple's MP3 music player from its previous life.

By combining hardware and software, they aim to generate more revenue by supporting paid downloads of Apple Music software.

"No problem, I will find someone to work with as soon as possible to complete it."

While Ken Sakamura strongly supports the use of open-source software, he is not as extreme as John Carmack.

Therefore, at times, he is willing to help Xinghai Group as long as it does not violate principles.

This is one of the two main reasons why Xinghai Group strongly supports the open source alliance.

The other major reason is that they are envious of the top programmers in the open-source alliance.

Many of them are highly skilled and can assist Xinghai Group in various locations.

In addition, many programmers who have had their fill of open source are more likely to develop a favorable impression of Xinghai Group because of its support for open source, and thus join the group.

"Okay, then I'll leave it to Sakamura-san."

"It's nothing, I'm happy to be able to help Xinghai Group."

Ken Sakamura is very content with his current life. He only needs to teach and maintain the open-source alliance on weekdays, and he has no other work.

In his remaining time, he can freely discuss technology with netizens or choose to travel around to relax.

There's hardly a better job in the world.

(End of this chapter)