p2p news / p2pnet: Taiwan mp3 file-sharing service Kuro has launched the Neo, an mp3 player aimed squarely at p2p and focussing primarily on Chinese-language songs on its own network.

If Kuro seems familiar, that’s probably because you remember it first ran afoul of the Big Four Organized Music cartel in 2003 and was recently hit in the first criminal case against a p2p site in Taiwan.

“The company lost a lawsuit this year filed by the local Taiwan International Federation of the Phonographic Industry for copyright infringement,” says DigiTimes. But, “Despite losing the case, the service remains active and Kuro stated that it is currently negotiating a settlement for the lawsuit,”

The Kuro Neo MP3 player comes with 512MB of flash memory and also has an SD memory card slot so users can expand storage without having to upgrade the entire device.

“The company stated that the Neo can also serve as a USB drive and card reader for SD memory cards, and it does not require any driver installation,” says DigiTimes, adding:

“Targeting the 400,000 subscribers to its file-sharing network, Kuro aims to sell about 20,000 Neo MP3 players in 2006. The MP3 player will retail for NT$3,888 (US$117), and the company is marketing it bundled with a one-year subscription to its file-sharing network for NT$3,889.

Kuro “does not rule out the possibility of partnering with other vendors for MP3 product rollouts next year, according to product manager Eric Yang” and, “The company also has MP3-equippped handsets on its roadmap.”

Also See:
ran afoul - Taiwanese p2p case hots up, December 12, 2003
recently hit - Kuro decision expected Friday, September 7, 2005
DigiTimes - Taiwan-based P2P music service debuts MP3 player with SD card slot, December 2, 2005

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 27th, 2005 at 12:37 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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