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Creative pulls out of bloody CD-ROM drive battle

The CD-ROM drive battlefield has claimed a big casualty with the news that Singapore giant Creative Labs. is pulling out of the market.
Written by Martin Veitch, Contributor

The CD-ROM drive battlefield has claimed a big casualty with the news that Singapore giant Creative Labs. is pulling out of the market. The extremely rapid rate of change in the market has led analysts to forecast a blood-bath for some time, after makers were left with large amounts of unsold inventory.

Creative said it was shutting the operation "in an effort to reduce future inventory risks and because of current market volatility". The move will cost the firm, best known for its SoundBlaster audio card range, a one-time charge of $10 million. Creative had been producing more than 100,000 drives per month. 

Additionally, inventoried product will strike out a further $20m for Creative, relating to eight-speed CD-ROM drives and VL-Bus 3-D cards.

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