Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity Audio Processor Wins Popular Science Magazine 'Best of What's New' Award

Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity Audio Processor Wins Popular Science Magazine 'Best of What's New' Award

Editors and Executives From Popular Science Present Award to Creative Chairman and CEO Sim Wong Hoo at 2006 Consumer Electronics Show

MILPITAS, Calif., Jan. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Creative (NASDAQ:CREAF), a worldwide leader in digital entertainment products, today announced that the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity(TM) audio processor was presented with the prestigious Popular Science magazine "Best of What's New" award at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show. Awards were initially announced in the December 2005 issue of Popular Science.

"Best of What's New is the ultimate Popular Science accolade, representing a year's worth of work evaluating thousands of products," says Mark Jannot, editor of Popular Science. "These awards honor innovations that not only influence the way we live today, but that change the way we think about the future."

The "Best of What's New" award recognizes the most impressive advancements of the year in categories as wide-ranging as automotive tech, aviation and space, computing, engineering, personal health, recreation and more. The Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor won an award in the Home Entertainment category, and was described in Popular Science under the heading: "Processor Makes MP3s Sound Like CDs Again."

The Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor introduces the breakthrough Xtreme Fidelity(TM) audio standard. Powering the award-winning Sound Blaster(R) X-Fi sound cards, X-Fi and Xtreme Fidelity provide dramatic improvements to the recording and playback of MP3 music, accelerate and improve PC game play, enhance listening experiences for movies, and improve the capabilities, performance and quality of audio and music creation.

"We are very honored that our Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor has been recognized by Popular Science as being among the best of all the products and technologies in the world," said Sim Wong Hoo, chairman and CEO of Creative. "We have set the new Xtreme Fidelity standard for audio by providing 24-bit quality, stunning audio clarity, and our new CMSS(R) (Creative Multi Speaker Surround) 3D headphone and surround speaker technology. With the X-Fi-powered 24-bit Crystalizer(TM), you can upgrade all of your CD and MP3 music to the Xtreme Fidelity standard without having to repurchase all of your content, and you can make the sound quality better than the original CD recordings. When it comes to X-Fi, you have to hear to believe."

The Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor is designed with multiple engines, so it can dynamically direct resources through a modular architecture to completely change the way audio is managed for any application. The Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor provides key modes that are optimized for experiences with MP3 music, gaming, movies and audio creation. Each mode is configured to dynamically dedicate the processor's power to deliver everything the user needs to maximize the features, quality and capabilities for each experience.

The Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor drives new applications that can enhance MP3s by bringing them back to 24-bit quality, and allows the user to upgrade the music to multi-channel surround sound. It enables gamers to experience accelerated frame rates during game play, and for both music and gaming it powers the CMSS 3D headphone technology, which provides the experience of a multi-channel speaker system through virtually any headphones.

The Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor is available now on the award-winning Sound Blaster X-Fi sound cards, available at major retailers and online, with prices starting at only US$129.99. For more information about the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor and the Sound Blaster X-Fi sound cards, please visit www.soundblaster.com.

About Creative

Creative is a worldwide leader in digital entertainment products for PC users. Famous for its Sound Blaster(R) sound cards and for launching the multimedia revolution, Creative is now driving digital entertainment on the PC platform with products like its highly acclaimed Zen(TM) and MuVo(R) MP3 players. Creative's innovative hardware, proprietary technology, applications and services leverage the Internet, enabling consumers to experience high-quality digital entertainment -- anytime, anywhere.

This announcement relates to products launched in the United States. The product names, prices and availability are subject to change without notice and may differ elsewhere in the world according to local factors and requirements. Sound Blaster, Creative X-Fi, Xtreme Fidelity, EAX, CMSS, 24-bit Crystalizer, Zen and MuVo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Creative Technology Ltd. in the United States and/or other countries. All other brand names are trademarks of their respective owners.

Source: Creative Labs, Inc.

CONTACT: Amy Stojsavljevic of Creative Labs, Inc., +1-408-546-6737, or
amys@creativelabs.com

Web site: http://www.soundblaster.com/

Web site: http://www.creative.com/

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