In the workshop on the first floor of the villa, there is the sound of crackling keyboard taps or ticking mouse clicks from time to time. This is already the fifth day, since that day Mai Jiajun raised the question of nationality, Zhang Lexing has not taken a step towards his residence for five days, and even the food these days is either ordered takeout or delivered by Yang Xinxin, who is not at ease, if it weren't for Zhang Lexing's gambling curse and swearing that he just needs a little time to think clearly, Yang Xinxin will live if he doesn't know.

These days, Zhang Lexing spends a lot of time thinking about nationality every day, in fact, there are only two choices, but once he makes a choice, he may never have the opportunity to regret it, which makes Zhang Lexing always distressed. In addition to thinking about problems, Zhang Lexing will also flip through the notes he wrote before, or look up information and news on the Internet, such as today, Zhang Lexing is looking at a software download station called "DOWNLOAD" that he often visits.

Casually browsing the relatively simple homepage, Zhang Lexing was about to close the webpage when a link with the words "RealAudio1.0" on the page attracted his attention. Click on the link with the mouse, and a new page will pop up quickly, which briefly introduces what is the new streaming media and the role of RealAudio1.0, the playback software.

From this introduction, Zhang Lexing learned that the so-called RealAudio1.0 is a kind of streaming software, developed by a company called ProgressiveNetworks, which has the characteristics of no waiting, and can be played after clicking. Zhang Lexing clicked on the link to download the RealAudio1.0 player,Wait for a while,The installation file of the player has been downloaded。 After installation,Zhang Lexing tried to click on the music playback test link provided on the software introduction page,Sure enough, as the introduction said,Except for a buffer at the beginning,The music has not been interrupted after that,It's just that the sound quality is a little worse。

The name of ProgressiveNetworks sounds very unfamiliar, but this RealAudio1.0 feels a little familiar to use, especially the streaming media involved in the software introduction page, which makes Zhang Lexing feel a sense of déjà vu, just like those RMVB format movie files downloaded from the Internet back then, "Could it be that this ProgressiveNetworks company has nothing to do with that RealNetworks company?" Zhang Lexing couldn't help but be suspicious.

What is the relationship between the two companies, find someone to investigate, but the emergence of streaming media has made Zhang Lexing see the dawn of solving the problem. Newspapers are said to have been born in the early 17th century with only one piece of news, and have since developed over the centuries to become one of the mainstream media outlets. Born in 1906 with just two jokes, a song and a solo violin to a few hundred listeners, radio has evolved over the decades to become one of the mainstream media, but now it is a little bit of a wane. Television is said to have been born in 1932 and started as a small opera in a theater, but now it has become the most influential in the mainstream media. Zhang Lexing knows that in the near future, the Internet, as an emerging media, will inevitably catch up with the status of television, and text, pictures, audio and video are all-encompassing, and many traditional newspapers and television stations have to develop on the Internet in order to maintain their influence.

With the stimulation of streaming media and the help of past notes, Zhang Lexing recalled the situation after the great development of Internet media, especially in the era of Web 2.0, with the help of interpersonal networks, blogs, video sharing, etc., to create a new media era, an all-round and interactive new media era, a new media era that newspapers, television and other traditional media cannot match.

Now that he has a better choice, Zhang Lexing no longer needs to be entangled in the issue of nationality and the acquisition of TV stations, and the troubles that have lasted for many days are gone, and Zhang Lexing suddenly feels a lot more relaxed. After making a phone call to Chen Zishan and chatting casually, Zhang Lexing hurried to the headquarters building of VisualSystem Group while it was still early, ready to tell Yang Xinxin about his final decision.

Yang Xinxin was the only one in the chairman's office today, and when she saw Zhang Lexing's relaxed expression, she put down the documents in her hand and asked with a smile: "Brother, you look good today, it seems that your problem has been solved." ”

"Sister Xin, I've figured it out. Zhang Lexing came to the sofa and sat down, and replied with a smile.

Yang Xinxin left her desk, came to the sofa next to Zhang Lexing and sat down, and asked, "Oh, then what are you going to do?"

"I don't want to give up my current citizenship for ABC, so I'm going to cancel the acquisition. ”

"Brother, then you still look so happy, isn't it a little uncomfortable. Yang Xinxin felt very puzzled and gave up a once-in-a-lifetime acquisition opportunity, which was as strange as no one.

"Because I thought of something better. Zhang Lexing said happily: "The reason why I wanted to buy ABC was because I fell in love with the users covered by this company's TV network, to increase the scope of information transmission by media companies, and to increase the way of dissemination for the film and television dramas produced by DreamWorks, but since there are legal restrictions on foreign investment in TV stations, and I can find new media resources, I can naturally give up the idea of acquiring ABC." ”

Yang Xinxin asked curiously, "Is it a newspaper?"

"In the future, I think the Internet will gradually replace the current status of traditional media, such as television and newspapers, and become a more free and open new media. It is said that the San Jose Courier newspaper was already on the Internet in 1987, and at the end of last year, dozens of newspapers published online editions. Speaking of this, Zhang Lexing stood up, opened his hands and gestured, and said: "I hope that by establishing a series of websites, I can create my own future new media to replace the current position of TV networks." ”

Yang Xinxin couldn't believe it and asked, "Is it possible to replace the TV network?"

"Of course it's possible, when television was first born, people were more accustomed to getting information from newspapers or radio, but now television has become the first choice for people, and the same is true of the Internet. Now the Internet is like the beginning of the birth of TV,The information contained in it is still very little,And it is mainly text,There are relatively few pictures,But with the continuous expansion of network bandwidth in the future,Internet access users continue to increase,There will be more and more information on the Internet,In addition to text、Pictures,In the future, it will also include audio、Video information,The attraction to users will be more and more。 At present, these traditional media users can basically only accept one-way, but the Internet can provide users with the opportunity to interact and communicate through message boards, forums, etc., which is also the more attractive part of the Internet than traditional media. Speaking of rising, Zhang Lexing came to the desk, beckoned, and said, "Sister Xin, come on, turn on the computer, and I'll show you something." ”

"What's it, so mysterious. Yang Xinxin muttered as she came to her desk and turned on the computer.

After the computer was started on the desktop, Zhang Lexing took the mouse, skillfully clicked on the browser, and entered the address of the download website he saw at home. After a while, after the website opened, Zhang Lexing clicked on the page of the RealAudio1.0 player again.

Pointing to the page on the screen, Zhang Lexing said: "Sister Xin, look, this is a streaming software, which means that if you listen to some music on the Internet in the future, you don't need to wait for the entire file to be downloaded, and even the video may be played directly in the future without waiting for download." ”

Yang Xinxin looked at the introduction on the page and said in disbelief: "So amazing?"

"That's right, it's so magical, which means that in the future, the Internet can be built into a communication channel for film and television dramas, just like the current TV network, as long as the Internet can cover the place, it can be spread, even the open sea, and there are not so many restrictions as TV networks. ”

"In this way, this streaming is definitely not important in the future, and it seems that we need our own streaming media as well. Yang Xinxin looked at the name of the development company marked on the screen and said to herself.

Zhang Lexing, who is familiar with her habits, knows that Yang Xinxin must have taken a fancy to the technology in the hands of ProgressiveNetworks, and whether it is self-development or direct acquisition, it is no good to come to ProgressiveNetworks, and it seems that there is no need for him to bother to do any investigation, anyway, ProgressiveNetworks will not be able to escape Yang Xinxin's five fingers.

With a sigh, Zhang Lexing's gaze swept over Yang Xinxin's desk, and a document with the words "Application of Dynamic Image Expert Compression Standard Audio Level 3 in Digital Music" on the cover caught his attention.

"MovingPictureExpertsGroupAudioLayer III (referred to as MPEG-1AudioLayer3), it looks familiar......," Zhang Lexing pondered in his heart, picked up the file and flipped through it, and Yang Xinxin didn't stop it when he saw it next to him.

After flipping through the file, Zhang Lexing figured out that this so-called moving image expert compression standard audio level 3 is actually MP3, a very well-known lossy compressed audio format. The document is mainly introduced by the company's audiovisual technology research institute in MP3 research results, an improved version of the MP3 encoder called L3EncPlus, officially determined to use ".mp3" as the file extension of this format, and the previous use was actually ".bit" This very strange extension, and more importantly, there is a software player Winplay3 that can play MP3 in real time.

Seeing Zhang Lexing close the document, Yang Xinxin asked beside him, "Brother, how do you feel after reading it?"

"Very good, very powerful!" Zhang Lexing sighed.

"Ah, what do you mean?" Yang Xinxin didn't understand again.

"Sister Xin, I know you usually like to listen to music. Zhang Lexing didn't rush to explain immediately, but went to a cabinet next to him and casually flipped out a music CD, and then opened the envelope and took out the disc inside.

Just as she was about to speak, Yang Xinxin had already rushed over, looked at the disc in Zhang Lexing's hand, and said, "My 'Bei Jiu', brother, you take it carefully." ”

"Sister Xin, I'll be careful. You see, if you listen to music nowadays, you usually use this kind of music CD, and you also need a corresponding player, at least a Walkman. Zhang Lexing said while gesturing with his hand: "The Walkman is roughly so big, it's not too convenient to carry." ”

"Well, it does. Yang Xinxin nodded sympathetically.

"But MP3 music is different, theoretically if you want to play, all you need is the corresponding decoding chip, storage system, input and output interface, etc., there is no need for optical reading components like CD players, and the volume can be made relatively small. Zhang Lexing explained.

"It seems to make sense to hear you say that. Yang Xinxin, who had forgotten about "Bei Jiu" for the time being, began to think about the prospect of commercialization of MP3 players: "If this kind of player can be produced, it can be sold for money." Well, what about the music files? We buy the copyright, make it into MP3 and sell it? No, it's too risky. Let the record companies sell it themselves? But what's in it for us......

"Sister Xin, the player still needs to carry out corresponding research, there are three main problems, one is the corresponding MP3 decoding chip, the second is the storage system, we need large-capacity and low-cost semiconductor memory, the third is the power management system, no matter what kind of battery is used, we need to be able to make the portable player play continuously for more than 6 hours to have practical value. ”

"Well, it should be fine to leave this to the research institute. Yang Xinxin nodded, and asked again: "How to solve the problem of music?"

"To solve the problem of music files, we must first make MP3 a file format popular, we can start from several aspects at the same time, one is to release the MP3 encoder for free, the second is to continue to develop better free MP3 playback software, and even consider integrating it into our operating system, and the third is to find some people to build momentum for MP3 in the media, so that more people are interested in it, so that MP3 will gradually become popular, and what we have to do later will be a matter of course. ”

"Brother, what should we do next?"

"At that point, the Internet will be more developed, and we will be able to set up an online store, an online store that specializes in selling online music, and provide a sales channel for the major record companies, where they will provide their own MP3 files, and we will only take a commission after the sale. ”

"It's nothing special, why do users have to buy it from us?"

"We don't just have an online store, we also have a product to match, and I envision a 'product + content' model. For example, we launch a large-capacity, long playback time, easy to operate MP3 player, then the corresponding content is the MP3 music in the online store, if the technology develops in the future, there is a portable machine that can play videos, then the content we provide can be movies, TV and other videos. We capture the market with high-quality products and then continue to make a profit by providing content through online stores, a bit like the current home console market. ”

"Wouldn't it be the same if the computers of the future were the same? only the operating system, and what features could be purchased from the online store...... Haha!" Listening to the example Zhang Lexing said, the more Yang Xinxin thought about it, the happier she became, and she couldn't help laughing.

Zhang Lexing was very surprised, and he didn't expect to say it casually, Yang Xinxin can actually think of the iPhone's application software store (in fact, it should be the iPod's application software store), maybe what she said is really reasonable, the computer may really become like this in the future, what functions users need only need to spend a small amount of money to have, just like selling music to sell software. Thinking of the iPhone, Zhang Lexing can't help but think of the game platform on the iPhone, although it is not as popular as the handheld, but it is the most successful game platform in the mobile phone, and it is not at all comparable to the N-GAGE platform of Nuo Kee, which seems to be an important part of his game development plan in the future.

Yang Xinxin was even more surprised, she didn't expect that a very ordinary technical report could make Zhang Lexing think of such a special business model, which can be called a business wizard, but the specific business management level is a little worse, but with him, at least the company will never lack the motivation for sustainable development.

While thinking about their own thoughts, the two continued to study, discuss, and analyze, and a new road of development gradually unfolded in front of them......

On the other hand, James Cameron also returned with a full load, and the oriental charm he saw during this trip to Hong Kong made him excited, not only for "Titanic", but also because his sci-fi film seemed to see the light, of course, he also knew that it must not be so fast, so the main energy at the moment is still on the upcoming "Titanic". In addition to the long-established post-production of ILM, James Cameron decided to hand over the main computer special effects scenes to Oriental Shen Yun, one is the confidence that this visit has brought him, and the other is to actually test the real technical level of the company through this cooperation.

When James Cameron was busy with his "Titanic", Zhang Lexing was not idle, and after having a deep talk with Yang Xinxin, he arranged for someone to start contacting Michael Ovitz and Habert Alain, who is in charge of MCA's global business. With a friend's introduction and his eagerness to get out, the negotiations with Michael Ovitz went well, and after paying a price of $800 million, he successfully won a 55% stake in CAA. And MCA Global's side is a little more troublesome, banker Hubbert Alain is a veteran negotiator, biting the bottom line and not letting go, fortunately, the situation is stronger than people, Panasonic itself can't stand it first, plus Michael Ovitz used his personal connections to mediate, and only paid $3.6 billion to take 80% of MCA Global's equity from Panasonic.

After the completion of the acquisition of MCA Universal, the DreamWorks Film Group was reorganized, MCA Universal was spun off into Universal Pictures and Universal Music and merged into the group, and the name of DreamWorks Pictures Group was changed to Universal Entertainment Group, which included a number of film and television production companies such as DreamWorks and New Line, as well as a number of subsidiaries such as distribution companies, music, and game development, and a more powerful entertainment group was slowly born......

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