Songboy now known as Song-Pro is an $89.95 multimedia player plug-in module for the Nintendo Game Boy Color gaming system. Song-Pro will be available in stores in time for the holiday season, but the company almost lost all chances of making it when Nintendo filed a lawsuit against the company.
Nintendo had sued Songboy for infringement of its intellectual property rights, but a settlement between the two companies led Songboy to change their name, but didn't change plans to release the new music player for the popular gaming system. Nintendo has even granted Song-Pro a patent license.
"We are pleased that we were able to come together and find a common ground for agreement," said Richard Flamm, vice-president and general counsel of Nintendo of America. "Nintendo is committed to protecting its' intellectual property rights and we appreciate Song-Pro's cooperation in resolving this situation."
"The agreement will allow us to pursue our vision of extending the digital music revolution to an entirely new market by providing the most affordable players to a user base of 100 million portable game device users," added Ron L. Jones, president and CEO of Song-Pro.
The lawsuit may have actually helped Song-Pro as both companies received media attention because of it. The lawsuit even brought the Reverend Jesse Jackson and his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition Silicon Valley Project into the picture. Jackson and his group brought both companies together for the meeting that resulted in the settlement.
"We are more than pleased that we have been able to reach an amicable arrangement between the two companies," said Jackson. "It has always been the goal of the Rainbow/PUSH Silicon Valley Project to actively seek to create and promote opportunities for women and minorities (like Ron L. Jones) in Silicon Valley. We wholeheartedly embrace Nintendo's action."
"It's a great day in America's business community," exclaimed Jones. "With the legal dispute with Nintendo behind us, I'm looking forward to truly exciting opportunities in the future."
And the future does look bright now that they have been given the green light to produce the Song-Pro unit for the Game Boy system. Jones is happy with the latest developments having nothing but a positive outlook for his company.
"We'll have a major impact on the music and gaming industry, because the Song-Pro.com digital multimedia player opens up the world of content to be loaded on to an industry standard Smart Memory Card (SMC) and Multimedia Card (MMC) delivering CD quality sound with music, ebooks, talking books, bedtime stories, comic strips with voice over narration, and even spiritual, gospel and educational content," said Jones.
Not only does Song-Pro stand to benefit from the decision, but also Nintendo itself can sell even more than the 100 million Game Boys they have sold all ready. Nintendo's single focus has been games and so gamers brought the system, but now music lovers have a reason to buy a Game Boy as well. You can listen to music, the spoken word, comedy, etc. With Song-Pro, you can also see the CD cover art, the song title, and artist, album, genre and copyright information. The Game Boy display screens help you see it all. Song-Pro will also help users manage everything from play lists to play modes. It's all easy and it fits right in the palm of your hand.
"Our goal is to be Nintendo's music division, but we have to prove our worth over the next holiday seasons," Jones said. "If we are successful, Song-Pro.com should also be number one in digital music players, because Nintendo has done a good job marketing Game Boy."
While digital music players from Sony, RCA and so on, must justify their value, according to Jones, Song-Pro is just a cartridge for Game Boy. With a connection to the Internet, Song-Pro users will get to download music from online music providers right into the unit. You can also play MP3s made from your CD collection.
Song-Pro didn't come overnight. Jones was attempting to team with a company known as Prochips.com. The company made an LED Advertising Ball that allowed viewers to read LED Matrix messages. "The problem with the Ad-ball was that it did not come with a controller," Jones said. "It had to be connected to a computer to program the message. I thought it would be better to use a Game Boy as the remote controller, because it had an IR and a serial port." Prochips.com didn't agree to the idea, but allowed Jones to tour the manufacturing line.
"At the end of the assembly line, there were 32 different MP3 players being produced. They were very small. It could fit in the palm of your hand. I just happened to have a Game Boy in my hand, and that was when the idea came to me. I picked up one of the little MP3 players off the production line and put it next to the Game Boy, and the rest is history."
As the product was being announced, Nintendo fought against it and the Songboy's use of the gaming system, saying they had no permission to create a device that could be used on the Game Boy. A lawsuit was filed delaying the production of the new units.
"Most of our would be investors were scared of the Nintendo lawsuit," Jones said. "It was very difficult because the Nintendo lawsuit killed our efforts to raise funds to produce our products on a grand scale. We missed the buying cycles of flash memory and capacitors. We thought that we would raise enough funds to build 8 million units for Christmas 2000 and now we will be lucky if we are able to build 500,000 units."
Still, Jones doesn't feel any ill will toward Nintendo. "My dream is to become an official Nintendo Licensee. We have nothing but love for Nintendo and wished they would embrace Song-Pro.com's digital multimedia player."
And the future? "Very bright and profitable," Jones exclaimed. "We plan to make a Song-Pro Advance for the Game Boy Advance along with the software required to support the users."
Song-Pro traveled a long road to get where they are today, but the rough and bumpy road led to greener pastures. "I would like to thank Parvin Kapland of Nintendo of America for her cooperation and understanding," Jones said. "Rev. Jesse Jackson has kept hope alive for millions of Urban Youth by allowing Song-Pro.com to provide Digital Music for the world...Ready to play?"
You can expect to play soon when Song-Pro releases it's new system in time for the holidays, in stores everywhere and on their website. If you have any questions or comments about this article please feel free to contact me at Jminners@ybfree.com.