Commodore Brand Backs Music Players

I still cannot picture the Commodore name on anything but those old computers from my childhood. Eh, I suppose anything is possible. At least, that is what seems to be going on now that the Commodore name is all set to appear on music players worldwide.

The Netherlands’ Yeahronimo Media Ventures said Wednesday that it had acquired the legendary Commodore brand and would ship a pair of products using its logo in the second quarter.

The Commodore eVic 20-GB Music Box and the Mpet II Data and Music Player will be available during the second quarter. Yeahronimo executives were not immediately available for comment.

The Commodore logo is synonymous with the Commodore 64, an 8-bit personal computer sold between 1982 until about 1993. Together with the Apple II, the C64 was one of the most popular personal computers of its day, with estimated sales of between 17 and 25 million units.

The resuscitation of the Commodore brand follows similar ventures to capitalize on the logos of yesteryear: in May 2003, Infogrames Entertainment SA changed its name to Atari; meanwhile, fellow PC pioneer Amiga Inc. still exists, although the company sold the Amiga OS to KMOS Inc. in March 2004.

The eVIC 20-GB Music Box, priced at $299, will apparently include a 20-GB hard drive, capable of storing MP3, WMA and Ogg Vorbis files, according to a statement provided by the company. The player will also serve as a portable hard drive, and will include 28 minutes’ worth of flash memory to serve as an anti-shock buffer. The player will work with both the PC and Apple Macintosh, the company said.