Do you support lead in Creative MP3 players?

fbrdphreak

Lifer
Apr 17, 2004
17,555
1
0
Greetings!

I have just purchased a MuVo M3P Player from Creative Corporation for my 17
year old girl. I notice on Creative's website that they have received
"Editor's Choice" Awards from all of your magazines.

I also notice that on page 12 of the Creative owner's manual that comes
along with the M3P Player there is a warning. Actually, there is a WARNING.
It reads: "Handling the cord(s) on this product may expose you to lead, a
chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects
or other reproductive harm."

I have several questions. Is your magazine aware of this warning? Do you
support other companies that sell products that may cause cancer, birth
defects or other reproductive harm? If so, which ones? Is it standard in
the computer magazine industry to bestow awards upon companies that sell
products that may cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm?

I look forward to your response. Thank you in advance.

Sincerely,
xxxxxx

WTF :confused:

Note: The e-mail address was from CANADA :disgust: Stereotypes exist for a reason....
 

Baked

Lifer
Dec 28, 2004
36,052
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Die from lead poison while listening to music? Now that's heavy metal.
 

daniel1113

Diamond Member
Jun 6, 2003
6,448
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Every company sells agents that cause cancer, if we want to get down to semantics.
 

Sphexi

Diamond Member
Feb 22, 2005
7,280
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Only reason that warning is there is California requires it. There are MANY products people use everyday that have trace amounts of lead in them, not nearly enough to do anything, and it's always contained inside the product, or covered in such a way that you aren't physically touching it. California still requires the warning though, so companies have to post it.
 

Evadman

Administrator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Feb 18, 2001
30,990
5
81
Originally posted by: Baked
Die from lead poison while listening to music? Now that's heavy metal.

LMAO! Great!
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
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ok thats pretty sad. cheaper cord coverings have lead in the pvc plastic. it doesn't have to be there anymore..kinda sad that they would choose to.
if a toddler starts suckin on it..meh
 

Mark R

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
8,513
16
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There is probably lead in the solder, but I wouldn't expect it to come out easily.

Similarly, most electronics are still made with lead solder - not just the circuit boards, but the manufacture of individual chips (bonding the die to the pins, etc.)
Lead free products are now beginning to gain popularity as within the next 2 years Europe is set to ban, completely*, the selling of electronics containing any lead.

* this was the original plan, however, conversion to lead-free solders has been difficult and some high performance chips (e.g. high end CPUs) have not been converted - in this case, it is likely that some exceptions will be made - I couldn't imagine Europe banning the sale of Pentium processors. That would be very inconvenient for a lot of people.
 

biostud

Lifer
Feb 27, 2003
19,865
6,970
136
Originally posted by: Sphexi
Only reason that warning is there is California requires it. There are MANY products people use everyday that have trace amounts of lead in them, not nearly enough to do anything, and it's always contained inside the product, or covered in such a way that you aren't physically touching it. California still requires the warning though, so companies have to post it.


we have a winner
 

Demon-Xanth

Lifer
Feb 15, 2000
20,551
2
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If you're worried about lead, stop building your own PC. Alot of manufacturers still use lead solder because it works better and at a lower temperature than silver solder.
 

UTmtnbiker

Diamond Member
Nov 17, 2000
4,129
4
81
Eventually all electronics will be going lead free (implementation date is July 1, 2006), along with halogen free due to the European legislation known as RoHS (Restriction in use of Hazardous Substances).

There's no use complaing about the sense of it or the lack of foresight in to it as it's already happening, and no major commercial electronics maker is going to ignore it at the risk of cutting off the entire EU as a market. Even company's exempt from it will be implementing it as component makers won't be keeping a leaded part and a non-leaded part.

This is going to have a major impact from the electronics standpoint. There's been studies of solder joint failures using the new solder compounds (not the traditional Sn/Pb solder but a new amalgam called SAC (Sn-Ag-Cu), less ductility, thermal fatiguing). In addition, it takes higher temps to get this new stuff to melt and there aren't any good (good meaning cheap and easiliy processable while still retaining the electrical characteristics of standard laminate materials - dielectric constans and loss tangents) PCB materials out there right now for lead free. Using standard laminate materials (FR-4) the circuit board begins to melt and slump when going through the assembly process. Lastly, although this isn't as important because most circuit boards have gone away from halogenated laminates as a fire retardant, but another material will have to be used to get fire retardancy (usually bromine).

Way too much info, I know. My company, and by extension me, has been working on this issue for about 6 months now. We're exempt but as I stated above, even we will be affected as this goes in to affect.

Tomorrow's lecture...the rise and fall of the Soviet Union.
 

FoBoT

No Lifer
Apr 30, 2001
63,084
15
81
fobot.com
Heavy metal, black and silver
Falling matter of the sun
Folds itself into a place
Where there was never, never one