[rrss]

> MP3s require floating point unless you hand code fixed point version of the decoder.

This is a weird statement. "MP3 encode/decode requires floating point unless you implement in fixed point such that you don't need floating point." It's perfectly possible to write fixed point MP3 decoders.

Sure, MMX wasn't that great, but it was Intel's first SIMD extension, was definitely intended to help with "things like MP3 decoding," and was followed by a ton of improved extensions with similar goals.