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Singers raise voices against music swapping
By Frank Barnako, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 10:05 AM ET Sept. 26, 2002
LOS ANGELES (CBS.MW) -- Multimillion-dollar performers like Madonna and Eminem are stepping front and center in a music industry effort to persuade consumers it's wrong to download music from the Internet.
Big-tme singers raise voices against music swapping
Full-page newspaper advertisements as well as radio and television spots will feature the artists making the argument that online file sharing is the same as stealing and that it hurts new artists. The record labels are funding the campaign through their trade group, the Recording Industry Association of America.
Coincidentally, a subcommittee of the House Committee on the Judiciary convened a hearing Thursday morning focused on online piracy. A Webcast is available at http://judaudio5.house.gov/2141b.
Labels may sue Bertelsmann
Odds reportedly are better than 50-50 that several music labels will sue Bertlesmann, the owner of BMG Entertainment, on the grounds that BMG helped Napster encourage copyright infringement via unauthorized sharing of music files. "There is a good deal of sentiment that this is a claim that should be pursued," a person familiar with the matter told the Los Angeles Times. EMI and Universal Music Group, the Vivendi Universal (V: news, chart, profile) subsidiary, are among the labels said to be most eager to bring an action against Bertelsmann, which invested $60 million in Napster two years ago. The critics argue that the money helped Napster survive, although its Web site is static and says only that Napster is "work in progress."
AOL to boost new Potter film
Perhaps to no great surprise, AOL Time Warner's movie and online divisions wills scratch each other's back to promote the next Harry Potter movie. A promotional trailer for "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" will be streamed online exclusively by America Online on Sept. 30. The compilation of scenes from the New Line Cinema production will be released to theaters Oct. 4, with the film's debut set for Dec. 18. Like AOL, New Line Cinema is owned by AOL Time Warner (AOL: news, chart, profile).
Reuters Company News
LiveWire: Online music downloads, without the guilt
Wednesday September 25, 12:30 pm ET
By Adam Pasick
NEW YORK, Sept 25 (Reuters) - If using online music swapping services like Napster makes you feel like an outlaw or a rip-off, you can still download songs -- free and legal.
You won't find every album by every artist, but if you're lucky you might discover something new.
Since the rise of the now-defunct Napster, music fans have flocked online to download songs in the popular MP3 format, mostly via Web sites and services that don't pay musicians or their record labels a dime. Some, like Napster, have been shut down by lawsuits; others, like KaZaA, are still up and running despite pending legal action.
The labels themselves have launched several subscription download services like Pressplay and Rhapsody, to decidedly mixed results. No single offering has a comprehensive catalog, and some have cumbersome restrictions on CD burning and on how long a song lasts before it expires.
For the Web-savvy music lover there are alternatives to imperfect subcription services and piracy.
Slowly, record labels that have realized the Internet is not only a threat, but an opportunity, and have selectively released MP3s of up-and-coming artists to help the bands find a following.
By far the best place to browse is the off-beat Epitonic.com (http://www.epitonic.com), which boasts it is "a site for sore ears." Epitonic carries about 4,000 songs from 2,000 artists -- ranging from mainstream genres like hip-hop and rock to obscure niches like "dronology" and "neo-dada" -- each exhaustively cross-referenced so that fans of the eclectic musician Beck, for example, can listen to the like-minded stylings of The Folk Implosion, Cornelius and Cibo Matto.
"Every town has the hole in the wall record shop with a guy behind the counter who knows everything about music," said Epitonic founder Aaron Newton. "That's the kind of relationship we want with our users."
NO BRITNEY
You won't find big pop stars like Britney Spears or 'NSYNC at Epitonic, nor can you download an entire album to avoid paying $15 at the record store. The site contains mostly alternative and underground bands and offers at most one to two songs per album.
Still, established acts like The Strokes, The White Stripes, and Talib Kweli are featured, along with up-and-comers like Interpol, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Ladytron. Old school bands like The Mekons and MC5 are also present.
All of the musicians are on Epitonic by permission of their respective record labels, despite the industry's often steely determination to protect their content.
The five major record labels -- AOL Time Warner (NYSE:AOL - News), Sony Music (Tokyo:6758.T - News), EMI Group (London:EMI.L - News), Bertelsmann AG's (Dusseldorf:BTGGga.D - News) BMG and Vivendi Universal (Paris:EAUG.PA - News) -- have blamed a year-long slump in music sales on mass online privacy.
Proponents of online music counter that downloading music can actually boost sales, as fans discover new bands and choose to purchase the physical product.
"Hopefully, Epitonic can inspire music consumption," said Newton. "I'm not that hard on Napster -- I think anything that breaks the hold on media distribution that the large corporations hold is a good thing. But ultimately consumers have to recognize that music has a financial value that has to be transferred to the artist."
MORE FREE, LEGAL SITES
Other sites with free and legal downloads include MTV.com (http://www.mtv.com/music/downloads/), which offers music in Microsoft (NasdaqNM:MSFT - News) WMA format after requiring users to provide their e-mail address and zip code; RollingStone.com (http://rollingstone.com/dds/default.asp), which offers WMAs and MP3s from artists such as Aimee Mann and Black Sabbath, and Launch.com (http://launch.yahoo.com/downloads/), a site affiliated with Yahoo! (NasdaqNM:YHOO - News).
None of these sites have the breadth or depth of Napster in its heyday, where you could find virtually any music, no matter how obscure, if you looked hard enough. But hey -- at least you can download with a clean conscience.
Edigokie.................if edig did this, they would have to file to put more shares on the shelf.
Philo
My head is spinning.......i couldn't take it anymore..........alp......alp............
Thanks, Pumaman........I always believed everything I read......(as Martha Stewart would say) Is this a bad thing to do?
Philo
Just a little off topic, but interesting none the less. Perhaps LawyerLong will get a kick out of it.
Philo
Lawyering and Insurance companies at their finest!
This is the best lawyer story of the year, decade and probably the century...
A Charlotte, NC, lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars, then insured them against fire among other things. Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars and without yet having made even his first premium payment on the policy, the lawyer filed claim against the insurance company. In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost "in a series of small fires." The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason: that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion.
The lawyer sued....and won!
In delivering the ruling, the judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous. The Judge stated nevertheless, that the lawyer held a policy from the company in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be unacceptable fire," and was obligated to pay the claim.
Rather than endure lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000.00 to the lawyer for his loss of the rare cigars lost in the "fires."
NOW FOR THE BEST PART...
After the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON!!!! With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000.00 fine.
This is a true story and was the 1st place winner in the recent Criminal Lawyers Award Contest.
ONLY IN AMERICA
Glen Ackerman........sounds like something I hacked up in the morning.
Philo
Edigokie; good post, you're right about falling behind......my sentiments exactly.
Philo
Institutional Holdings as of 8/23/02
Top Institutional Holders Shares %Out* Value** Reported
Hartline Investment Corporation 19,000 0.01 $9,120 31-Mar-02
Witter, William D. Inc 14,000 0.01 $6,720 31-Mar-02
Babson (David L) & Co Inc 7,000 0.01 $3,360 31-Mar-02
Legg Mason Inc. 5,300 0 $2,544 31-Mar-02
RBF, LLC 5,000 0 $2,400 31-Mar-02
Top Mutual Fund Holders Shares %Out* Value** Reported
*Institutional holdings as a percentage of the current shares outstanding.
**Hypothetical value based on price of $0.48 as of 23-Aug-02. Position may have increased or decreased since the report date.
Battle of the media players
Plus: Covad gives warrants in exchange for AOL deal
By Bambi Francisco, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 11:17 AM ET Sept. 5, 2002
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- As Microsoft unveiled its latest beta version of its media player with much Hollywood fanfare late Wednesday, rival RealNetworks fought for bragging rights in the battle for the best media player.
"Same old stuff," said Dan Sheeran, vice president of media systems for RealNetworks (RNWK: news, chart, profile), "and, it's only a beta version!"
RealNetworks has much to be concerned with. The tinier rival has a fraction of Microsoft's (MSFT: news, chart, profile) market cap, sales and marketing prowess. And the tough economic environment sent RealNetworks off the path of profitability.
Amid an overall market thrashing, shares of RealNetworks lost 3 percent to $4.35 in recent trading. Its market cap stands at $698 million.
Now Microsoft's Bill Gates seems intent on wooing the powerful entertainment industry to use its Windows technology.
But Real still enjoys having a dominant position in terms of the number of players deployed. A player allows people to view audio or listen to songs or news clip.
Real has 285 million unique registered users (based on unique e-mail sign-ins) since launching its variation of players. Importantly, it has 750,000 paying subscribers as of the second quarter. Subscribers are signing up for Real in order to get original content, such as CNN's news clips, sports and music from MusicNet, a subscription music service.
Recently, Real released a universal player that can support all formats.
"We're focused on pioneering subscription-based media services and completely changing the ground rules," said Sheeran. "Microsoft is trying to get more people to adopt its player only."
How worried is RealNetworks? "Microsoft started giving away free players five years ago and five years later, our business hasn't been any better. We continue to innovate," said Sheeran.
Covad's AOL deal
Covad Communications (COVD: news, chart, profile) surged 24 percent to $1.41 on news that it signed a five-year contract to provide wholesale broadband services to AOL Time Warner's (AOL: news, chart, profile) America Online unit. As part of the deal, Covad said it issued warrants to America Online to purchase a total of 3.5 million shares of Covad common stock, which is equal to approximately 1.5 percent of Covad's currently outstanding common stock. America Online will have the option to purchase Covad's common stock at exercise prices ranging from $1.06 to $5, according to a release. Covad has determined that the warrants have an aggregate estimated value of approximately $3.5 million.
Covad expects to record this value as a deferred customer incentive and charge it against revenue over the term of the service agreement.
I'm sure everyone has read this from the Mac Observer, just interesting to see what some of the bashers on RB have to say about the Odyssey 1000
Happy Labor Day...........philo
July 22nd, 2002
[2:30 PM CDT] e.Digital Announces Apparant iPod Look-Alike MP3 Player For Windows & Mac
by Staff
e.Digital Corporation announced today the new Odyssey 1000 digital jukebox and data storage device. The new media player, compatible with both Mac & PC, features a 20GB hard drive, 13-hour battery life, and a USB 2.0 interface. From the press release:
Jim Collier, President and COO of e.Digital said, "The Odyssey 1000 sets the standard by which all other portable entertainment products will now be judged. It is the result of our first joint project with our strategic development partner Digitalway. It combines an elegant, world class industrial design from Digitalway's award-winning engineering team with e.Digital's state-of-the-art, patented audio technology. There is nothing else available that matches its elegant looks, full range of features, and cutting-edge Drag-n RipTM technology."
[...]
The Odyssey 1000's high-speed USB 2.0 connection and remarkable ease of use make downloading and transferring music a breeze. With the Odyssey 1000's USB 2.0 connection, users can transfer an entire CD to their player in about 5 seconds. And e.Digital's Drag-n Rip technology enables users to transfer music in one easy step simply by dragging tracks directly from a CD directory onto their player's hard drive. Drag-n Rip optionally enables users to create a mirror library of music on their computer. The Odyssey 1000 also is compatible with Mac iTunes TM.
While similar in appearance to Apple's iPod, the Odyssey 1000 goes beyond the feature set of the iPod. You can navigate the device via voice commands, record voice and sounds via a built-in microphone, and listen to radio with a built-in FM tuner.
The Odyssey 1000 will be available this fall for both Mac & PC. It clocks in with dimensions of 2.87" x 4.3" x 0.9" (versus 2.4" x 4.0" x 0.78" for the iPod). At the moment, no price is quoted on the e.Digital web site. More information on the Odyssey 1000 can be found in the press release.
[Post Your Comments Below]
The Mac Observer Spin: Support for WMA (and WMA Digital Rights Management), voice-navigation, voice-recording, and radio are all features unique to the Odyssey 1000, but it is hard to ignore the similarities to the iPod. Apple worked hard to suppress knockoffs of its original iMac models, and it will be interesting to see how the company reacts to the Odyssey 1000. Be that as it may, this unit will no doubt offer some competition to Apple's own Windows iPod offering. It's too bad that e.Digital went with USB 2.0, but there are probably a few lemmings who will be happy with that technology.
e.Digital Corporation
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Observer Comments
compairson - Very different in size and shape http://www.minidisc.org/images/odysseyvsipod.html[...]
doni (8/28/2002, 12:40 pm EDT)
popular company - I must say, that this company e.Digital sure[...]
doni (8/28/2002, 12:33 pm EDT)
Scam Stock, product - Apple legal will bury this product if there[...]
Matt (8/1/2002, 07:50 pm EDT)
tisk tisk... - fools in support of Edigital. LOL. Apple[...]
Benson Leung (8/1/2002, 01:23 am EDT)
eMachine? Odyssey to bankruptcy - What ever happened to eMachine after they[...]
Erebus (8/1/2002, 12:42 am EDT)
i heard e.Digital is a scam stock.Dont worry IPOD lovers they'll be gone s -
John (7/30/2002, 06:03 pm EDT)
In case you'd like to buy our current jukebox - TREO 15 at CompUSA for $249 http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product%5Fcode=294198&csearch=[...]
DaiLin (7/30/2002, 01:02 am EDT)
EDIG not a scam - EDIG forecasting 2.6 million revenue this[...]
DaiLin (7/30/2002, 12:52 am EDT)
freaks come out at night! -
murrayhill (7/29/2002, 08:50 pm EDT)
look out below - subscription based...only a matter of time[...]
murrayhill (7/29/2002, 08:48 pm EDT)
apple smapple - Support for WMA (and WMA Digital Rights Management),[...]
Truthorfiction (7/29/2002, 08:46 pm EDT)
apple freaks - don't look know but your 5% market share[...]
deceptacon (7/29/2002, 08:44 pm EDT)
I love e.Digital - Boy this player looks sweet bye bye ipos
deceptacon (7/29/2002, 08:42 pm EDT)
Dont buy the stock EDIG.Its a scam like the Odyssey imo eom -
Jimmy (7/29/2002, 10:00 am EDT)
How EDIG will kil IPOD - Im an EDIG invester and I think that it was[...]
Gilgamash (7/28/2002, 08:32 pm EDT)
eDigital will hit a homerun! - This should be one of the most killer jukeboxes[...]
Bornfast (7/28/2002, 07:14 pm EDT)
afraid - what are all the ipod faithful afraid of[...]
sdr (7/28/2002, 06:55 pm EDT)
dont buy EDIG! That stock printing scam is a pure pump & dump -
Alan (7/28/2002, 07:28 am EDT)
e.Digital can't afford products - Apple probably has nothing to worry about[...]
giddieup (7/27/2002, 03:34 pm EDT)
Odyssey and IPOD very different Machines: - Voice Nav, radio, great design, 20gigs,[...]
plhare (7/27/2002, 03:21 pm EDT)
Wake Up People!! - COCKADOODLDOO.....Gawd Dammit......
FOGHORNLEGHORN7 (7/27/2002, 02:51 pm EDT)
what a joke! who is going to talk to their player.Voicenav= joke. e.Digita -
Lenny (7/27/2002, 12:49 pm EDT)
features they forgot to mention.... - hey they forgot to mention the Odysssey's[...]
anony mouse (7/27/2002, 01:29 am EDT)
lameo product - Didn't their used to be an odyssey gaming[...]
(7/27/2002, 01:15 am EDT)
Voice Navigation???? - That's a terrible idea for a portable player![...]
anony mouse (7/27/2002, 01:01 am EDT)
Nothing is 100%.... - ....except death and taxes. And Of coarse[...]
NoVaMac (7/26/2002, 10:36 pm EDT)
voice nav - yes it works very well in the mxp100 - nothing[...]
sdr (7/25/2002, 08:07 pm EDT)
e.digital is almost bankrupt.They will be gone just another stock scam imo -
John (7/25/2002, 02:25 pm EDT)
Re: Vaporware - You idiot. None of the links you posted are[...]
heh (7/25/2002, 10:31 am EDT)
Of course it has more features... - This sort of thing happens in the electronics[...]
Joel (7/25/2002, 10:11 am EDT)
VoiceNav - Does it actually work? 100% accurate? Whatever.[...]
heh (7/25/2002, 09:48 am EDT)
EDIG player is just a mock up w/a phony PR. Hoax imo eom -
alec (7/25/2002, 09:46 am EDT)
Pricing? - Anybody find anything out about pricing on[...]
nate (7/25/2002, 09:24 am EDT)
vaporware - Follower - I guess goodguys and compusa carry[...]
ijgarcia (7/24/2002, 09:24 pm EDT)
Ahh...You Sir, are the loser. - After all, this site is ALL about defending[...]
NoVaMac (7/24/2002, 05:48 pm EDT)
You are losers - You guys are losers. Get a god-damn life[...]
You are losers (7/24/2002, 12:47 pm EDT)
stuff - mickeysoft - you are sadly ill informed edig's[...]
gary ritzman (7/24/2002, 11:18 am EDT)
mickey$oft trolls - While the device sounds cool, all this "iPod[...]
geez (7/24/2002, 10:25 am EDT)
I'm annoyed at Apple for not introducing these features - I'm annoyed at Apple for not introducing[...]
Ronan Donohoe (7/24/2002, 04:28 am EDT)
On the other hand... - Couldn't this be the precurser to the iPod?[...]
GinKo (7/24/2002, 02:42 am EDT)
dont worry e.Digital is a ragingbull message board scam. Phony PR imo -
Jack (7/23/2002, 07:05 pm EDT)
What???No Shame. - Their pres says nothing mathes the Odyssey's[...]
PCsSuck (7/23/2002, 07:00 pm EDT)
Apples lawyers will eat these scam artists lunch. Not competition! (more) - the company e.Digital is an internet scam[...]
Mustafa (7/23/2002, 06:53 pm EDT)
apple ipod is in for some serious competition - the expod cometh
truthorfiction (7/23/2002, 05:37 pm EDT)
stud player by edigital - what sounds better an odyssee 1000 babe or[...]
truthorfiction (7/23/2002, 05:10 pm EDT)
eOne and ePower = iMac killer - ...on the usually more erudite and non-teen-chatroom[...]
notamoleiswear (7/23/2002, 02:08 pm EDT)
way to go eMachines! I want an eOne right now - ...and predicting the iPod's demise with[...]
notpostingrepeatedly (7/23/2002, 02:08 pm EDT)
way to go Future Power! I want an ePower right now - All these one line posts cheering the Odyssey...[...]
actualmacuserreally (7/23/2002, 02:07 pm EDT)
Vaporware...? - Apparently, e.Digital has quite a long track[...]
Follower (7/23/2002, 01:27 pm EDT)
odyssey 1000 - edig player is not a look a like - side by[...]
gary ritzman (7/23/2002, 01:17 pm EDT)
blows the doors off ipod -
deceptacon (7/23/2002, 12:50 pm EDT)
my mistake great player - and a must have!!!!
deceptecon (7/23/2002, 12:49 pm EDT)
Odyssey - The whining and whimpering of the Apple bunch[...]
waywardsoul (7/23/2002, 12:35 pm EDT)
CRAP - this player sucks. what a knock off. USB[...]
deceptacon (7/23/2002, 12:26 pm EDT)
Industrial design ... - This shows yet again how surprisingly difficult[...]
Henrik (7/23/2002, 09:20 am EDT)
And another thing! - USB? Is somebody kidding? And the name,[...]
Wow 2 (7/23/2002, 08:43 am EDT)
wow - Wow! Thank god somebody put FM Radio on an[...]
dcorbett (7/23/2002, 08:33 am EDT)
DISGUSTING! - Those copycats should be ashamed! :¬P[...]
o__o (7/23/2002, 05:17 am EDT)
Legality - As Robert said. external appearance is most[...]
Eric (7/23/2002, 03:59 am EDT)
yawn - It's like a hyundai...
Really. (7/23/2002, 02:16 am EDT)
re: sheee...pathetic maclots - It's like saying Bauhaus is a furniture company[...]
yawn... (7/23/2002, 02:03 am EDT)
sheee...pathetic maclots - For those crazy Mac zelots (maclots), everything[...]
Macexcite (7/23/2002, 01:46 am EDT)
re: Dear Disgusting - Wake up you single minded weenies. There's[...]
Still love my iPod (7/23/2002, 01:42 am EDT)
grouchy - this sucks because i own the ipod
techunter (7/23/2002, 01:24 am EDT)
groovy player - far out dude.....
longooth (7/23/2002, 01:19 am EDT)
ipod - man can't wait to have my mom buy me one[...]
zackery miller (7/23/2002, 01:17 am EDT)
ipod looking old already - perfect player the gym or taking a jog or[...]
connie disney (7/23/2002, 01:14 am EDT)
ipod extinction - great lineup of features on this baby!
owd3 (7/23/2002, 01:11 am EDT)
expod - collier is a genius. voice recognition looks[...]
dave ackerman (7/23/2002, 01:09 am EDT)
wow sweet player - what an amazing player by e.digital!!!
oshemae (7/23/2002, 01:05 am EDT)
ipod killer - e.Digital has outdone even the great Steve[...]
jtara (7/23/2002, 01:03 am EDT)
ipod killer -
jtara (7/23/2002, 01:01 am EDT)
Dear Disgusting, - Does Apple have a patent on the rectangle?[...]
Robert (7/23/2002, 12:59 am EDT)
Looks very interesting - Lots of nice features, especially like the[...]
Joyce from Ohio (7/22/2002, 10:22 pm EDT)
LMAO! - A slap in the face to Apple? Er, uhhh, excuse[...]
drhunt (7/22/2002, 10:18 pm EDT)
Awesome! - Voice Nav is the only way to go w/20gigs![...]
Dan (7/22/2002, 10:02 pm EDT)
Feature packed. - Although Firewire has its die-hard supporters,[...]
Profundus (7/22/2002, 09:39 pm EDT)
they must have reverse engineered an IPOD! Sue e.Digital! - a
Jack (7/22/2002, 09:34 pm EDT)
Is this a wind up? It's - Is this a wind up? It's another clunky PC[...]
Hmm (7/22/2002, 09:15 pm EDT)
U guys act like Apple invented the jukebox.They did not. - ny
John Thomas (7/22/2002, 09:06 pm EDT)
DeKU - As an iPod lover, I must say that this device[...]
NICE!!! (7/22/2002, 08:52 pm EDT)
competition is good - Voice navigation, wow!
Sparty (7/22/2002, 08:03 pm EDT)
Yes, but.. - That's one more button than an iPod has!!![...]
Retro (7/22/2002, 07:30 pm EDT)
The button ring - Five buttons, in an asymmetrical layout around[...]
someToast (7/22/2002, 05:06 pm EDT)
Disguting - Either this is a joke, or this is one of[...]
MM (7/22/2002, 05:02 pm EDT)
you smell something? - An oxymoron how a cheap knock-off cant "set[...]
iLuv my iPod (7/22/2002, 04:59 pm EDT)
No kidding... - It's kind of funny that their marketing spiel[...]
nate (7/22/2002, 04:41 pm EDT)
Jim Collier, President and COO of e.Digital said... - "...There is nothing else available[...]
Bob (7/22/2002, 04:02 pm EDT)
Sweet. - Looks really sweet, what Steve should have[...]
DrShakagee (7/22/2002, 03:42 pm EDT)
e.Digital to Add Odyssey 150, Odyssey 800 to Line of Cutting-Edge Digital Audio Products
Monday August 26, 10:31 am ET
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 26, 2002--e.Digital Corp. (OTC:EDIG - News) today announced the addition of two new players to its line of cutting-edge digital audio players.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Odyssey(TM) 150 and Odyssey(TM) 800 are both PC and Mac compatible and possess many of the same features as other Odyssey players but have different storage capacities and price points. Both players will be available to consumers this fall.
Tom Boksa, e.Digital's vice president of consumer electronics, said, "We developed these products as a result of feedback from existing and potential retail customers who desire a wider range of selection and price points for their customers. The Odyssey 150 and Odyssey 800 have been leveraged from our existing product designs to meet these needs."
The Odyssey 800 offers the same range of features as the Odyssey 1000 at a lower cost for consumers who don't require as much storage. It is identical in functionality to the Odyssey 1000, but has a 15 Gigabyte instead of a 20 Gigabyte hard drive, and is priced at an attractive $50 less than the Odyssey 1000. It boasts the same stellar features as the Odyssey 1000, including superb sound quality, outstanding battery life, MP3 and Windows Media(TM) WMA playback, digital voice recording and data storage.
The Odyssey 150 is a highly compact digital music player that has all the same features as the Odyssey 100 but with 128 MB of memory instead of 64 MB. It also has a SmartMedia card expansion slot allowing users to add up to 128 MB more storage. It has high-quality sound and boasts the same amazing 30 hours of battery life from one AA battery as the Odyssey 100.
According to Jim Collier, president and COO of e.Digital, "Our ability to respond quickly to the demands of the market is the direct result of our close relationship with our strategic partner Digitalway. These new models will enhance our line of Odyssey digital audio players. The e.Digital line provides a complete set of features at attractive price points for consumers."
About e.Digital
e.Digital Corp. designs, licenses, brands, manufactures and sells digital audio products and technologies. The company's trademarked digital audio players include the MXP(TM) 100, Treo(TM) 15 and Treo 10, Odyssey(TM) 100, Odyssey 200 and Odyssey 300. The company also offers an engineering partnership for the world's leading electronics companies to link portable digital devices to PCs and the Internet. e.Digital develops and markets to consumer electronics manufacturers complete end-to-end solutions for delivery and management of open and secure digital media with a focus on music, voice and video players/recorders, and automotive infotainment and telematics systems. Other applications for e.Digital's technology include portable digital music players and voice recorders; desktop, laptop, and handheld computers; PC peripherals; cellular phone peripherals; e-books; video games; digital cameras; and digital video recorders. Engineering services range from the licensing of e.Digital's patented MicroOS(TM) file management system to custom software and hardware development, industrial design and manufacturing services. For more information on the company, please visit www.edig.com. To shop at the e.Digital online store, please visit www.edigital-store.com.
Safe Harbor statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform of 1995: All statements made in this document, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the then-current expectations, beliefs, assumptions, estimates and forecasts about the businesses of the company and the industries and markets in which the company operates. Those statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that will be difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or implied by those forward-looking statements. Factors that may affect the company's businesses, financial condition and operating results include future products and results, technological shifts, potential technical difficulties that could delay new products and services, competition, pricing pressures, the uncertainty of market acceptance of new products and services by OEM's and end-user customers, effects of changes in the economy, consumer spending, the ability of the company to maintain relationships with strategic partners and suppliers, the ability of the company to timely and successfully develop, maintain and protect its technology and product and service offerings and execute operationally, the ability of the company to attract corporate financing and the ability of the company to attract and retain qualified personnel. These factors may also include, but are not limited to, general market conditions, the company's ability to develop new products to meet market demand, the company's ability to maintain cost controls, the mix of products and services the company's customers require and the effects of natural disasters, international conflicts and other events beyond the company's control. More information about potential factors that could affect the company can be found in its most recent Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and other reports and statements filed by e.Digital with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). e.Digital disclaims any intent or obligation to update those forward-looking statements, except as otherwise specifically stated by it.
Note: e.Digital and Odyssey are registered trademarks of e.Digital Corp. Windows Media is a trademark of Microsoft Corp. All other company, product and service names are the property of their respective owners.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact:
e.Digital Corp.
Robert Putnam, 858/679-1504 (Investor Relations)
robert@edig.com
or
Lisa Stevens, 858/679-1504 (Media Relations)
PR@edig.com
Here are the three at JR
The 1000 link
http://www.jandr.com/JRProductPage.process?RestartFlow=t&Merchant_Id=1&Section_Id=1749&p...
the 800 link
http://www.jandr.com/JRProductPage.process?RestartFlow=t&Merchant_Id=1&Section_Id=1749&p...
The Treo 15 link
http://www.jandr.com/JRProductPage.process?RestartFlow=t&Merchant_Id=1&Section_Id=1749&p...
I'ts nice to see the products out.....now lets get the cash in!!!!
Philo
Goood job Sentinel......just one more million, but better than a sharp stick in the eye.
Philo
D&H Distributing Becomes Latest National Distributor for e.Digital Consumer Electronics Products
America's Premier Educational Distributor to Deliver e.Digital-Branded Digital Audio Players to Growing $10.68 Billion Campus Bookstore Market
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 6, 2002-- e.Digital Corp. (OTC:EDIG - News) today announced that D&H Distributing will supply e.Digital-branded products to college and university resellers and other merchandisers nationwide beginning this month.
D&H is one of America's largest wholesale distributors of consumer electronics and educational products to the educational market and computer and security products to the reseller and solution provider community. D&H distributes consumer electronics products to more than 3,000 college campuses nationwide, representing a market of millions of college students.
Tom Boksa, e.Digital's Vice President of Consumer Electronics, said, "We are excited to have one of the largest educational distributors in America supplying e.Digital-branded products to campus resellers nationwide. Our alliance with D&H allows us to leverage their dominance in the education market to gain massive access to back-to-school outlets. College students in particular represent the perfect demographic for our MP3 players; they love music, have expendable income, and most have broadband access. Our partnership with D&H plugs us in to this technologically savvy, digitally-connected audience."
"We're proud to add e.Digital's feature-rich MP3 technology to our line-up," said Lynn Gorecki, manager of D&H's education division.
D&H is one of the few distributors to devote an entire division to the education market; it's a segment of the company that has grown by 70% over the last two years.
"By focusing our resources on particular markets, we're better able to respond to its trends and needs, from the proliferation of PDAs on campuses to the move toward space-saving flat screen monitors in classrooms," Gorecki continued. "e.Digital's products are a fine offering for this sought-after demographic."
Approximately 15 million students strong, the college segment is a large and influential market. The National Association of College Stores estimates U.S. and Canadian college store sales to be $10.68 billion for the 2000-2001 academic year, with over $800 million being spent on computer-related products alone.
D&H will carry e.Digital's Odyssey(TM) 100, 200, and 300 MP3 players as well as the Treo(TM) 15 personal digital jukebox. The Odyssey players are Mac and PC compatible, easy to use, loaded with features, and economically priced. The pocket-sized, lightweight Treo 15 boasts superior sound quality and has a massive, 15 GB hard drive that stores 3,800 tracks or up to 300 CDs worth of digital music.
According to Bryan Jones, vice president of Broadband Entertainment for e.Digital, "We plan to bolster the tremendous exposure we'll gain on college campuses with other promotional activities to drive demand at colleges and universities around the nation. With 93% of college students accessing the Internet, they are the most connected segment of the population. We will provide these students with a variety of downloadable streaming content they can use on their e.Digital players. This is an exciting step in the growth of e.Digital and its Broadband Entertainment Business Unit."
About D&H Distributing
One of America's largest wholesale distributors of microcomputer products, consumer electronics, educational products and security products, D&H has been distributing to the reseller and solution provider community for more than 84 years. The company recently earned the highest overall performance rating among the top five preferred distributors in CRN magazine's annual Preferred Sourcing Study, reflecting responses from more than 3,000 solution providers. D&H leads the computer industry in emerging technologies and is known for providing every solution provider -- from large, national accounts to small, independent business owners -- with top-quality products, competitive prices and highly personalized service. D&H Distributing has headquarters in Harrisburg, Pa., with shipping locations in Harrisburg, Boston, Ft. Lauderdale, Chicago, Dallas and Visalia, Calif. For more information on D&H, call toll-free, 800/340-1001, or visit the company's Web site at www.dandh.com.
About e.Digital
e.Digital Corp. designs, licenses, brands, manufactures, and sells digital audio products and technologies. The company's trademarked digital audio players include the MXP(TM) 100, Treo(TM) 15 and Treo 10, Odyssey(TM) 100, Odyssey 200, and Odyssey 300. The company also offers an engineering partnership for the world's leading electronics companies to link portable digital devices to PCs and the Internet. e.Digital develops and markets to consumer electronics manufacturers complete end-to-end solutions for delivery and management of open and secure digital media with a focus on music, voice and video players/recorders, and automotive infotainment and telematics systems. Other applications for e.Digital's technology include portable digital music players and voice recorders; desktop, laptop, and handheld computers; PC peripherals; cellular phone peripherals; e-books; video games; digital cameras; and digital video recorders. Engineering services range from the licensing of e.Digital's patented MicroOS(TM) file management system to custom software and hardware development, industrial design, and manufacturing services. For more information on the company, visit www.edig.com. To shop at the e.Digital online store, visit www.edigital-store.com.
Safe Harbor statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform of 1995: This document contains forward-looking statements relating to future performance, technology and product development that may affect future results and the future viability of the company. Actual results could be affected or differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of risks and uncertainties, including future products and results, technological shifts, potential technical difficulties that could delay new products, competition, general economic factors, and conditions in the markets in which the company operates, pricing pressures, the uncertainty of market acceptance of new products and services by OEM's and end-user customers, and other factors identified and discussed in the company's most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements are based on information and management's expectations as of the date hereof. Future results may differ materially from the company's current expectations.
Editors Note: e.Digital, Odyssey, and Treo are trademarks of e.Digital Corp. All other company, product, and service names are the property of their respective owners.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact:
e.Digital Corp., San Diego
Robert Putnam / Lisa Stevens
858/679-1504
PluggedIn: New iPod highlights old dilemma for PC devices
By Ben Berkowitz
LOS ANGELES, July 30 (Reuters) - Apple Computer Inc. (NasdaqNM:AAPL - News) will release a version of its wildly popular iPod digital music player next month aimed at the unwashed masses who rely on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows computers, ending months of anticipation from hopeful enthusiasts.
But it brings with it a classic dilemma for the penny-pinching audiophile: Most PC users eager to make the switch will need to get a special add-in card for their computer to link to the new Windows-based iPod MP3 player, boosting the cost of an already pricey system.
It's the same issue that faces computer users whenever they buy devices that they want to work with their computer -- just because they work now, will they still work in the future, or they will have to be replaced when something newer and better comes along?
Adding this peripheral connector, commonly called FireWire, is a relatively simple matter of installing an add-in card to the PC. But such cards cost about $50, on top of the $299 to $499 a consumer can expect to spend buying a new iPod player.
And while FireWire offers the lightning-fast data transfer speeds necessary for swapping big music data files, the newest version of the Universal Serial Bus, or USB, standard, now a feature of virtually every PC made, will offer connections every bit as fast.
Moreover, the new USB connectors work seamlessly with old USB devices that are standard on most computer electronics sold in the last three years, meaning the high-speed port is "backwards-compatible" with older and slower products.
Where else but the computer industry can a debate over what amounts to simple plugs and cords generate so much passion? And what's an audio junkie to do?
As baseball oracle Yogi Berra famously advised, when you come to a fork in the road, take it.
That's just what the computer industry expects many high-end users to do -- essentially guaranteeing a future in which both standards share the market, and often even, space on the same machine.
Both the FireWire standard (technically known as IEEE 1394) and the new USB 2.0 connector offer data transfer rates in excess of 400 million bytes per second, far faster than current USB and other peripheral standards.
By way of comparison, a basic uncompressed CD can hold about 650 megabytes of data, and a standard DVD can hold anywhere from 4.7 gigabytes to 17 gigabytes. In other words, just under two seconds to transfer an entire CD and less than half a minute for a full DVD.
Of course, real-world conditions are generally not perfect, and actual transfer rates often end up being slower than that theoretical maximum. But both technologies still work well enough to have become widely used for external devices like hard drives, video cameras and MP3 music players.
"Nobody really wants to set these two specs against each other," said Dick Davies, spokesman for the 1394 Trade Association, the industry group that represents the standard (and recently licensed the "FireWire" name from Apple).
DOWNLOADING IN PERFECT HARMONY
FireWire, the older of the two standards, has gained something of a foothold in recent years in computers made by Apple Computer Inc. (NasdaqNM:AAPL - News) and Sony Corp. (Tokyo:6758.T - News; which calls its modified version of the standard "i.Link.")
USB 2.0 didn't start to catch on until earlier this year, when Intel Corp. (Nasdaq:INTC - News) released chips supporting the standard and Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - News) released the supporting software for it within the Windows operating system.
Intel expects 80 percent of desktop PCs running its chips will have USB 2.0 by year's-end, while the FireWire trade group expects to keep pace.
Assuming costs are kept in control, PC manufacturers are as likely as not to have both FireWire and USB 2.0 in their machines, Davies said.
"Coexistence is very, very clearly in the consumer's interest," Davies said. For their part, proponents of the USB standard are largely on the same page.
"I think they'll co-exist, they are now, they have been," said Jason Ziller, chairman of the USB Implementer's Forum and a technology manager at Intel.
It is not uncommon to see both technologies side-by-side on video cameras and external hard drives, among other platforms, though most of those devices, for now, use the older, slower USB 1.1 standards.
In cameras in particular, however, FireWire has become dominant; video editing has been the primary reason FireWire has found its way into PCs at all.
"Once you start trying to move video, in particular ... USB won't cut it," Davies said.
While the USB camp disagrees with that assessment, they agree that both standards, at least in the short-term, is the wave of the PC future.
In the end it may be a matter of cost, as buying a new PC with both technologies can be an expensive proposition. Gateway Inc. (NYSE:GTW - News), one of the first PC manufacturers to support USB 2.0, sells new PCs with both starting at $1,299.
On the other hand, the company also sells an expansion card for PCs for $86 that adds both USB 2.0 and FireWire to the computer in one package.
Audiophiles rejoice.
Well, I guess you will be gone shortly.........have a nice life
Music Labels Plant Online Decoys, Mull Lawsuits
Friday July 5, 12:35 pm Eastern Time
Reuters Internet Report
By Sue Zeidler
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The music industry is adding more firepower to its arsenal in the fight against online piracy, planting "decoys" on free peer-to-peer services and considering lawsuits against individual song-swappers, sources said on Wednesday.
Many large record labels have resorted to what is known as "spoofing," by hiring companies to distribute "decoy" files that are empty or do not work in order to frustrate would-be downloaders of movies and music.
"Spoofing is just one example of a lawful and appropriate self-help measure available to the labels to respond to the growing problem of peer-to-peer network piracy. It also happens to confirm the adage 'you get what you pay for,"' said a spokesman for the Recording Industry Association of America, the trade association for the big labels.
Overpeer, a New York-based software firm funded by South Korea's SK Group, is one firm helping the industry disguise online files to thwart unauthorized swapping.
"Companies that provide heavily pirated music, films and software are making a strong commitment to protect their content," said Marc Morgenstern, Overpeer's chief executive, who said such activity was increasing "on all fronts."
Additionally, sources said the RIAA, which represents music giants like Bertelsmann AG (Dusseldorf:BTGGga.D - News) BMG, EMI Group Plc (London:EMI.L - News), AOL Time Warner Inc (NYSE:AOL - News), Vivendi Universal (Paris:EAUG.PA - News) and Sony Corp (Tokyo:6758.T - News), is considering taking a new tack by suing individuals who use the services, rather than the companies that host them.
Entrenched in its worst sales downturn in more than a decade, the music industry blames such unauthorized sharing in part for the 5 percent decline in global music sales in 2001 and a continuing slump in sales this year.
"They're talking about suing individual users. It's one of many options to stop declining sales, but they haven't agreed yet whether to go forward or not," said a record executive.
The RIAA declined comment, but industry sources said the idea has sparked a debate among the record labels, who in the past have been loathe to sue individual users for fear of losing customers.
"Launching a campaign of lawsuits against file swappers escalates the war against those who want online music. It invites retaliation," said Phil Leigh, analyst with Raymond James, who estimates cumulative downloads of services like Morpheus and Kazaa total 90 million each.
Warner Music, for instance, has expressed concerns about the proposal, while EMI and market-leader Universal Music were strong proponents, sources said.
Warner, Universal and EMI all declined to comment.
GENIE OUT OF THE BOTTLE
While the labels have scored legal victories against providers of services like Napster, Morpheus or Kazaa, users continue to find new ways to get music for free on the Web.
The lawsuits, according to industry sources, would mostly target those individuals, known as "supernodes," who collect the biggest amounts of music and who in turn become a sort of centralized directory for online music-sharing.
Analysts said music labels would need the co-operation of Internet Service Providers to identify offenders. The ISPs would also have to agree to send "cease and desist" messages.
"All of this involves getting the ISP to take on added duties as a 'policeman' for which he receives no compensation," Leigh said, noting few ISPs are keen on driving away users.
Analysts note further that any "legitimate" online market will remain constrained until the industry comes up with alluring commercial alternatives.
"If the labels fail to provide a viable licensed alternative, they're likely to continue battling a vast army of computer-savvy youthful volunteers who are passionate about music in a digital format," Leigh said.
The labels for their part are ramping up online services like MusicNet and Pressplay and have also increasingly licensed music to independent services like FullAudio and Listen.com.
While admitting the challenge in charging money for something that has been available for free, officials often cite the cable industry's success against similar dilemmas.
"If you offer a compelling alternative that's affordable and provides features that people can't get from these free services, people will sign up over time," said a spokesman for Listen.com, which provides a service called Rhapsody.
Sony, Universal music units to offer cheaper downloads
(adds further Warner music comment, EMI declines comment)
By Sue Zeidler
LOS ANGELES, June 12 (Reuters) - Record company giants Sony Music and Universal Music on Wednesday said they planned to soon offer cheaper and easier ways to download music from the Web in the industry's latest effort to stem online piracy.
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"Times have changed, so the offerings have changed," said Larry Kenswil, president of eLabs for Universal Music, the No. 1 music company and a unit of Vivendi Universal (Paris:EAUG.PA - News; NYSE:V - News).
Entrenched in the worst market downturn in years, the world's five big music companies last year launched their own online subscription services, MusicNet and Pressplay, after previously dabbling unsuccessfully in digital download programs that priced songs around $2 and up.
Both approaches have done little to stifle consumers' enthusiasm for free music-sharing on services like Napster, Kazaa and Morpheus.
But the music giants are hoping to compete more effectively now by offering cheaper download prices, with additional features like the ability to burn songs onto CDs.
Beginning this summer, Universal plans to distribute tens of thousands of digital singles for 99 cents or less and albums for $9.99 through Liquid Audio Inc. (NasdaqNM:LQID - News) to online retailers like Amazon.com Inc. (NasdaqNM:AMZN - News), Best Buy Co Inc. (NYSE:BBY - News) and Sam Goody, which is part of Best Buy's Musicland Group.
Kenswil said Universal will also let buyers burn the music files onto CDs, enabling consumers to copy them again and again, marking a growing shift from the industry's resistance toward such licensing.
A spokeswoman for Sony Music, a unit of Sony Corp. (Tokyo:6758.T - News; NYSE:SNE - News), said Sony also plans to soon allow CD burning and is increasing the number of downloadable songs dramatically this summer at a lower price of $1.49. Sony will offer its music through online distributor RioPort Inc.
AGGRESSIVE PRICING
"The main thing that's changed is the peer-to-peer problem," Kenswil said, referring to the rise of online music copying and swapping through the unauthorized Napster-like services, which have cost the industry millions in lost sales.
"This has forced us to reevaluate what it takes to get people to buy music on the Internet. Basically, it takes aggressive pricing and to offer as much of our catalog that can be cleared," he said.
Universal and Sony through their joint Pressplay service, had previously allowed consumers for a monthly fee to burn a limited number of songs per month.
"I think we need lots of ways of selling products and we want all these ways to appeal to an audience. They're not mutually exclusive," Kenswil said.
Analysts said the labels have no choice but to keep on trying everything now that the genie is out of the bottle.
While Napster has been hobbled by litigation and Morpheus and Kazaa are being challenged in the courts, the new generation of music consumers continue to uncover new ways of getting their music online for free.
"This continues the experimentation phase of music industry business models," said P.J. McNealy, analyst with GartnerG2.
"All the labels dabbled in digital download programs in the past 18 months, but they had problems with pricing and lack of portability with the songs once you bought them," he said.
"These latest initiatives could be a breakthrough, but it remains to be seen how much of the catalog will be cleared and what the pricing will be," he said.
Other labels are watching the efforts closely.
"Currently, we have not granted any license to burn, but this is something that we are addressing," said Nathaniel Brown, a spokesman for BMG, part of Bertelsmann AG (Dusseldorf:BTGGga.D - News; Frankfurt:BTGGga.F - News).
A spokesman for AOL Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE:AOL - News) Warner Music said the company has offered 99-cent downloads that are burnable on an experimental basis.
The spokesman said Warner Music has partnered with several online distributors for these offerings and expects to partner with more going forward.
A spokeswoman for EMI Group Plc (London:EMI.L - News) declined comment.
The Napster Effect
By Eric Gillin
Staff Reporter
06/05/2002 08:58 AM EDT
Despite new commercial offerings, many online music consumers are singing the same old song.
Once the poster child for free online music, Napster filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week as part of a plan to re-emerge as a for-profit online music site, backed by new owner Bertlesmann AG, a privately-held media conglomerate. But while the record industry begins charging subscription fees for online music, many consumers have spurned these limited offerings and embraced an old standby: downloading music for free.
Currently, online music consumers have two options. They can pay a monthly subscription fee to a commercial site and gain access to a limited number of songs from a limited number of artists. Or they can download a file-sharing program, which, like Napster, allows users to swap music files for free and hear all the music they want without restriction.
"It's hard enough to go out and sell a service people aren't familiar with," says Sean Badding, senior analyst with the Carmel Group, a new media research firm. "It's even harder when they can get that service for free somewhere else."
Pay Per View
Four commercial sites -- MusicNet, pressplay, Rhapsody and MusicNow -- charge consumers for online access to their music.
MusicNet, which is jointly owned by Bertelsmann, privately held EMI Group and AOL Time-Warner (AOL:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis), was the first commercial site, launched on Dec. 4 of last year. Under its plan, subscribers can stream 100 songs and download 100 more, choosing from a catalog of 80,000 songs, for $9.95 a month. None can be burned to CD.
pressplay, jointly owned by Sony (SNE:NYSE ADR - news - commentary - research - analysis) and Vivendi Universal (V:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis), debuted two weeks after MusicNet and offers a four-tiered pricing structure. For $9.95 a month, subscribers can download 30 songs and stream 300 more from a catalog of 75,000 songs. At $14.95 a month, this rises to 500 streams and 50 downloads, but the service lets users burn 10 songs to a CD. For $19.95 a month, users receive 750 streams, 75 downloads and 15 burns, and, for $24.95 a month, users can stream 1,000 songs, download 100 and burn 20 to a CD.
Rhapsody, owned by privately-held Listen.com, gives subscribers unlimited access to 58 online radio stations for $4.95 a month but doesn't let them download any of the 138,000 songs in its catalog. To gain that ability, subscribers must pay $9.95 a month for its premium classical music package, which allows for unlimited streaming of classical music, with 10 downloads that can be burned to a CD.
MusicNow is the latest online commercial music entry, launched by privately held FullAudio on April 17 with a catalog of 50,000 songs. Subscribers can download 50 songs for $7.59 a month, or 100 downloads for $14.99, but can't burn them to a CD.
Are They Worth It?
While these subscription services may seem attractive for less than $10 a month, they don't offer what many consumers want. "There's no real value in commercial sites," says Matt Bailey, president of Redshift Research, a firm that studies the digital entertainment industry. "It's going to be a long struggle to convince consumers that they're worth paying for."
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For starters, consumers seeking to keep their music will be disappointed. MusicNet and MusicNow subscribers can't burn music they download to a CD, while Rhapsody's CD burning service is limited to classical music only. And pressplay, which has the best overall selection, severely restricts consumer choice. "Under pressplay's service, you can't download more than two tracks from an artist each month," says Bailey.
Although commercial services have thousands of songs from which to choose, they're not giving consumers much choice. Ninety-two percent of respondents to a May 2002 survey by Redshift Research said they wanted more music from commercial service providers, followed by 84% saying they wanted the ability to burn songs to a CD.
Furthermore, these commercial sites tend to exclude the most popular music, unwilling to cut into their CD sales by offering newer songs online. "We looked at how many songs from the Billboard Hot 100 Singles were included by commercial services," says Bailey. "The typical service has only 10% of those songs available."
And once a subscription is canceled, users won't be able to listen to the music collection they've amassed. In essence, through various technologies, the companies only allow the consumers to "rent" what they download.
The Best Things in Life Are Free
Instead of choosing these limited commercial offerings, many consumers have been embracing free services such as Kazaa, Bearshare and Morpheus, which are based on the file-sharing platform pioneered by Napster.
To get started, users download and install file-sharing software on their computers, joining a community of users who share files with each other. Once on the network, users can search out any of the files within the file-sharing community, downloading as many as they want. More than two dozen music file-sharing programs exist, says Kelly Green, director of CNet's Download.com, a site where users can download file-sharing software. "But all of them basically work the same way."
Last week, Kazaa's software was downloaded 2.8 million times, making it the single most-popular file downloaded from Download.com. According to Redshift, more than 2 million people logged on to file-sharing networks in April 2002. Compare that with MusicNet, which has only signed up 40,000 users since launching six months ago. "File-sharing has gone mainstream," says Green. "It's really achieving widespread popularity at this point."
Kazaam!
The number of files downloaded each month on Kazaa, a file-sharing service, has nearly doubled in the past six months
Nov. 2001 Dec. 2001 Jan. 2002 Feb. 2002 Mar. 2002 Apr. 2002
530 million 610 million 620 million 700 million 900 million 1.1 billion
Source: Redshift Research
But as the old saying goes, you get what you pay for. To make money, some file-sharing programs have bundled in adware, specialized software that inundates users with advertisements while they search for music. A month ago, Download.com briefly blocked access to Kazaa's file-sharing program when users complained. "Kazaa violated our software bundling policy, which requires that publishers let users know upfront what they're downloading," Green says.
And sometimes users aren't just downloading songs -- they're also getting viruses. On May 20, Kazaa warned its users about the Benjamin virus, which specifically targeted users of file-sharing software, and which crashed computers.
Finally, users who choose to download songs and build personal libraries or burn them to a CD are violating copyright laws. "Listening is one thing, but downloading it and keeping it and storing it is breaking the law," says Badding. "People see this as a victimless crime. But it hurts the companies and artists trying to make money."
Kazaam!
The number of files downloaded each month on Kazaa, a file-sharing service, has nearly doubled in the past six months
Nov. 2001 Dec. 2001 Jan. 2002 Feb. 2002 Mar. 2002 Apr. 2002
530 million 610 million 620 million 700 million 900 million 1.1 billion
Question to Dataplay regarding releasing player.
Hello, I am curious as to when the MTV player is to be debuted? Is there a hold up with production and when can we see it marketed?
We expect Evolution to launch their device some time in July. Once they do, we will provide where-to-buy links from our web site. We will begin our own marketing campaign in August--we have over 2500 TV spots reserved in major markets across the US to include the Today Show, Tonight Show, Letterman, et al.
For more specific information, you might also want to inquire directly with Evolution at http://nowevolution.com/products/EV-500MDP.html.
-----Original Message-----
From: philozarton
Sent: Monday, June 03, 2002 11:10 AM
To: generalinfo@dataplay.com
Subject: eDigital & Dataplay
Tuesday May 7, 9:00 am Eastern Time
Press Release
SOURCE: e.Digital Corp.
e.Digital Corp. and Digital Global Network Announce Product Development and Global Marketing Joint Venture
Agreement Will Increase e.Digital-Branded Product Line and Introduce e.Digital Brand to Asian Consumer Electronics Markets
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 7, 2002-- e.Digital Corp. (OTCBB:EDIG - news), a global provider of comprehensive digital product development and designs, and DGN Inc. (Digital Global Network), today announced a joint venture agreement to develop and market portable digital audio products under the e.Digital brand name.
Joseph Lee, president of Digital Global Network, said, "This agreement integrates technology, development, design, and marketing resources of both companies in the United States, where MP3 players are growing in popularity, and in Asia, where these products are extremely popular, and consumers are hungry for the latest features and the most attractive designs. We are focused on producing smaller, more efficient, more consumer-friendly digital audio players."
Jim Collier, president and COO of e.Digital added, "DGN's team brings world-class experience to the design process, having created some of the industry's most recognizable digital audio products including the Samsung YEPP product line. With DGN, we are developing feature-rich products with sleek consumer appeal.
"Our technology integration experience and rapidly-expanding domestic distribution will benefit from creative new products incorporating the latest standards in storage media, including optical disks, hard disk drives and flash memory. Working together, we expect our teams to launch the first jointly-developed consumer product under the e.Digital brand in July 2002."
Collier added, "e.Digital and DGN will co-develop and market world class, cutting edge digital audio and video products. e.Digital will exclusively market these products in the North and South American markets, as well as Europe. DGN will market them in the Asian markets under a royalty arrangement with e.Digital. This agreement is a major step in our strategy to develop and market products on a global scale, and will be a significant factor in our expected revenue growth this year."
About Digital Global Network
Digital Global Network (DGN) is a leader in bringing innovative digital audio and multimedia devices to the consumer market. Founded by a pioneer in the MP3 industry, DGN is dedicated to providing leading edge products to OEM's, distributors and end users. DGN is a privately held company with sales and marketing headquartered in San Diego and design and manufacturing facilities in Asia.
About e.Digital
e.Digital Corp. offers an engineering partnership for the world's leading electronics companies to link portable digital devices to PCs and the Internet. e.Digital develops and markets to consumer electronics manufacturers complete end-to-end solutions for delivery and management of open and secure digital media with a focus on music players/recorders and portable digital voice recorders. Engineering services range from the licensing of e.Digital's patented MicroOS(TM) file management system to custom software and hardware development, industrial design and manufacturing services. For more information on the company, please visit www.edig.com.
Safe Harbor statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform of 1995: This document contains forward-looking statements relating to future performance, technology and product development that may affect future results and the future viability of the company. Actual results could be affected or differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of risks and uncertainties, including future products and results, technological shifts, potential technical difficulties that could delay new products, competition, general economic factors, and conditions in the markets in which the company operates, pricing pressures, the uncertainty of market acceptance of new products and services by OEM's and end-user customers, and other factors identified and discussed in the company's most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements are based on information and management's expectations as of the date hereof. Future results may differ materially from the company's current expectations.
Editors Note: e.Digital and MicroOS are trademarks of e.Digital Corp. All other company, product, and service names are the property of their respective owners.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact:
e.Digital Corp.
Robert Putnam, 858/679-1504
robert@edig.com
House Panel Wades Into Digital Content Protection
Thursday April 25, 3:00 pm Eastern Time
Reuters Internet Report
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As U.S. House lawmakers on Thursday prepare to hear a progress report on discussions to solve digital content protection issues, one consumer electronics maker said legislation to resolve the problems was ``premature.''
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The transition to digital has been slowed in part because of limited digital programming available, high-priced equipment needed to receive the signals, and the particularly prickly issue of potential piracy of content.
Sen. Ernest Hollings, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, proposed one solution but kicked up a storm in March when he introduced a bill that would prevent new computers, CD players and other consumer-electronics devices from playing unauthorized movies, music and other digital-media files.
The bill is embraced by the various recording studios and other content producers though it has received little support from consumers and electronics manufacturers.
The U.S. House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on the Internet will wade through the content protection issue and hear on Thursday from incoming AOL Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:AOL - news) Chief Executive Officer Richard Parsons and Philips Consumer Electronics (NYSE:PHG - news) CEO Lawrence Blanford, among others.
Blanford said in an interview before the hearing that legislation was not immediately necessary and instead Congress should authorize a forum to address the controversial issue of how consumers can record and re-use content in the privacy of their own homes.
``I don't see Congress necessarily legislating the answer here,'' he said. ``I think it, again, needs to create the appropriate forum for driving a balanced solution. Now maybe out of that balanced solution some form of legislation should ultimately come forth, but I think it may be premature.''
The panel has been holding roundtable discussions with various industry participants in an attempt to bridge the divide on some of the issues and Rep. Billy Tauzin, chairman of the full committee, said they were getting closer to agreements on content protection, interoperability and some standards.
Blanford said that process should be slowed to address how and whether consumers will be able to tape their favorite shows and watch them at a different time or on a different television set in their homes.
``I think we would tend to want to slow it down a bit,'' he said. ``You can speed down the road and even have the right technical solutions, but if consumers have not had a voice and do not accept the solution, what have you gained?''
The forum would ``ensure that there is an open process where a balance between business interests and consumer rights and intellectual property rights can be properly managed,'' Blanford said.
Hollings legislation has evoked a furious backlash from technology firms, who say it would hurt their ability to innovate, and would encourage consumers to hold on to their older equipment rather than buy new models that restrict their activities.
Consumer advocates say it would also take away ``fair use'' rights that allow them to record TV shows for later viewing or tranfer a CD to a portable MP3 player.
By: LARGENGLISHWHIT
26 Mar 2002, 01:34 PM EST Msg. 937919 of 937934
(This msg. is a reply to 937248 by LARGENGLISHWHIT.)
MP3.com Review: We took our time with our review
eDigital MXP100 with VoiceNav
By Richard Menta 2/09/02
We have to admit, we took our time with our review of eDigital's
latest player. Who wouldn't with an entire gigabyte of songs stored
in a flash-sized player. You can thank IBM's Microdrive, a minute
hard drive of identical dimensions to compact flash cards that offer
capacities of 340MB, 512MB, and 1GB. The MXP 100 uses this drive and
leverages it advantages into a competitive MP3 portable that offers
more memory than standard 64MB players without ballooning to the size
and weight of jukebox portables like the Nomad Jukebox.
It also offers another feature that is actually more practical than
gimmicky. Using a technology called VoiceNav, you can jump directly
to a specific track by simply saying the songs name. When you have a
few hundred songs to scroll through, the ability to jump directly to
a song by simply saying its name becomes a welcomed convenience.
The Hardware
As we said, the e.Digital MXP 100 comes with a choice of 340MB,
512MB, and 1GB MicroDrives and is about 25% larger than a Rio 500
flash portable. That makes it small enough to conveniently fit in a
pocket.
The MXP 100 has 8MB of built-in memory for skip protection and can
play tunes compressed in the MP3 and WMA format. Files are
transferred to the MXP 100 using its Music Explorer software through
a USB connection. Rounding out the features, the MXP 100 has voice
recording capabilities, the VoiceNav feature mentioned above, 8MB of
built-in memory for skip protection, and runs on an excellent set of
lithium-ion batteries that had no trouble handling the power hungry
Microdives. We got several hours of use out of them, not as much as
the 10 hours Apple claims its iPod gets from its lithium polymer
battery, but still good.
The player handles tunes using the MP3 and WMA formats. The MXP 100
is secure music capable supporting several digital rights management
protocols including Intertrust, Windows Media DRM and IBM's EMMS.
As of this writing, pricing for the MXP 100 are $399 for the 1GB
version, $349 for the 512MB, and $299 for the 340MB. We tested the
unit using both the 1GB and 340MB drives. The MXP 100 will also take
all sizes of CompactFlash cards including SanDisk's soon to be
released 1GB version, which will use considerable less power than the
MicroDrive, but will run more than double the price when released.
VoiceNav
What's most interesting about this player is that the unit's most
unique feature is not the MicroDrive itself, but a user interface
called VoiceNav. VoiceNav allows the user to control the unit using
vocal commands. For those of you who have used jukebox or other high
capacity portables, you know how tedious it can be search for a
particular song when there are hundreds of them to scroll through.
Developed by Bell Labs' Advanced Technologies (a division of Lucent)
the MXP 100 is the first consumer product to use this voice
navigation interface. Once engaged, the user can navigate playlist
folders, select tracks, and play tunes by simply speaking one of
several command words into the built-in microphone.
VoiceNav has an fluid phonetic dictionary embedded within it offering
speaker-independent recognition. Unlike a software product like IBM's
ViaVoice, which needs to learn each individual user's particular
speech patterns over time through regular use, VoiceNav requires no
such learning input. That's a heck of an accomplishment if it works
well.
So, how well does it work?
The basic commands for VoiceNav are Play, Folder, Track, Next, Back
and Done. The MXP 100 also recognizes track and folder names,
analyzing the spelling of each word, applying standard pronunciation
rules and the attempt to match the expected wave patterns of these
words with any words spoken into the unit's internal microphone.
Considering the broad palate of individual speech patterns including
accents and regional dialects, this is not an easy job and why the
progress of voice recognition over the last decade has been a
challenging one. Think if President George Bush used this player to
call up a track name with the word "Nuclear" in it (he pronounces
it "Nu-cu-lar") and you get the idea.
VoiceNav's includes the most up to date applications of speech
recognition technology and, as someone who has used IBM's ViaVoice,
it shows it. Music Explorer's interface works here too, insuring that
track titles and artist or album information from digital music
tracks are saved and transferred to the MXP 100 as recognizable
phrases.
To activate VoiceNav you press the record button when in music play
mode (you need to press and release the button. If you hold it, you
will activate the unit's internal voice recorder). Navigation using
VoiceNav only operates when a song is not playing (manual controls
will allow navigation when a tune is pumping), therefore there is
no "Stop" or "Pause" command. The "Done" verbal command is used to
disable VoiceNav vocally.
Using the basic commands only, we had no trouble navigating back and
forth between folders and songs. We even tried various accents to
throw the player off, everything from Brooklyn to southern to bad
impersonations of various Monty Python and Simpson's characters. It
is very impressive when you shout the word "Folder" talking like Apu
Nahasapeemapetilon and it still works.
We could fool it a few times, and sometimes the word "Play" would act
a little sluggish, but overall it got off to very good start.
Bearing in mind that speech recognition not yet the equivalent of the
chatty computer on TV's Star Trek, the MXP 100 did an excellent job
of pulling up our song requests. VoiceNav worked best when we spoke
the entire file name, artist and song title, in the order it appeared
on the screen.
If the unit had trouble discerning a phrase, it let out a short beep
through the headphones as a request to repeat the phrase. We noticed
it was easiest when you got a clear pronunciation on the first shot.
Under the best conditions, we would name a song in our normal
speaking tone and pace and the unit would jump to the song. Sometimes
when we called for that same song title we would get the beep
instead. If we got a beep, the player required us to speak more
deliberately and slowly otherwise it would beep again, suggesting
VoiceNav drops down a gear, possibly to sample more intensely.
If the song has a one-word song title not repeated on another tune,
the VoiceNav can jump to it just by saying that word. Because there
is only one word to analyze, it works quicker too. Still, the unit
was more accurate when you said the full track name. The more words
you say, the more time the unit takes to digest and act on the
command.
Type A personalities take note.
It helps if the words in a title are actually in a dictionary. The
track "Sum41 - Fat Lip" for example, "Sum41" is not a word.
Surprisingly, when we said just the word "Sum41" the MXP 100 found
the correct track almost every time. The same thing happened when we
said just "U2" to find U2's One. Most impressive.
Testing VoiceNav -
Now realize that external ambient noise can affect results and so we
tested VoiceNav under several conditions. We chose a mixture of song
titles, some short and simple and others more apt to challenge
VoiceNav like Sum41. Among the titles on our player as each track is
written:
Detroit Cobras - I'll be home again
Howie Day - Babylon
Sam Philips - Love is everywhere you go
Wishing
Thee Midnighters - The town I live in
Sum41 - Fat lip
Sundays - Summertime
U2 - One
Sonics - Have love will travel
Robert Johnson - 32-20 Blues
Sebadoh - Willing to wait
Beach Boys - Kiss me baby
Lit - Miserable
Incubus - I wish you were here.
As soon as you enable VoiceNav the folder of where the tracks lie
begins to blink. Saying "Track" causes the cursor to highlight and
blink on the first track name. You say another track name to switch
songs. A good way to judge how long it takes to switch is count how
many times the cursor blinks on a song between when you call for the
next track and when it actually appears.
Test 1 - Ideal conditions. Quiet room, MXP 100 is laying on the
table. We speak directly to the player about a foot above the
internal microphone. - Result: Superior if you say the entire song
title, but order matters.
We were able to run through the entire list above twice - artist and
song title said in the exact order they appear in the player -
without a single miss. Average time it took to find and display the
proper track was about 4 cursor blinks. The quickest were "Lit -
Miserable" and "Wishing" at three blinks. The longest was "Robert
Johnson - 32-20 Blues" at seven blinks. Finally, we called "Howie
Day - Babylon" really quickly, practically mumbling the last word,
before we threw the unit off. Excellent performance, better than we
expected.
We then tried the same test just using either the song title or the
artist alone and our results dropped to about 75%. Some artists had
several songs on our player (Howie Day - Australia for example)
posing a dilema for VoiceNav over which track to select when only the
artists name was uttered. When VoiceNav did find the proper track
successfully, it did so in about the same time as it took with the
full title, an average of about 4 cursor blinks.
Order Matters
Now for a simple twist. We next spoke the full track title, but said
the song title and artist name in reverse order as it appeared on the
display. Here VoiceNav had trouble, giving us the beep on every
single attempt. Order, it seems, matters with VoiceNav. We're
guessing that it's because VoiceNav develops an expected vocal wave
pattern, looking at the title as an entire phrase rather than word
for word.
That could be a little frustrating to users who have tracks where the
order of the artist and song name in the title is mixed. Still, when
you get the order right the results are outstanding.
Test 2 - Walking outside with occasional traffic passing by. All
track names said in proper order. - Result: very good to excellent.
When standing still, our results were nearly identical to those
above. Saying the entire title name we got a hit almost every time.
The only times we missed were when vehicles would pass as we spoke.
Next we repeated track names while walking. Here the results were
very good, but the player sometimes needed an extra cursor blink or
two to find the tracks. A couple of times it missed without traffic,
but about 90-95% percent of the time it hit. A possible reason may be
the motion from walking puts a slight quiver in our voices that make
it a little harder for VoiceNav to understand. Still the unit
performed excellently.
Because of the lessened performance we received under ideal
conditions when we said only the artist or song name or when we said
the track name in reverse order, we didn't bother to test that here.
In those situations we already know the results will be hit or miss.
Test 3 - Difficult conditions. Using VoiceNav in a crowded gym. -
Result: ambient noise proved too much for VoiceNav.
We tried and found that the background din of music, talking, and
slamming weights was too much for VoiceNav. Once in a blue moon we
got the track to shift, but not until speaking loud enough to draw
the gaze of a few patrons who wondered why we were yelling at our MP3
player.
Transfer Software -
The drag and drop transfer software, Music Explorer, was simple
enough and it did the job, but it pales against the better transfer
programs. This includes Intel's excellent Intel Audio Manager, which
arguably had the best mix of ease and elegance.
Music Explorer does not do the best job in letting you know how much
space is left in memory as songs are loaded. There is a blue bar that
slowly disappears as you use up the unit's capacity, but the bar does
not show remaining megabytes in number form unless you sit the mouse
cursor over it, bringing up a small pop up. It works, but could have
been done better.
The MXP 100 requires the unit to be plugged in during file transfers.
This is done to prevent accidental damage to the unit as loading a
large number of music files can take time. If the unit was on battery
only and the charge should run out during transfer, it might cause
internal harm to the MXP 100's system. A heads up safety feature.
Controls -
Most of the controls are located on the front faceplate. They were a
little close together, but thanks to their different sizes and shapes
we had no trouble locating which button was which without looking.
The toggle on the side worked well, but it took on a lot of duties so
you had to pay attention to what you were doing, at least until you
got all the moves down. The menu system is well laid out.
Holding down the scroll wheel brings you into the menu. From there
are sub menus where you can set equalizer settings, backlight time,
contrast, microphone gain and other controls. Scroll down to a sub
menu, push the scroll in once and you enter. To exit, hold down the
scroll wheel for about a second and the word "Done" will appear as a
choice. Select it and you will return one level up on the menu.
Display -
The display did a good job, though it could be a little hard to see
in dimly lit situations. The words came along clear, both with and
without the backlight, but the type is small and benefits most when
the backlight is on. The MXP 100 allows you to adjust the backlight
to stay on either always or at lengths between 1 to 10 seconds, a
nice feature that offers that extra flexibility without taxing the
battery. You can also adjust the contrast on the screen, another good
feature. Still, not as sharp as the displays on the Rio Volt SP250 or
the RCA Lyra and Lyra II.
Sound -
The sound was excellent, aided by a full 5-band equalizer adjustable
in the unit's "Setting" menu. The player also has 5 equalizer presets
including Jazz, Latin, Dance, and Rock. A microphone gain control
allows the user to set the sensitivity of the microphone, a
particularly handy feature when using VoiceNav as it can help screen
out ambient noise.
Size to Capacity Ratio -
This is where the MXP 100 excels over other portable units. We spent
most of our time testing this unit with the 1GB drive and the
convenience of having a couple of hundred tunes in our pocket without
having to lug something the size of a brick was truly liberating.
The eDigital MXP 100 weighs in at 139 grams (4.9 ounces). That is one
third the weight of Creative's Nomad Jukebox which weighs in at a
hefty 14oz (397 grams). The MXP 100 is also much lighter than the
newly released 10GB RCA LYRA Personal Jukebox at 11oz (310 grams) and
the upcoming 20GB Rio Riot at 8.8oz (250 grams). All of those units
have greater storage capacity, but you won't be jogging with them.
The same goes for the Nomad 3, Creative's successor to the Nomad
Jukebox that, while a little smaller than its predessor, comes in at
the same weight. The Nomad 3 goes on sale this April.
Outside of other flash players that can take an IBM Microdrive (see
review), the only digital music portable that can compete right now
with the MXP 100 is the Apple iPod, which comes in at a svelte 6.5oz
(185 grams) for 5GB. That's still a third heavier than the eDigital.
Also, the Apple is a Mac only player right now, so until it hits the
market in a full blown PC version it is not a full threat to the MXP
100's target audience.
There is also promising news on the horizon with IBM's Microdrives.
Using a new technology they call Pixie Dust, analysts are expecting a
6GB Microdrive to appear sometime in 2003. IBM refused to deny or
confirm this rumor, but Pixie Pust should make a dramatic improvement
on Microdrive capacity soon. That's a boon CompactFlash players like
the MXP 100.
Conclusion -
For those who are looking for an MP3 player with lots of storage, but
in as small a package as is available, the eDigital MXP 100 is an
excellent candidate. Jukebox portables like the Rio Riot and the
upcoming Nomad 3 (both selling for the same $399 as the MXP 100)
offer much more memory, but they are also big and heavy to lug
around. The FireWire-enabled Apple iPod is a much stronger
competitor, but it's Mac only for now.
The MXP 100 itself performed very well. While we have encountered
better displays, controls, and transfer programs, the MXP 100 was
more than competent in these areas. Besides, our quibbles all take a
back seat to the most convenient of features, capacity. The sheer act
of NOT having to run back and forth to the computer to refresh tunes
for that morning jog is an accomplishment few digital music portables
can claim (many that do have the capacity you wouldn't want to jog
with). For the extra $100 we recommend going with the 1GB version
over the 340MB version as it is a better value, offering almost three
times more memory.
The addition of VoiceNav is what truly differentiates the MXP 100
from the competition. VoiceNav proves to be a surprisingly excellent
speech recognition system that works effectively at making the
playing of your favorite songs more convenient. That makes all the
difference between a useful tool and an expensive toy.
Speech recognition - as well as VoiceNav itself - has its limitations
like any other technology, but with a little knowledge of how to get
the most out of it, VoiceNav's performance was both impressive and
compelling. I hardly have a radio voice, yet under the best of
conditions the unit successfully pulled up every song I called out
without fail (except the last when I intentionally garbled it). The
system also performed great in real world conditions, providing there
was not too much ambient noise.
We wish we had VoiceNav on our Archos Jukebox, a player we filled
with tunes, but made the mistake of putting them all under one
directory, making for a lot of scroll and search. I'll guess we will
just have to take the time reload all the songs on that player,
adding several folders to make searching easier.
You can get further info on the MXP 100 on the company's web site.
KaZaA Sells File-Sharing Software; Downloads Resume
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dutch Internet file sharing company KaZaA BV, which is facing a copyright lawsuit, on Monday said it had sold its KaZaA.com Web site and software to privately held Australian firm Sharman Networks Limited.
Along with the sale, KaZaA said Sharman will once again make the KaZaA media software, which lets users search and download music and video files, publicly available.
On Jan. 17, KaZaA BV said it suspended downloads of the popular software, pending a decision in a copyright lawsuit filed against it in a Dutch court. But users who already had the software were still able to swap files.
Included in the sale are the Web site, the KaZaA name and logo, as well as a license for FastTrack, a file-sharing technology that it licenses to other file swapping services, such as Grokster and Morpheus.
Terms of the deal were not made public, and further information on Sharman was not disclosed.
KaZaA and FastTrack were both founded and run by the same person: 35-year-old Swedish-born Niklas Zennstrom.
``The original brains behind KaZaA have moved on to develop new innovative software,'' the KaZaA.com Web site said on Monday.
The site also listed a copyright notice saying users of the software are bound by the laws governing copyright in their respective countries.
Downloads of the software were brisk on Monday. In mid-afternoon Eastern time, about two users downloaded the software each second, according to a ticker on KaZaA.com.
In November, a Dutch judge ruled that the company must stop its users from sharing copyrighted music files, but the company said it could not comply because its decentralized system did not allow it to know who its customers are.
KaZaA and other file sharing services have been named in a separate suit filed last fall by the trade groups for the music recording and motion picture industries.
The trade groups claim that the services permit users to download and trade copyrighted material without permission.
The Recording Industry Association of America (news - web sites) grounded Napster (news - web sites), the wildly popular music sharing software, in July with a similar lawsuit.
Major media companies have since moved to take advantage of the pent-up demand for sharing media files online. Sony Corp (news - web sites). (6758.T) and Vivendi Universal (EAUG.PA)(NYSE:V - news) have backed an online subscription service called Pressplay.
AOL Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:AOL - news), Bertelsmann AG (news - web sites) (BTGGga.D) and EMI Group Plc (news - web sites) (EMI.L) have established a rival service called MusicNet.
Lawmaker Promises Changes to Online Copyright Law
By Andy Sullivan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. congressman said on Monday he intended to change a controversial copyright law to allow consumers to override technologies that prevent them from making digital copies of music, movies, and software.
Virginia Democratic Rep. Rick Boucher said he planned to introduce a bill that would eliminate the ``anti-circumvention'' clause of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (news - web sites) (DMCA), a 1998 law that updated copyright laws for the digital era.
Intended to discourage piracy, the clause has come under increasing fire over the past year by users who say it imposes severe limits on the rights of consumers to make personal backup copies or otherwise control music they have purchased.
The clause has inspired high-profile court battles and made a minor celebrity out of Dmitri Sklyarov, the Russian programmer jailed for writing a program that defeated a copy-protection measure in Adobe Systems Inc.'s (Nasdaq:ADBE - news) eBook software.
Boucher told an audience of musicians, lawyers, and music industry officials at the Future of Music policy summit that his bill would modify section 1201 of the DMCA to allow consumers to defeat copy-protection measures for legitimate personal uses, but would still outlaw circumvention efforts for piracy.
``I'm very concerned about the DMCA,'' Boucher said. ``There's an increasing number of instances in which unjust results are reached.''
LEGITIMATE USES
Boucher pointed out that Vivendi Universal's (EAUG.PA) Universal Music Group will soon release its new CDs in copy-protected form, making them impossible to play on personal computers and some CD systems as well.
Consumers should be able to use computer programs to defeat that copy protection, he said.
``What do you say to the guy who only wants to use that code so the CD he bought will play on his computer,'' Boucher asked reporters after his speech. ``That's harmless activity, yet under section 1201 he's guilty of a crime.''
Boucher said he did not know when he would introduce the bill in Congress, as he was still lining up support. The bill will face heated opposition, he acknowledged, as the recording and movie industries see section 1201 as a key measure in their battle against online piracy.
However, Boucher did predict success for other digital copyright reforms introduced in his Music Online Competition Act (MOCA) last August.
``Major elements of MOCA almost certainly will be passed by the House, and by Congress, and signed into law,'' he said. The House Judiciary Committee (news - web sites) will hold hearings in February or March, he said.
One measure Boucher believes likely to pass would exempt music services from paying royalties on ``buffer'' copies stored in server computers. Another proposal that he sees enjoying widespread support would allow consumers to make backup copies of downloaded music they purchased.
That provision could require structural changes to MusicNet and Pressplay, two new industry-supported online music services that impose limits on how the music may be used, Boucher acknowledged.
Another measure will likely encounter stiffer resistance, he said.
It would require recording companies to make their music available to independent Internet companies like Napster (news - web sites) and Listen.com on terms equal to those of its own services.
The music industry says that the law will not be necessary as online offerings mature and become more comprehensive.
Boucher said MusicNet and Pressplay were a good start, but that there was no guarantee the industry would not freeze out independent sites.
``We think that's essential for competition to thrive,'' he said.
Pressplay is a joint venture between recording companies Sony Corp (news - web sites). (6758.T). and Vivendi Universal. MusicNet is backed by media companies AOL Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:AOL - news), Bertelsmann AG (news - web sites) (BTGGga.D), and EMI Group Plc (news - web sites) (EMI.L), as well as tech firm RealNetworks Inc. (Nasdaq:RNWK - news). Both Web sites launched in December.
Silver there is the lion. We used it for a while and then kinda dropped away from it. Here is the link
http://www.thelion.com/bin/forum.cgi?sf=EDIG&msg=245&cmd=read
Hey Blues.......it doesn't recognize mine either. It's like being left out in the cold.....what does one do when all thats left is Raging B?
Philo
December 20, 2001
Bluetooth Defies Obituaries
By CHRIS GAITHER
AN FRANCISCO -- BLUETOOTH took a beating in 2001.
The fledgling standard with the funny name, Bluetooth had stirred enthusiasm in technology circles for more than two years. It promised to simplify communications among cellphones, hand-held computers and other wireless devices by streaming information back and forth over short-range radio waves.
The trouble was that very few Bluetooth products had emerged, and a wireless networking standard known as Wi-Fi had arrived in coffee shops and airport lounges, stealing Bluetooth's thunder. Microsoft (news/quote) said it could not yet support such a young technology. Some engineers declared Bluetooth dead, and technology journalists began writing its obituary.
Yet even as Bluetooth's demise was being predicted, Bluetooth chips were still being shipped from factories — as many as 13 million this year — and electronics makers continued to work on designing products that use the technology. Bluetooth- connected devices like Sony (news/quote) camcorders trickled onto the market, and more are expected in 2002.
At the annual Bluetooth Developers Conference here last week, the gadgets on display included cellphones connected wirelessly to earpieces, computers that beamed PowerPoint presentations directly to a projector and medical gear that streamed a patient's vital statistics onto a display screen. And in an important step, Microsoft announced that it would include software support for Bluetooth devices in Windows XP updates by next summer.
"I believe we are coming out of the trough," Simon Ellis, chairman of the marketing committee for the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, a trade association, told developers at the conference.
The good news, he said, is that engineers have accomplished much of the technical work necessary for Bluetooth products to work together and avoid interference with other wireless devices. But he conceded, "Our customers are getting a little impatient."
Wireless Networking: The Contenders (December 20, 2001)
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Named after Harald Bluetooth, a Danish king of the 10th century, Bluetooth sends information along radio waves to other equipped devices within about 30 feet. Researchers at Ericsson (news/quote) conceived of the technology in 1994 as a low-cost radio interface between mobile phones and their accessories that would allow for hands-free calls.
By 1999 the Bluetooth Special Interest Group had suggested that the technology could create vast numbers of "personal area networks." A Palm would automatically synchronize its address book with a nearby PC, for example, or a laptop could surf the Web on a phone's cellular network.
"The problems that Bluetooth ran into were caused by classic overhype: talking about the technology before it was even ready for prime time," said Roy Dubé, who leads the mobile business division of Pricewaterhouse Coopers. He said he tells clients to expect Bluetooth to emerge fully in the second half of 2002.
But this year some predicted that the Wi-Fi wireless standard, IEEE 802.11b, would render Bluetooth obsolete. Wi-Fi is faster than Bluetooth and makes connections across longer distances, up to about 300 feet.
Proponents of Bluetooth, however, argue that the industry has room for both technologies. Mr. Ellis faulted the assumption that faster is better. In this case speed comes with a price: battery life and cost. Bluetooth chips are less expensive to make and consume less power than Wi-Fi, so they are easier to build into small devices that run on batteries, like cellphones.
Indeed, cellphone makers are expected to lead the charge.
Ericsson, Motorola (news/quote) and other phone makers began selling Bluetooth-enabled handsets this year. Sony and Ericsson are committed to making six million Bluetooth-enabled handsets next year. Some computer makers, including Toshiba (news/quote) and I.B.M. (news/quote), have also started offering Bluetooth chips in their laptops.
But for now, most Bluetooth products on the market in the United States are accessories, like the PC cards and U.S.B. adapters sold by 3Com (news/quote). Next month 3Com will begin selling a Bluetooth antenna that slides into the parallel port of a printer, allowing computer users to send a print command wirelessly. But with most adapters selling for about $150, even 3Com acknowledged that few users will shell out hundreds of dollars just to eliminate a cable.
"When you have three or four or five uses, that's compelling," said Kurt Olsen, 3Com's marketing manager for mobile and wireless products. "When you only have one, it's way too expensive."
Hewlett-Packard (news/quote) includes Bluetooth in a line of its printers, the 995c. But Lara Kahler, the company's worldwide product marketing manager, said that Bluetooth would not be widely adopted until travelers can use it to connect computers to the Internet through their cellphones.
Sales of Bluetooth devices in Asia and Europe, where a new generation of phone networks stream data faster, outpace those in the United States, where cellular connections transmit data at speeds far slower than 56-kilobits-per-second dial-up modems do. Those networks, known as 2.5 and 3G, are not expected to arrive widely in the United States until next spring at the earliest.
Still, electronics manufacturers are placing their bets on Bluetooth, as the showroom floor here reflected. Visteon (news/quote), a spinoff of the Ford Motor (news/quote) Group, displayed a hands-free phone system that it said would be available in cars next year. Using Bluetooth and voice-recognition software, already available in high-end Jaguar and Infiniti models, the system can detect a phone anywhere in the car, mute the car radio when calls come in and allow the driver to place a call by saying the number aloud.
Researchers from Philips Electronics (news/quote) showed a hand-held computer that roamed through several Bluetooth access points, using the nearest one to go on the Internet. Toshiba displayed an early version of a Bluetooth-enabled cash register that recognizes coupons stored in the memory of a cellphone. A Swedish company, Ortivus, showed off a gadget that rides along on a patient's stretcher, measuring blood pressure, pulse and oxygen count through cables and wirelessly transmitting the readings to a display panel on the ambulance wall. Ortivus said that some ambulances in Sweden use the device.
But the most common product was one already on the market today: the wireless cellphone headset. Yet outside the doors of the demonstration hall, none were evident. Gathering near coffee urns, Bluetooth engineers and marketers pressed phones to their ears or spoke into microphones attached to wires dangling down to their belts.
Even Bluetooth supporters, it seems, are not yet ready to abandon their wires.
Income Statement Balance Sheet Cash Flow Statement
Period Ending: Sep 30, 2001 Jun 30, 2001 Mar 31, 2001 Dec 31, 2000
Total Revenue $506,996 $669,279 $523,812 $82,843
Cost Of Revenue $237,216 $517,283 $630,989 $92,329
Gross Profit $269,780 $151,996 ($107,177) ($9,486)
Operating Expenses
Research And Development $801,517 $691,935 $592,340 $546,655
Selling General And Administrative Expenses $548,391 $490,428 $579,176 $705,288
Non Recurring N/A N/A N/A N/A
Other Operating Expenses $12,836 ($9,102) ($58,315) ($9,138)
Operating Income ($1,080,128) ($1,030,367) ($1,278,693) ($1,261,429)
Total Other Income And Expenses Net $17,773 $57,739 $91,401 $68,155
Earnings Before Interest And Taxes ($1,062,355) ($972,628) ($1,187,292) ($1,126,321)
Interest Expense N/A N/A N/A N/A
Income Before Tax ($1,062,355) ($972,628) ($1,187,292) ($1,126,321)
Income Tax Expense N/A N/A N/A N/A
Equity Earnings Or Loss Unconsolidated Subsidiary N/A N/A N/A N/A
Minority Interest N/A N/A N/A N/A
Net Income From Continuing Operations ($1,062,355) ($972,628) ($1,187,292) ($1,193,274)
Nonrecurring Events
Discontinued Operations N/A N/A N/A N/A
Extraordinary Items N/A N/A N/A N/A
Effect Of Accounting Changes N/A N/A N/A N/A
Other Items N/A N/A N/A N/A
Net Income ($1,062,355) ($972,628) ($1,187,292) ($1,193,274)
Preferred Stock And Other Adjustments ($13,238) ($13,094) ($3,100,774) ($1,686,364)
Net Income Applicable To Common Shares ($1,075,593) ($985,722) ($4,288,066) ($2,879,638)
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Copyright
Balance Sheet Cash Flow Statement
Period Ending Sep 30, 2001 Jun 30, 2001 Mar 31, 2001 Dec 31, 2000
Current Assets
Cash And Cash Equivalents $2,348,706 $2,300,342 $3,511,506 $4,608,160
Short Term Investments $56,721 $55,967 $55,224 N/A
Net Receivables $985,428 $995,910 $530,014 $84,820
Inventory $52,634 $15,786 $15,786 $53,589
Other Current Assets $108,392 $30,948 $22,589 $19,498
Total Current Assets $3,551,881 $3,398,953 $4,135,119 $4,766,067
Long Term Assets
Long Term Investments N/A N/A N/A N/A
Property Plant And Equipment $305,712 $300,946 $304,770 $238,140
Goodwill N/A N/A N/A N/A
Intangible Assets $35,830 $45,585 $55,339 $50,676
Accumulated Amortization N/A N/A N/A N/A
Other Assets N/A N/A N/A N/A
Deferred Long Term Asset Charges N/A N/A N/A N/A
Total Assets $3,893,423 $3,745,484 $4,495,228 $5,054,883
Current Liabilities
Accounts Payable $1,954,664 $1,858,736 $1,689,464 $1,136,670
Short Term And Current Long Term Debt N/A N/A N/A N/A
Other Current Liabilities $76,944 $53,612 N/A N/A
Total Current Liabilities $2,031,608 $1,912,348 $1,689,464 $1,136,670
Long Term Debt $594,264 N/A N/A N/A
Other Liabilities N/A N/A N/A N/A
Deferred Long Term Liability Charges N/A N/A N/A N/A
Minority Interest N/A N/A N/A N/A
Negative Goodwill N/A N/A N/A N/A
Total Liabilities $2,625,872 $1,912,348 $1,689,464 $1,136,670
Stock Holders Equity
Misc Stocks Options Warrants N/A N/A N/A N/A
Redeemable Preferred Stock $822,227 $808,989 $795,895 $3,586,012
Preferred Stock N/A N/A N/A N/A
Common Stock $130,175 $130,175 $130,175 $127,288
Retained Earnings ($54,608,907) ($53,533,314) ($52,547,592) ($47,276,621)
Treasury Stock N/A N/A N/A N/A
Capital Surplus $54,924,056 $54,427,286 $54,427,286 $47,481,534
Other Stockholder Equity N/A N/A N/A N/A
Total Stockholder Equity $445,324 $1,024,147 $2,009,869 $332,201
Net Tangible Assets $409,494 $978,562 $1,954,530 $281,525
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Income Statement Balance Sheet Cash Flow Statement
Period Ending: Sep 30, 2001 Jun 30, 2001 Mar 31, 2001 Dec 31, 2000
Net Income ($1,062,355) ($972,628) ($1,187,292) ($1,193,274)
Cash Flow Operating Activities
Depreciation $40,921 $40,093 $19,601 $24,496
Adjustments To Net Income N/A ($27,208) N/A N/A
Changes in Operating Activities
Changes In Accounts Receivables $10,482 ($465,896) ($445,194) $144,312
Changes In Liabilities $119,261 $222,884 $552,794 ($41,042)
Changes In Inventories N/A N/A $37,803 ($17,450)
Changes In Other Operating Activities N/A N/A N/A N/A
Cash Flows From Operating Activities ($915,703) ($1,211,857) ($1,033,761) ($1,092,096)
Cash Flow Investing Activities
Capital Expenditures ($35,933) ($29,431) ($84,738) ($91,823)
Investments N/A $30,124 N/A N/A
Other Cashflows From Investing Activities N/A N/A ($15,000) N/A
Cash Flows From Investing Activities ($35,933) $693 ($99,738) ($134,973)
Cash Flow Financing Activities
Dividends Paid N/A N/A N/A N/A
Sale Purchase Of Stock N/A N/A $36,845 $3,768,249
Net Borrowings N/A N/A N/A N/A
Other Cashflows From Financing Activities N/A N/A N/A N/A
Cash Flows From Financing Activities N/A N/A $36,845 $3,768,249
Effect Of Exchange Rate N/A N/A N/A N/A
Change In Cash And Cash Equivalents $48,364 ($1,211,164) ($1,096,654) $2,541,180
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Wednesday December 12 2:10 PM ET
RealNetworks CEO Tells Industry to 'Stand Tall'
By Reshma Kapadia
NEW YORK (Reuters) - RealNetworks Inc. (Nasdaq:RNWK - news) Chairman and Chief Executive Rob Glaser said Wednesday that the company's business was on track to meet financial targets it outlined in October and told the battered Internet sector to ''stand tall.''
Glaser, in an interview at Internet World, would not comment further on the company's financial targets adding that he was not a fan of making mid-quarter updates, but he said the company was ``tracking its business forward.''
The company, which is best known for its RealPlayer software for playing audio and video on computers, had said in October that it did not expect results to worsen. It had also said it expected break-even to slightly positive pro forma operating earnings before interest and taxes in the fourth quarter.
Despite all the skepticism surrounding the Internet, Glaser said at a keynote speech at Internet World that the industry had to stand tall and continue with the drive, commitment and creativity that got the ball rolling in the first place.
Glaser outlined several ways to unlock the growth opportunities in the rich media business -- including building a universal system compatible with different technologies, such as RealOne, developing compelling content, as well as standards and products involving intellectual property rights management.
He also said integrating services for business clients was another growth opportunity. While it comprises only a small minority of its systems business -- which makes up half of its overall revenues -- Glaser said in the interview that the enterprise business was on a nice growth trajectory.
Glaser said in the interview that RealNetworks plans to continue to forge relationships with media companies, such as the ones it has created with companies like AOL Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:AOL - news) and Bertelsmann AG (news - web sites) (BTGGga.D) for MusicNet.
As an independent company, RealNetworks had a substantial source of leverage, he added, addressing ongoing speculation RealNetworks could be an acquisition target.
While he acknowledged that some of the recent music options have come to market later than initially expected, he said the integration time that caused the delay was well-spent.
``We were still first in the market,'' Glaser said. ``I liken (RealOne and the initial music offerings) to the original Macintosh (news - web sites). It's good enough to criticize. It does not have everything (users) want, but it is compelling.''
RealNetworks launched Web media player RealOne, a major plank in MusicNet -- its online subscription venture with several recording companies last week.
AOL introduced a test version of its music subscription service on Tuesday, with executives mirroring Glaser's comments, saying the service was not yet all it could be but a ''fabulous beginning.''
Thursday December 6, 10:00 am Eastern Time
Forbes.com
A Digital Double Take
By Arik Hesseldahl
Digital music may turn out to be one of the best things to happen to the hard-drive industry.
It wasn't long ago that firms making hard drives physically small enough to fit into a pocket, but with enough capacity to hold several gigabytes of data, were too expensive to appeal to a wider range of consumers. But companies like Creative Labs , Archos Technology and, lately, Apple Computer have brilliantly ridden the digital music-player trend by building players around those same small hard drives.
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Most players, such as those in SonicBlue 's Rio line, rely on flash memory chips to store the music. That means they have no moving parts, and the music doesn't skip if the player is suddenly moved or jarred during use. Hard-drive-based players have a spinning platter inside them, however, and so have to be built for shock resistance and with skip protection by adding flash memory as a buffer. Yet, depending on which models you compare, hard-drive-based players tend to hold more music.
The latest to join the hard-drive camp is e.Digital , which announced its Treo 10 player this week. It incorporates a 10-gigabyte hard drive, which is sufficient, the company says, to store about 3,000 songs. That may sound like a lot, but serious music collectors with huge numbers of CDs will probably never find a player that allows them to achieve that ideal notion of carrying around an entire CD collection. But it should give them a decent start.
Anyone who follows the various segments of the consumer electronics industry can't help but notice the similarity in names between this player and the forthcoming wireless handheld device--simply called Treo--from Handspring . Still, there should be little confusion in the minds of consumers. Handspring is the second-largest maker of personal digital assistants based on the Palm operating system; it sells its products through major retailers. E.Digital, on the other hand, is a small San Diego-based company that sells its products through its online store.
The Treo 10 player works with Microsoft Windows-based PCs and connects via the USB connection port. It ships with software called Music Explorer to help keep track of a massive music collection, along with a another program called MusicMatch to aid in lifting tunes from music CDs to the hard drive. E.Digital is selling the Treo 10 for about $250.
Tuesday December 4, 9:02 am Eastern Time
Press Release
SOURCE: e.Digital Corp.
New Digital Music Jukebox From e.Digital Lets Music Lovers Carry More Than 3,000 Songs
Treo(TM) 10 Combines Sleek Design with Superior Sound Quality for a Completely Portable Music Collection
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 4, 2001-- Music lovers everywhere have a new option for easily taking their entire music collection with them everywhere they go with the introduction of e.Digital Corp.'s (OTCBB:EDIG - news) Treo(TM) 10, a lightweight, pocket-sized digital music jukebox with the capacity to store approximately 200 CDs worth of music.
Source: e.Digital Corp.
The Treo 10, one of the smallest digital jukeboxes available, offers superior sound quality and more than 150 hours of music storage. The Treo 10 effectively combines excellent audio quality with an easy to use interface, while providing access to large collections of music in a small, lightweight device. The jukebox is the second branded consumer offering from e.Digital, a global provider of comprehensive digital product development and designs.
``Music lovers can enjoy their entire music collection, from ABBA to Zeppelin, wherever they go with the Treo 10,'' said Fred Falk, president and CEO of e.Digital. ``The sound quality, storage capacity, and portability of the Treo 10 make it an appealing, affordable choice for consumers.''
Made in the United States, the Treo 10 incorporates a 10 gigabyte (GB) embedded 2.5-inch hard disk drive (HDD). Based on e.Digital's patented MicroOS 2.0(TM) operating system, the Treo 10 also uses Texas Instruments' digital signal processor (DSP) and IBM's Travelstar mobile drive. IBM's Travelstar family of high-performance, high-capacity drives deliver superior capacity, performance and power efficiency for both traditional notebook and nontraditional applications, such as music players or other portable products.
``The IBM Travelstar hard drive has offered superior performance and reliability in notebook PC environments for many years, giving it a strong basis for excellence in the `beyond-PC' markets including portable music players such as e.Digital's new Treo 10,'' said Michael Kuptz, mobile product line manager, IBM Storage Technology Division.
The Treo 10 features Smart Song Selection(TM), allowing users to quickly and easily manage and navigate music files even as they are listening to their favorite selections. At 9.9 ounces including the carrying case, the brushed-aluminum Treo 10 is lightweight and has a large, easy-to-read backlit LCD display.
e.Digital's MXP(TM) Music Explorer software, shipped with the Treo 10, helps first-time users transfer and organize digital music and data files easily. MusicMatch Jukebox software is also included with the unit, making it easy for users to rip music files from their personal CD collection to their PC's hard drive and then quickly and easily download them to the device. The Music Explorer and MusicMatch software package included with every player enables consumers to create MP3 and Windows Media(TM) music files. The unit is also field upgradeable to support other popular formats and digital rights management systems as they become available.
The standard Treo 10 package retails at $249 through e.Digital's online store, www.edigital-store.com. All Treo 10 packages include Koss(TM) portable stereo earphones, an AC adaptor/charger, a mini USB interface cable, a carrying case, a rechargeable Lithium Ion battery that provides an average of six hours of playback time per charge, and easy-to-use PC software. Consumers can purchase the Treo 10 as well as other digital music players, voice recorders, and accessories at the online store.
About e.Digital
e.Digital Corp. offers an engineering partnership for the world's leading electronics companies to link portable digital devices to PCs and the Internet. e.Digital develops and markets to consumer electronics manufacturers complete end-to-end solutions for delivery and management of open and secure digital media with a focus on music players/recorders and portable digital voice recorders. Engineering services range from the licensing of e.Digital's patented MicroOS(TM) file management system to custom software and hardware development, industrial design and manufacturing services. For more information on the company, visit www.edig.com.
Safe Harbor statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform of 1995: This document contains forward-looking statements relating to future performance, technology and product development that may affect future results and the future viability of the company. Actual results could be affected or differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of risks and uncertainties, including future products and results, technological shifts, potential technical difficulties that could delay new products, competition, general economic factors, and conditions in the markets in which the company operates, pricing pressures, the uncertainty of market acceptance of new products and services by OEM's and end-user customers, and other factors identified and discussed in the company's most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements are based on information and management's expectations as of the date hereof. Future results may differ materially from the company's current expectations.
Editors Note: e.Digital and MicroOS are trademarks of e.Digital Corp. Treo is a trademark of Hy-Tek Manufacturing. Travelstar is a trademark of International Business Machines Inc. Koss is a trademark of Koss Corp. Windows Media is a trademark of Microsoft Corp. All other company, product, and service names are the property of their respective owners.
Note: A Photo is available at URL:
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/photo.cgi?pw.120401/bb4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact:
e.Digital Corp., San Diego
Robert Putnam, 858/679-1504
robert@edig.com
or
Fleishman-Hillard
Bridget Stachowski, 619/237-7717
stachowb@fleishman.com
Music rental services ready to play
By Frank Barnako, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 11:02 AM ET Nov. 30, 2001
The next generation of digital music listening services is set to take its first steps next week. Real Networks (RNWK: news, chart, profile) has been demonstrating its Real One content subscription service to reporters this week in Washington, in advance of a reported Tuesday launch. And Listen.com's Rhapsody is expected to open for business Monday. Both will charge fees for access to digital downloads of music. Real Networks spokesman David Richards describes this as a "new concept of 'rental,' " in which subscribers will have to pay regularly to have access to music they have already downloaded or new tunes they want. The Real One program will reportedly cost $9.95 a month and make available selections from three major labels -- Bertelsmann, AOL Time Warner (AOL: news, chart, profile) and EMI Group. San Francisco-based Listen.com said its service will cost $10 a month and will offer music from independent artists as well as selections from the catalog of an as-yet-unannounced label.
November 29, 2001
2 Copyright Cases Decided in Favor of Entertainment Industry
By JOHN SCHWARTZ
he entertainment industry won two closely watched cases yesterday that pit owners of copyrighted works against the people who develop technologies that can be used to copy those works.
Both cases involve challenges to a 1998 federal copyright law, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which strengthened the hand of artists and other copyright holders in order to curb piracy of music, film and other works. Critics of the law have said that it gave too much power to the industries at the expense of consumers and limited First Amendment rights of researchers.
In one case, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan ruled in favor of the Motion Picture Association of America in its lawsuit against Eric Corley and his hacking-oriented publication, 2600, over Mr. Corley's decision to publish a program that could be used to unlock the copyright protection system for DVD's. That decision affirmed an order of Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of United States District Court last year that prohibited publication of the software and even publishing online links to the software. Mr. Corley and his supporters said that the copyright act and the judge's injunction unconstitutionally restricted speech rights.
"I'm not chortling or anything," Jack Valenti, president and chief executive of the Motion Picture Association of America, said yesterday, "but I've been confident from the very start that copyright — which is in Article One, Section Eight of the Constitution itself — is indispensable to the country."
Mr. Corley said that he disagreed with the appeals court's decision, and that he would discuss the next step with his lawyers. "We have to decide what the responsible thing to do is," he said. But he added, "I'm not inclined to stop fighting this thing."
In the other case, a Federal District Court judge in Trenton dismissed a lawsuit brought by an associate professor at Princeton, Edward W. Felten; the professor had argued that the Recording Industry Association of America threatened him with lawsuits in order to keep him from presenting his research into ways that a digital copyright protection system can be broken.
The recording industry later backed down from suing Professor Felten, and so Judge Garrett E. Brown concluded yesterday that there was nothing at issue in the case.
"We are happy that the court recognized what we have been saying all along: there is no dispute here," Cary Sherman, senior executive vice president for the recording industry group, said in a statement. "Professor Felten is free to publish his findings."
Mark Lemley, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley who has followed the case closely, said yesterday, "it's not a real victory" for the industry because the case was not decided on the question of what would happen if companies carried through their threats of lawsuits.
A lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a high-technology civil liberties group, called the two decisions "a double whammy."
Cindy Cohn, the legal director for the group, said "I think we're all going to be poorer for it," because the entertainment industries can use the law to squelch innovation. "Anyone who wants to develop a new tool for us, the next VCR or the next MP3 player, will not be able to develop or promote this product unless Hollywood says it's O.K.," she said.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (Reuters) - Consumer electronics maker SONICblue Inc. (Nasdaq:SBLU - news) on Wednesday said it will ship its newest personal video recorder this week, despite a lawsuit by the major television networks alleging the device violates copyright laws.
SONICblue, of Santa Clara, California, said it will begin shipping the ReplayTV (news - web sites) 4000 digital video recorder, which allows consumers to record many hours of programs onto its hard drive, with the option to pause live programs for replay later.
In addition, consumers can skip commercials during playback of recorded programs, and some programs can be distributed to other ReplayTV 4,000 owners.
On Oct. 31, major U.S. television networks ABC, CBS, NBC and their parent companies filed suit against SONICblue, alleging the devices empower provide users ``to make perfect digital copies of the plaintiffs' copyrighted programs'' and distribute them to others through high-speed Internet connections.''
Such devices, they contend, deprive them of revenue and reduce their incentive to produce new shows.
The devices range from about $700 to $2,000, depending on the size of the hard drive, which can hold between 40 hours and 320 hours of programming.
Industry experts said the suit by Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS - news), owner of the ABC; Viacom Inc. (NYSE:VIA - news), owner of CBS; and General Electric Co.'s (NYSE:GE - news) National Broadcasting Co. Inc. (NBC), sends another shot across the bow of companies looking to exploit new digital technologies and Internet distribution.
SONICblue on Wednesday said it has reported a ``significant increase'' in orders since the lawsuits were filed. A SONICblue representative was not immediately available to comment on the size or scope of the orders.
In a statement, SONICblue Chairman and Chief Executive Ken Potashner said, ``The ReplayTV 4000 is so good the networks don't want consumers to have it. The lawsuits are another attempt by the entertainment industry to control the living room. We believe we should be thought of as a potential partner in expanding the industry, not as an adversary of content creators,'' he said.
He added that the device doesn't allow ``indiscriminate and anonymous'' file trading over the Internet, and that commercials are not deleted by the machine. Rather, consumers are given the choice of whether to watch advertisements.
Viacom spokeswoman Susan Duffy on Wednesday said the company is moving ahead with its case, seeking a permanent injunction prohibiting the sale of the device.
``We feel very strongly that this product violates copyright laws and we intend to pursue our case vigorously,'' she said.
NBC and ABC representatives were not immediately available for comment.
Shares of SONICblue rose sharply on Tuesday after the networks amended their lawsuit against the company to drop Go Video Dual Deck VCR, one of the two devices they originally alleged violated copyright laws.
On Wednesday, SONICblue shares rose 12 cents, or about 5 percent, to $2.40, its highest level since late August. While the stock has recovered from a low of 81 cents, which it touched last month, it is still significantly below its 52-week high of $8.75.
DAILY BRIEFING -- For Memory Chips, a Time to Forget
Tuesday November 13, 10:41 am Eastern Time
BusinessWeek Online
Daily Briefing: NEWS ANALYSIS
By Olga Kharif in Portland, Ore.
Semiconductor companies have all gotten whacked this year, but none harder than producers of memory chips. Prices of dynamic random-access memory [DRAM] chips, used to store data on personal computers, fell 80% in 2001, vs. a falloff of only about one-third for the overall chip market. With memory chips now often selling below cost, Boise [Idaho]-based Micron Technology, the only major U.S. memory-chip producer, recorded a net loss of $521 million for fiscal 2001 ended Aug. 30 -- a huge downturn, considering the company earned $1.55 billion the year before.
The bad news continues for the memory industry, which will account for about 20% of the $134 billion global semiconductor business this year. Memory prices will likely stay in their downward spiral well into 2002, analysts say. Blame slowing consumer and business spending -- and the recent government-backed bailout of South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor, the world's No. 3 memory maker, which ruined hopes that worldwide production would be cut [see BW, 10/1/01, ``Hynix May Be Down to Its Last Chip''].
In addition, startups in China are adding to the overproduction by continuing to ramp up output, flooding the market with cheap memory. Some chips have as much as a 30% oversupply, estimates Eric Rothdeutsch, analyst with investment bank Robertson Stephens.
HEMORRHAGING CASH. For DRAM makers, which represent the largest portion of the memory market, doing business is ``like bleeding to death,'' says Jim Cantore, memory analyst with electronic components consultancy iSuppli. The more chips the companies sell, the more money they lose. One gigabit of DRAM, which retailed for $20 at the beginning of 2001, now sells for $1.50 -- and costs nearly $2 to produce. Prices of flash-memory chips, which are used to keep photos and digital music, and static random-access memory [SRAM], which is used in cell phones, networks, and computers, have fallen by as much as 50%, as well.
Why do companies keep selling at such a loss? It's that or pull out of the business. The next year will probably determine which companies can stay in the game and which can't. ``Ultimately, somebody has got to run out of money,'' explains Cantore. The DRAM market will reach only $11 billion in 2001, according to consultants IC Insights, down 67% from 2000. And DRAM makers are already playing Survivor. In the semiconductor version of the popular TV show, it's about time to vote the extra players out of the market, analysts figure.
The major DRAM makers today include Micron, Samsung Semiconductor, Hynix, Infineon Technologies (NYSE:IFX - news), and Toshiba, among others. But only one or two of the majors are likely to remain in the market after next year, with the rest being gobbled up or pushed out of the business, predicted Bill McLean, president of IC Insights, at a Nov. 5 industry gathering in Portland, Ore. Most analysts believe that today's memory leaders Samsung Semiconductor and Micron will be the only ones to stay in this field.
RESHUFFLING THE PLAYERS. Already, Toshiba is said to be in talks to sell its DRAM operation to Infineon. Hynix, revived for now by a fresh infusion of cash from a Korean bank closely associated with the Korean government, could fold within a year unless the company gets more funds, believes Charles Boucher, analyst with investment bank Bear Stearns. To the contrary, says a Hynix spokesperson: ``It will be someone else who drops out.''
Micron and Samsung will likely gain a few percentage points in DRAM market share, believes Brian Matas, analyst at IC Insights. In the more stable flash-memory market, dominated by Intel (NasdaqNM:INTC), STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM - news) is gaining market share, says Rothdeutsch.
The next year could bring about a major market-share reshuffle. And these changes will be as good as permanent if the market recovers in the fourth quarter of 2002, as analysts predict. The introduction of new cell phones and the spread of Microsoft's new operating system, Windows XP, in the first half of 2002 will kick off another wave of demand for memory, says Matas. And those companies that stay in the game will benefit from the extra revenues when the good times roll, says Matas. Displacing them will be hard, as these memory makers would have the resources and the customers to push smaller entrants out of the way.
HIKING OUTPUT. The long-suffering DRAM market will likely recover before other chip sectors, believes Cantore. Flash and SRAM will follow, though SRAM will remain flat through 2005, as companies often replace it with less expensive, alternative technologies, says Steve Cullen, analyst with the tech consulting firm IDC. Flash memory, though sales won't double each year as they did earlier, will show the fastest growth in the years to come, he says.
Little surprise, then, that many memory makers are increasing production of flash chips. Samsung, for instance, will increase its production of certain types of flash memory by as much as 150% next year, says Dieter Mackowiak, the company's senior vice-president for sales and marketing.
For now, however, other indications of an impending turnaround are scarce. Sales of PCs, which consume 85% of DRAM memory chips, have been falling. Worldwide PC shipments dropped 13.7% in the third quarter of 2001 vs. that period last year, according to IDC. Moreover, ``the amount of memory required for applications hasn't risen,'' says Cantore. ``We've reached the plateau where getting more memory is not going to change the performance of the machine.'' And cash-strapped telecom companies, big users of SRAM chips, are projected to spend even less next year than in horrible 2001.
OVERPRICED? ``We don't see that the business is going to recover in the next 12 months,'' says Samsung's Mackowiak. Analysts are more optimistic, but they recommend caution when it comes to investing in these companies. ``The memory companies are stuck in the worst downturn in their history,'' says Boucher of Bear Stearns. ``The stocks don't [yet] reflect that.''
He believes that, even now, most memory stocks trade at a 50% to 100% premium. Thus, Micron, trading around $24.50, should be trading below $16, he contends. With that kind of pessimism, the deep troubles in the memory-chip market don't appear to be anywhere near over.