e.Digital Corporation (fka EDIG)

[emit]

Clear As A bell to me me me ----

RioPort Sees 'Portability' Pacts With 5 Major Music Labels
By Dick Kelsey, Newsbytes
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A,
28 Jan 2002, 12:02 PM CST

In the first of what it promises will be a series of similar agreements, digital audio firm RioPort has sealed a music subscription deal with the major label BMG that will allow uploading of songs to portable devices, the companies said today.
Claiming to be the first to nail down a major-label music subscription license that includes portability, RioPort said it plans to launch the service – PulseOne – with the Bertelsmann-owned BMG by the end of March.

RioPort also expects to introduce subscription distribution agreements with the other four major recording companies in a matter of weeks, Jim Long, president and CEO of RioPort, told Newsbytes.

"It makes no sense to launch a user service that doesn't include portability," he said. "The agreement with Bertelsmann reflects what we think makes sense for consumers. A big part of that is portability, and we believe all the labels believe that as well."

The company is working out final details of agreements with the other labels, Long said.

The feature gives subscribers the power to transfer songs to portable players, cellular phones, set-top boxes, car stereos and other devices.

"We made a decision early on that we wouldn't launch our online subscription service until we had all of these critical components in place," Long said, because non-portability makes music subscriptions far less attractive to consumers.

"I sort of liken it to buying a sports car but you can only drive it within two blocks of your house," he said.

More than 22,000 BMG tracks are expected to be available through the service at launch, RioPort said, and more will be added later.

RioPort said its direct-to-device (d2d) technology enables play of downloaded subscription songs on portable devices while sticking by content usage rules. Music subscriptions limit the number of downloads, count how many times songs are played and cuts off access when usage privileges expire.

Portability is considered a factor in the slow take-off music subscription services, Jupiter Research digital entertainment analyst Aram Sinnreich told Newsbytes earlier this month.

The big obstacles, however, were the slow economy and delayed launches of subscription services, Jupiter said Jan. 15 when it pulled back its prediction for online music sales.

The research company now foresees $5.5 billion in online music sales by 2006, up from $900 million last year and $650 million in 2000, but considerably less than the $6.2 billion it forecast in July 2001.

The launch dates of Pressplay and MusicNet - both backed by the major labels - were originally set for last fall but did not debut until December. Though Pressplay allows the burning of a limited number of songs to CD, neither allows songs to be uploaded to portable players.

Sinnreich also cited slower broadband adoption, lower overall purchase value by online shoppers, and a "contracting" music industry for lowering its sales outlook.

Still, Sinnreich said, digital music subscriptions could be the saving grace for a stumbling recording industry.

"The key to unlocking this market will be remixing the distribution chain," a Jupiter statement said, "taking advantage of digital media's fluidity to allow labels, music sellers and technology companies to focus on what they do best."

Newsbytes reporter Kevin Featherly contributed to this story.

RioPort is on the Web at http://www.rioport.com

Reported by Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com

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MTV Gets Down With Downloads
by Brad King

12:20 p.m. April 4, 2001 PDT

Music television is about to expand to the Internet, as all five major labels announce a new retail service that will allow consumers to purchase digital downloads through MTV's online network.

The downloads will initially be sold through the MTV Radio and VH1 At Work streaming stations, which use Rioport's Pulse One Media Services delivery system.

When listeners hear a song they want to purchase, they can click on a buy button and immediately purchase a secure download.

MTVi CEO Nicholas Butterworth said the service would eventually be fully integrated with MTV, giving viewers the ability to watch and interact with their favorite music.

"Our expectation is that by the end of this year, about 50 percent of the music played on the music channels on television will be instantly available for download," Butterworth said. "We certainly expect it won't be long before seeing a video on TV is a promise that you can purchase a secure download."

The service is currently offered only through MTVi. Rioport CEO Jim Long said other retailers would be added to the distribution system throughout the year.

Wednesday's deal instantly catapults MTV into the retail market, just one day after traditional merchants like Tower Records accused the recording industry of squeezing them out of the download market.

"MTV is now becoming a powerful retailer," said Webnoize analyst Ric Dube. "We know that retailers are only going to tolerate so much, and it's getting worse and worse. This is just another strike against the established retailers."

Despite the clash that appears to be brewing between the record labels and the traditional retailers, MTV could offers consumers an integrated music service that few online or offline retailers can match. With the powerful brand name and popular television shows like its daily video countdown show TRL, the music television network might have found the perfect fit for an integrated music service.

"If MTV is smart, this is going to evolve into the TRL music club," Dube said. "People will pay a subscription fee to get all the TRL music that they want, and kids can get all the access to (TRL host) Carson Daly that they want.

"Then, they are going to plug song-specific MTV radio stations on their shows, and when you're listening to that song on their radio, if it's available for download, you can then purchase the song."

Dube said creating such a service would still be difficult, as licensing issues would need to be worked out. But the brand the company is developing and subscription-based service work.

The service will initially have 10,000 tracks available, with singles selling for $1.99 and albums selling for $18.98. Consumers will have a variety of rights in terms of how they get to transport the music, depending on which label the music comes from. While not discussing specific details, Long said consumers would be able to move their files between devices and retrieve copies of music that might have been inadvertently lost or deleted.

Long did say that users wouldn't necessarily be able to burn CDs after purchasing music. Each label has its own policy for that.

While the price seems high for music that is delivered digitally and comes with some restrictions on use, one record label executive said that maintaining a retail price structure was important in clearing licenses.

"The idea that the music doesn't have value when it's taken off the disk is wrong; the art form is the music," said Ted Cohen, EMI's vice president of new media. "Whether it's a download, bought in a store, or burned, we see that the value is in the music.

"It makes it more complex to go to an artist and tell them that they are going to get less money because they are selling the tracks digitally."

Downloaded tracks will be available primarily wrapped in security from either InterTrust or Microsoft, the two leading developers of digital rights management technologies. However, Rioport's Long said the labels would each decide on their own what kinds of securities would be attached to the service.

Long said the new service would thrive despite the existence of Napster because of the consumer experience.

"When you have a business model like Napster, when you aren't making money, you can't really put any money into developing business models," Long said. "When you talk to folks involved in swapping, people are very dissatisfied with some of their transactions."

On Tuesday, Realnetworks' MusicNet subscription service executives said they would work with the controversial file-trading company once security protocols were put in place -- an emerging trend from online music companies. Cohen followed suit, saying that while he doubted Napster would change, he hoped that MTV's service would be integrated with Napster.

"Why would we want to freeze out anybody who has been stealing our music?" Cohen said. "I've tried to work with them on creating a business model before I came to EMI, and I finally had to stop working with them. But we want them to embrace our view of how to sell music."

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April 4, 2001 - In a Landmark digital-music announcement today, the MTV music network said that it had forged the first agreement that licenses music from all five major record labels for download off the Internet. http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=EDIG&read=654745
http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=EDIG&read=649488

April 5, 2001 - Yahoo! and Duet Announce an Alliance to Present and
Market the On-Demand Music Subscription Service Created
by Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group.
http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=EDIG&read=655253

June 5, 2001- -RioPort, & BestBuy - the leading music application service provider (ASP), today announced that it will distribute commercial music downloads to BestBuy.com(TM), the wholly-owned subsidiary of Best Buy Co., Inc. the nation's number one specialty retailer of
consumer electronics. http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=EDIG&read=689931
January 6, 2000 – E.DIGITAL AND RIOPORT, INC. COLLABORATE [/B] TO DEVELOP SEAMLESS, SECURE INTERNET MUSIC DELIVERY SYSTEM.
http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=EDIG&read=68993

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Note bold.

MXP-100 Features:
Superior quality Multi-Codec Digital Music Player for playback of MP3 and Windows Media™ files (field upgradeable for additional codec support and firmware updates)
Digital voice recording and playback capabilities
Easy file search and navigation with VoiceNav™ speech recognition user interface
Robust storage capacity supported by IBM Microdrive™ (340 MB, 512 MB or 1GB), or SanDisk-compatible CompactFlash™ Cards.
Li-Ion battery capable of playing for over 12 hours with a single charge
Universal Fast Charger capable of fully replenishing battery life in under 3 hours
Compact, user-friendly design
Easily connected to home audio system with line-out adjustable setting
Ships with MusicMatch Jukebox Software and e.Digital Music Explorer™ software for voice and music file management
Internal Real-Time clock to time stamp voice messages
Firmware upgradeable to future time bound secure music subscription services
180-day limited warranty*

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From Todays edig PR - 1-31-02

"The re-organization of the company into business units with separate profit and loss responsibilities will provide better focus on business objectives, greater management accountability, more efficient allocation of engineering and technology resources, rapid penetration into evolving markets, and the ability to grow revenues on a nonlinear scale. We will establish additional business units for royalty/license/subscription fees, automotive telematics, and fulfillment services throughout this year. We are also evaluating other business areas that will leverage our growth into new markets. Our company has a wealth of opportunities before us and we are assembling a top notch management team to take full advantage of them."

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For Visionaries Only - Portability on its way.

http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=EDIG&read=816979

Easy creation of personal playlists and custom CDs and easy
transfer of music to select portable MP3 players and compact
flash cards
http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=EDIG&read=816927

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