e.Digital Corporation (fka EDIG)

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Fujitsu-Eclipse Commander CD5442 now on Eclipse site.

http://www.eclipse-web.com/

Hit products at top, then Eclipes Commander, then pull up the CD5442. This is the one that Wolfpackvoltare indicated from CES in January that e.Digital is involved with. See Wolfpack's post below from January. The CD5442 has just appeared on the Eclipse site as a new product.


Wolfpackvoltare's CES report:

By: wolfpackvoltare $$$$$
12 Jan 2002, 04:59 PM EST Msg. 880327 of 880327

Wolfpackvoltare's CES report.

There is but one word that would sum up the CES show, “Wow.” After reading my e-mail, upon my return, I noticed that a lot of news I had to report was already out, but I will report what I saw and heard on the floor anyway. I will break this down by company, products, and/or persons.

CES SHOW IN GENERAL:

Upon arrival at the CES show I was amazed at the size (1.2 mil sq.ft) and scope this show represented to exhibitors, manufactures, OEM's and to the general public. Never have I seen more presidents, VP’s, CEO's, COO's, CFO's, in one area at the same time. You must put things in perspective because of the size and/or world markets this represents. Everything you could think of in consumer electronics was there. The highlights of the show was HDTV, car audio, portable phones, MP3 players, recording devices, XM satellites radios, digital cameras and all the accessories related to those items. Even though this was a show and tell, all the big work was being done behind closed doors in suites and conference rooms where most of the products were showed and contracts were signed.

INTERVIEW WITH ROBERT PUTNAM:

Robert Putnam was at the e.Digital’s exhibitors booth where I had a lengthy conversation with him. Robert showed me three new items I have never seen before. One was the Eclipse radio, a Renegade music player with six different colored face plates (very cool), and a reference product Auto J-Box. I tried to get some numbers from him on the sales of the E-Store products, but he would only say that they have sold more than what was expected within the short time they have been on the market. I also asked him what they meant by collaboration in the PR with Fujitsu, his response was, “Fujitsu wanted that wording because they did not want to tip their hand to their competition.” Robert also showed me a DataPlay disk at 500 mg and said, "The 1 gig version will be out shortly and a higher 6.5 gig later." I asked about content and Robert said, "It would be up to the major record labels and how much they felt comfortable about copying CD’s from new releases." He also went on to say, "This may just backfire on the labels depending on the outcry from the government and/or consumers and the bigger the outcry the more they will rely on DataPlay." I also asked Robert at last years CES, was the DataPlay orbit running on flash or the DataPlay disk. He said, "It was 100% off the DataPlay disk."
e.Digital’s total focus is now on voice navigation where all products will be interfaced with this new technology. According to Robert, the Eclipse inside is powered by e.Digital using the Fujitsu casing (more on this later). I asked about video and Robert said, "This will be very important once they get a better LCD screen and get the cost down to the point where people could afford it." About the OEM’s on board, Robert said, “A lot of them dropped out because of the 9/11 incident but will come back after they see the numbers of players being sold during Christmas.” Jim Collier, COO, was the one that put together the E-Store products and was launched in just 5-months. Amastar is the manufacturer for the Treo 10 in San Diego with full production being done overseas. He also made the remark that e.Digital’s future relies mainly on the OEM's ability to get e.Digital’s name out. On the Fujitsu, PR that came out earlier, Robert said, “They were all at the show and no one with authority was at e.Digital when the Web Master posted the PR in the secure site and was hacked by someone before it could be reviewed by management." They pulled the pre-release PR off and then changed the password to the web site.

EVOLUTION MUSIC PLAYER:

At the Evolution booth was the MTV-DataPlay music player and powered by e.Digital. I especially liked the look and feel plus the MTV logo on the player. This is a three-in-one device, a traditional portable player, DataPlay burner capable of reading and writing, plus being an external PC storage drive. They all knew e.Digital and said, “e.Digital was helping them get the product out by March.” They also had a motion picture player using DataPlay disks that they were showing to customers.

IMATION CORP:

Imation Corp., the manufacturer of DataPlay disks, was the key company showcasing DataPlay. They had signs with the DataPlay logo everywhere and even outside as you entered the main gate. They were showcasing four e.Digital designs under a separate glass dome with the logo powered by e.Digital. This were the only music players I noticed. The DataPlay disks are very cool looking with different colors and a price tag of $10.00 per 500 mg disk and will come pre-recorded from the major record labels.

DATAPLAY:

These are some of the features MicroOS 2.0 based compressed audio manager music play/recorder applications for DataPlay.

Intuitive user interface, music navigation (through key pad) navigate while listening to music, VoiceNav (navigate by voice), voice recognition module, codec manager, decoder/encoder, audio affects, DRM manager, secure firmware upgrades, DataPlay USB drive class driver, content key (including certicom security builder and AES encryption), supports Win95, 98, 00, NT, XP, encode CD’s download from the web or download to device (Q-design, Samsung, or others), IFS support for standard windows applications, DSP scheduling, real time clock, power management, Fat 32 file system, DataPlay file system.

MicroOS 2.0 kernel-interfaced to hardware.

LCD driver, keypad driver, ADC/DAC drivers, DRAM/ flash drivers, DataPlay drivers, USB port, Microsoft USB driver, USB class driver.

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS:

Texas Instruments was showcasing three e.Digital products, the MXP 100, Treo 10, and the Evolution/MTV music player, with the powered by e.Digital sign next to the display. Texas Instruments was really pushing HDTV and their digital auto processors (DAP).

FUJITSU TEN:

The Eclipse was the highlight of the CES show. They had a large center booth with a car that would knock your socks off with the sound that it would put out. The audio must have been worth more than the car itself. I counted at least fifteen representatives in the Eclipse booth. In a stand alone display, approximately 9-ft. high, three sided, and right in front of the Eclipse booth, was the e.Digital Eclipse powered by e.Digital product number CD5442 that also has global positioning, voice navigation, and was Bluetooth enabled. I talked to one representative, and I guess I was to technical, so he referred me to an engineer who was working with the e.Digital’s design. As he was explaining all of the features, I noticed that the voice navigation board on display was made by Pronounced Technologies (no Lucent here) and was the key component to the Eclipse commander that was total hands free with voice command that would integrate all functions of your car, lights, locks, air conditioner, radio, global positioning, and most other functions for your car. Most Eclipse radios come with an E-COM button that you push to talk with the unit, so all Eclipse models with this E-COM functions will have e.Digital inside, which is just about every Eclipse unit out there. Another feature that e.Digital has in the unit, was a WriteBack (patent pending from e.Digital) capabilities, where a five minute buffer will store music or information that you could retrieve. Let’s say you hear a song from a satellite radio station, you would be able to record that song on your 10 gig storage Eclipse radio immediately. Did I say 10 gig? This will also have a 20, 40, 80 gig of storage. This unit by Fujitsu Ten and e.Digital is the newest and the most advanced system they have developed together for the after market audio systems (Can you say Toyota?). e.Digital is also supplying the software and the Bluetooth technology to this unit. I remember back in 1999 at the shareholders meeting when I asked if e.Digital was working with Bluetooth and Fred's comment was, “Atul Anandpura (VP, of Research and Development) would be in charge of that.” Now, e.Digital products are Bluetooth enabled. You will be able to download to your car, music, or other information from your PC, as your car sits in the driveway.

AUTO J-BOX:

The Auto J-Box is an elegant and user-friendly synthesis of the latest in both digital music and wireless communication. Powered by e.Digital technology, it is designed to seamlessly integrate the HDD-based digital jukebox into an automobile environment, revolutionizing the world of car audio. Supporting both MP3 and Windows Media content, it is capable of real-time ripping in both encoding format eliminating the need for a computer interface. This is the first system to feature post-signal WriteBack capabilities allowing for music and/or information capture up to five minutes after its signal has been received where you can audition your music before you save it! WriteBack technology is capable of capturing content from CD’s, AM, FM, and XM radio, and almost any other source, record audio, video, and even driving directions. The Auto J-Box also communicates with computers though a USB interface and will feature wireless support by mid 2002 allowing hassle-free uploading of the new content from your computer as your car is parked in the driveway. The system features VoiceNav, allowing you to navigate your media content with the power of your voice, leaving your hands free to focus on driving.

CONCLUSION:

e.Digital’s business plan will have to be updated every ninety days just to keep up with the change of direction their technology is taking them. Voice navigation, voice recognition, MicroOS 1, 2, 3, music players and radios, are changing the way you and I will communicate in the future. e.Digital designs and engineering skills are at the forefront in their respective fields. You should not worry about the day to day stock price fluctuations but worry more about whether or not you have enough shares to count. After seeing CES, I'm more confident in e.Digital than at anytime in the past.

Sorry if this was too long, I did a Longtooth on you guys.