SunnComm Delivers Technology that Protects and Enhances Music Delivered by Self-Service Kiosks
PHOENIX, Nov 18, 2004 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- SunnComm International, Inc. (SCMI), advances its leadership position in digital content security and enhancement for optical media by announcing today that it has designed technology intended to limit the copying of CDs dispensed from self-service kiosks. Kiosks are taking the consumer market by storm. It is expected that the purchase of popular music mixed onto audio CDs could drive more retail customers to self-service kiosks than any other product sold by the self-service machines. Industry experts, IHL Consulting Group, reports that $128 billion was spent by North American consumers in 2003 on all consumer kiosk transactions. IHL Consulting further projects that continued growth from consumer demand will approach $1.3 trillion by 2007.
"Self-service kiosks are popping up everywhere, and the deployment of these systems is expected to grow significantly over the next several years offering a whole new entertainment venue for consumers," says Bill Whitmore, president and chief executive officer of QuietTiger, Inc. (QTIG). QuietTiger is the exclusive sales and marketing arm for SunnComm's technology. He continued, "The integration of the MediaMax technology within the kiosk systems is a significant advancement in preventing music from being copied again and again and again."
Peter Jacobs, CEO of SunnComm International, commented, "The kiosk systems enable customers to access digital content on the spot and to create a custom audio CD just like the one found on store shelves." The MediaMax SecureBurn platform will be utilized to create the custom album and will inhibit the content from unauthorized duplication while providing substantial additional marketing opportunities."
The Perfect Placement(TM) banner advertising feature created by SunnComm will allow retailers to promote themselves directly on the very CD-Rs they are sending home with music buyers. When inserted into a PC or MAC, interactive banners appear throughout the user interface. This sales component is an excellent vehicle for presenting in-store promotions as well as special offers or information. Since the banners are controlled remotely when an Internet connection is available, they can be easily changed from time to time.
"With the introduction of On-the-Fly encoding(TM), SunnComm can shift the process of managing the content on music CDs from the mastering studio, authoring facilities and CD manufacturing plants right into a kiosk," declared SunnComm's CTO, Eric Vandewater. "We are basically compressing many man-hours of mastering, second session authoring, manufacturing and quality control into a single transaction at a dedicated machine that is completed in minutes instead of days."
SunnComm's MediaMax suite of products delivers security for digital CD audio along with an enhanced consumer experience that provides additional bonus content and value-added features available in a user-friendly multi-media session that is mastered directly on the audio CD and accessible using a personal computer. Bonus features include on-board press kits, artist-related promotions, videos, song lyrics, artist bio page, photo gallery, web links and tune-sharing capability through SunnComm's MusicMail(TM) functionality. MusicMail or TuneShare is an interface for the legal authorized sharing of selected song tracks with friends & family for a pre-determined number of days or plays. CD buyers can share music legitimately without illegal file sharing networks and without tying up their email system with huge files. This is a powerful word-of-mouth marketing tool for the record labels. Metrics associated with forwarded MusicMail files are available to SunnComm's record label customers on a 24/7/365 basis.
