LOUD Loudeye and Microsoft Join Forces to Enable Rapid Deployment Of Third-Party Cust
mized Digital Music Services
AT&T Wireless and Gibson Audio Are First Customers to Embrace Loudeye's
Digital Music Solutions Using Windows Media 9 Series
SEATTLE and REDMOND, Wash., Dec. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Loudeye
Corp., a leader in managing, promoting and distributing digital media, and
Microsoft Corp. today announced they are working together to enable businesses
to rapidly and cost-effectively deploy their own branded digital music
services and stores. The two companies will promote the adoption of Loudeye's
new digital music solutions, which are built on the Microsoft(R) Windows
Media(R) 9 Series platform and which make it possible for other companies to
create and launch their own digital music stores and services for a
significantly reduced upfront financial investment. Initial customers of
Loudeye digital music solutions using Windows Media 9 Series include AT&T
Wireless and Gibson Audio, a new consumer electronics division of Gibson
Guitar Corp.
Loudeye's new digital music solutions, which launched today, include two
new services based on Windows Media 9 Series that will enable companies to
quickly and inexpensively launch a digital music store and/or Internet radio
service under their own brand.
The Loudeye Digital Music Store is a complete, end-to-end digital music
store solution designed for companies looking to rapidly and cost-effectively
deliver their own branded digital music stores. The Loudeye Digital Music
Store can be rapidly integrated with customers' existing technology, branding
and infrastructure, reducing their time to market for a fully operational
digital music business. In addition, for companies looking to deliver premium
radio services under their own brand, the Loudeye iRadio Service offers 100
channels of preprogrammed music that can be delivered to Internet-connected
devices supporting Windows Media 9 Series and Windows Media Digital Rights
Management (DRM).
Through its built-in support for Windows Media 9 Series, the Loudeye
Digital Music Store and iRadio solutions enable companies to deliver
high-quality consumer experiences for their digital music services. This
support includes high-quality audio and video via Windows Media Audio and
Video 9 Series, and reaches to more than 40 portable devices that support
Windows Media DRM today, and Fast Streaming to enable a virtually instant-on,
always-on streaming experience for broadband users.
"Loudeye's new and innovative Digital Music Store and iRadio solutions
open the doors for those companies that want to deploy high-quality digital
music experiences for their customers under their own brand in a fast and
economical way," said Dave Fester, general manager of the Windows(R) Digital
Media Division at Microsoft. "Loudeye is a leader in the industry, recognized
for its ability to provide high-quality, customized solutions for digital
media, so Loudeye was a natural choice for us to work closely with in this
important area."
"This initiative fills an important niche in the marketplace for companies
looking to add a branded digital music offering to their existing customer
relationship but that lack the technical expertise and service capability
needed to bring an offering cost-effectively to the digital music space," said
Anthony Bay, chairman of Loudeye. "Through its outsourced design, this model
implants Loudeye within the value chain to capitalize on the burgeoning
digital media segment as it spreads to new industries and business models."
"The flexibility and richness of Windows Media 9 Series makes it possible
for Loudeye to deliver on the promise of digital media for almost any company
that wishes to participate in this emerging space," said Jeff Cavins,
president and chief executive officer of Loudeye. "Our customers are excited
about our work with Microsoft."
Next year, AT&T Wireless plans to be the first wireless carrier in North
America to introduce a compelling mobile music offering utilizing Loudeye
services and the Windows Media 9 Series platform. The company plans to
integrate the online music store experience with all of AT&T Wireless'
mMode(TM) capable phones, including the Motorola MPX200 Smartphone, enabling
mobile users to discover and purchase music ranging from ring tones to full-
length songs.
"As technologies advance and converge, the wireless phone will become the
next major platform for music content delivery, and AT&T Wireless will be at
the forefront of this transformation," said John Bunyan, senior vice president
of consumer data offers at AT&T Wireless. "Working with industry leaders like
Loudeye and Microsoft, we will ensure it's easy and fun for customers to
discover, experience, share and buy music while on the move."
The Wurltizer Digital Jukebox, which today won "Best of Audio" in the CES
2004 Innovations Awards, is a perfect example of the power that Loudeye and
Microsoft together can bring to cutting-edge digital music products. The
Wurlitzer Digital Jukebox allows the user to store up to 1,000 CDs in digital
format, and then control that music from a wireless touch-screen remote with a
remarkably elegant and simple user interface. But unlike other dedicated
digital music players, the Wurlitzer Digital Jukebox also gives the user
access to 100 channels of digital radio as well as a complete download store,
both of which are hosted by Loudeye.
"Because Gibson is new to consumer electronics, we wanted to make a
statement by designing the most comprehensive digital music solution on the
market, which for us meant including a powerful digital music service," said
Kris Carter, president of Gibson Audio. "Loudeye gave us the ability to give
the Wurlitzer Digital Jukebox a full-featured digital music service in a
fraction of the time, and at a fraction of the cost, it would have taken to
develop ourselves."
About Loudeye Corp.
Founded in 1997, Loudeye (Nasdaq "LOUD") provides the business
infrastructure and services for managing, promoting and distributing digital
media for the entertainment and corporate markets. More information is
available at loudeye.com.
About Windows Media
Windows Media is the leading digital media platform, used by consumers,
content providers, solution providers, software developers and corporations
throughout the world. The Windows Media 9 Series platform includes Windows
Media Player 9 Series; Windows Media Services 9 Series, the powerful streaming
server feature in Windows Server(TM) 2003 for distributing content; Windows
Media Encoder 9 Series for content creation; Windows Media Audio and Video 9
Series for the best-quality audio and video; Windows Media Digital Rights
Management to help protect content; and the Windows Media Software Development
Kit for software developers to develop digital media products and services.
Windows Media Player, available in 26 languages, is now the leading media
player. More information about Windows Media can be found at
microsoft.com.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in
software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business
computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed
to empower people through great software -- any time, any place and on any
device.
Microsoft, Windows Media, Windows and Windows Server are either registered
trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other
countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be
the trademarks of their respective owners.
SOURCE Microsoft Corp.
-0- 12/15/2003
/NOTE TO EDITORS: If you are interested in viewing additional information
on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at
microsoft.com on Microsoft's corporate information
pages. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of
publication, but may since have changed. For additional assistance,
journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft's Rapid Response Team or other
appropriate contacts listed at
microsoft.com
/CONTACT: Wayne Hickey of Rogers & Cowan, +1-425-452-5481, or
whickey@webershandwick.com, for Microsoft; or Karen DeMarco of mPRm,
+1-323-933-3399, or kdemarco@mprm.com, for Loudeye/
/Photo: NewsCom: newscom.com
AP Archive: photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com/
/Web site: loudeye.com /
/Web site: microsoft.com /
(MSFT LOUD)
CO: Microsoft Corp.; Loudeye Corp.; Gibson Guitar Corp.; AT&T Wireless
ST: Washington
IN: CPR CSE ITE MLM PEL
SU: LIC PDT
*** end of story *** |
