Hi Gary & thread,
Boy, it's quiet here. Thought you might be interested in some potentially interesting news about one of our portfolio companies, DataPlay. This one is a long shot, but Dataplay is making a move to become the secure, rights protected format of choice for music (and video?). Any thoughts?
Cheers,
Thomas
dailynews.yahoo.com
Excerpt:
The new media can hold up to 11 hours worth of MP3s or nearly a dozen prerecorded albums with a 500 MB capacity for each disc, according to reports. Consumers will need to buy new devices, projected to cost between US$199 and $299, to play the audio discs, say sources.
The new discs -- both blank and prerecorded -- are expected to be released this fall, say DataPlay officials. Blank discs should cost between $5 and $10, with prerecorded prices on a par with CDs.
Samsung, Toshiba and SONICblue (Nasdaq: SBLU - news), which makes the Diamond Rio MP3 player, are developing devices using DataPlay's discs.
Music Labels Partner
Music labels Vivendi Universal (NYSE: V - news), EMI and BMG are partners with DataPlay.
"We are pleased to see InterTrust and DataPlay working together to create a flexible specification for delivering our artists' music and enhanced content," said Albhy Galuten, senior vice president of Universal Music Group's eLabs.
InterTrust announced on July 23rd that it would extend its rights management software to portable devices. Other players in the digital rights management arena, such as Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT - news), remain bound to the PC, according to published reports. |
