e.Digital Corp. and Liquid Audio Sign Licensing Agreement
Business Editors
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 20, 1999--e.Digital Corp.
(OTCBB:EDIG) announced today that it has signed an agreement to
license Liquid Audio's (Nasdaq:LQID) secure portable player platform
(SP3) for use in its secure Internet music player design which
features e.Digital's MicroOS(TM) operating system, DSP technology from
Texas Instruments (NYSE:TXN), and the Lucent Technologies (NYSE:LU)
EPAC music codec.
SP3 is a comprehensive software solution for building
interoperable, secure, portable music devices. SP3-based devices
deliver an improved consumer experience and support the playback of
music in many leading formats. The design will be provided to OEM
manufacturers as the basis of their branded, secure music players.
Fred Falk, president and chief executive officer of e.Digital,
stated, "e.Digital and its technology partners are developing the
first non-MP3 Internet music player and this agreement with Liquid
Audio further strengthens our position as the next-generation device
for downloadable music. The addition of Liquid Audio's security
measures help ensure that our SDMI-compliant player will support all
secure music formats. The consumer will enjoy the entire experience of
downloading and playing music, and the artists and retailers will
enjoy adequate and thorough protection from music piracy every step of
the way." He continued, "e.Digital and Liquid Audio, along with Lucent
and Texas Instruments, have been very closely involved in the SDMI,
and have combined products and leveraged their strengths in various
technologies to create a complete, secure portable design."
Liquid Audio is a leading provider of services and software for
the digital delivery of music over the Internet. Liquid Audio's
software, including SP3, enables record labels and music retailers to
safely leverage the Internet to promote and sell music to consumers
downloading high-quality music and enjoying it in secure portable
music players. Together Liquid Audio and e.Digital are creating the
first design that meets the requirements of both consumers and the
music industry-it supports many leading music formats and enables
interoperability among a range of music devices.
Gary Johnson, DSP Audio Manager at Texas Instruments, and a
founding member of SDMI, said, "TI is truly excited about the
collaboration between e.Digital and Liquid Audio to create a secure
portable digital music system for use with TI's DSP. TI offers the
ideal low-power, high-performance DSP that efficiently supports all
compression and security software of manufacturers and technology
providers, such as e.Digital and Liquid Audio."
The device design will meet all the industry standard guidelines
established by the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) to stop the
unauthorized copying and downloading of music off the Internet by
building security measures such as encryption and decryption into
compact discs, electronic music distribution (EMD) systems, personal
computer hosts and portable players.
Liquid Audio's SP3 software is an openly-licensable solution that
improves the consumer experience and enables interoperability among
secure portable music devices. Users of the design will also be able
to take advantage of Liquid Audio's Liquid Player software to manage
their downloaded music collections, prepare play lists and transfer
music to CD-Rom.
e.Digital Corp. offers an engineering partnership for the world's
leading electronics companies to link portable digital devices to PCs
and the Internet. Engineering services range from the licensing of
e.Digital's multi-patented MicroOS(TM) file management system to
custom software and hardware development, design and manufacturing
services. For more information on the company, visit www.edig.com.
Located in Redwood City, Calif., Liquid Audio provides services
and software for the digital delivery of music over the Internet. The
Liquid Audio solution gives musicians, record labels, Web sites and
music retailers the ability to create, syndicate and sell recorded
music online. Liquid Audio enables artists and record companies to
promote and securely sell their music with copy protection and
copyright management through the Liquid Music Network of 200 Web site
affiliates. Using the Liquid(TM) Player software, available for free
download at www.liquidaudio.com, consumers visiting these Web sites
can preview and purchase songs from a growing catalog of syndicated
music.
Texas Instruments Incorporated is a global semiconductor company
and the world's leading designer and supplier of digital signal
processing solutions, the engines driving the digitization of
electronics. Headquartered in Dallas, the company's businesses also
include materials and controls, educational and productivity
solutions, and digital imaging. The company has manufacturing or sales
operations in more than 25 countries. Texas Instruments is traded on
the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TXN. More information is
located on the World Wide Web at ti.com
Safe Harbor statement under the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains forward-looking
statements relating to future performance, technology and product
development that may impact on future results and the future viability
of the company. Actual results could be affected or differ materially
from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of
risk factors such as: future products and results; technological
shifts; potential technical difficulties that could delay new
products; competition; general economic conditions in the markets in
which the company operates; the ability of the company, its customers,
and suppliers to become Year 2000 compliant; pricing pressures; and
the uncertainty of market acceptance of new products by OEM's and
end-user customers.
Note to Editors: MicroOS is a trademark of e.Digital Corp.
Liquid, Liquid Audio Inc., Liquid Audio, the Liquid Audio logo, SP3,
Liquifier and Liquid Music are trademarks of Liquid Audio Inc. Lucent
Technologies, Lucent, and EPAC are trademarks of Lucent Technologies.
All other company, product or service names are the property of their
respective owners.
--30--ts/sd*
CONTACT: e.Digital Corp.
Robert Putnam and Wendy Ravenel, 858/679-1504
robert@edig.com
wendy@edig.com
or
Liquid Audio Inc.
Erik Ryan of Waggener Edstrom, 425/637-9097
erikr@wagged.com
or
Texas Instruments
Stephanie Gosselin
Golin Harris for TI
713/513-9573
sgosselin@golinharris.com
or
Lucent Technologies
Chris Pfaff, 908/582-7571
cpfaff@lucent.com
KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA TEXAS
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: INTERACTIVE/MULTIMEDIA/INTERNET
COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS COMED
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Jul-20-1999 08:45 GMT
Symbols:
US;EDIG US;LQID
Source BW Business Wire |
