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Technology Stocks : WAVX Anyone? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: cm who wrote (8941)9/6/1999 11:18:00 AM
From: Arthur Radley  Read Replies (3) | Respond to of 11417
 
A serious question.

How is it that ac company like ADBL can develop a working relation with the likes of Intel, Compaq, At&t, Microsoft in a area that should be a natural for WAVX. Then when you look at the content providers that ADBL has lined up, why does WAVX have to go to Europe to get their major contract with Lego?

I know that no one wants to talk about the $2,000 quarterly revenue flow to WAVX, but when you compare the revenue to the newly formed ADBL and the 10+ year history of WAVX, one must wonder why the delay in the deployment of WAVX. How can the ADBL's get such major sponsorship and a revenue flow that at the current rate for WAVX, it would take over 30 years of WAVX revenue to equal the current yearly rate for ADBL.

WAYNE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 16, 1999-- Audible, Inc. (Nasdaq ``ADBL'), today announced a
relationship with RealNetworks©, the recognized leader in media delivery for the Internet, to provide users of the
RealPlayer© G2 with instant desktop access to Audible's 17,000 hours of Internet-delivered premium spoken audio for
playback on personal computers.

As part of the agreement, exclusive content packages from Audible's content library can be purchased at RealNetworks'
online marketplace, www.RealStore.com. In addition, Audible will become a featured advertiser at www.Real.com. A
portion of the co-marketing campaign will invite users to sample Audible audio on their RealPlayer Plus G2 for free.

All of Audible's programming will be available for copyright-secure streaming playback on the RealPlayer G2, where the
content cannot be passed along for unauthorized usage, through a plug-in developed by Audible and freely available from
RealNetworks.

``We are thrilled to be working with Audible to make their spoken audio library easily accessible to the over 72 million
recognized users of RealPlayer,' said Jed Lewison, director of Consumer and E-commerce division, RealNetworks, Inc.
``Top selections from audible can also be purchased at RealStore.com.'

``This relationship will now make Audible's premium content available to a much larger audience,' said Foy Sperring,
vice-president of Marketing at Audible, Inc. ``The four exclusive Audible content packages, including Bestsellers, Self
Improvement, Business and News, available through the RealStore, provide an enhanced streaming audio listening
experience at greatly reduced prices compared to more traditional cassette tape- or CD-based premium spoken audio
formats.'

Audible.com(TM) offers premium content from more than 100 leading audiobook publishers, broadcasters, magazine and
newspaper publishers, business information providers, and educational and cultural institutions. Audio consists of
subscriptions to daily audio digests from The New York Times; subscriptions to regularly recurring audio magazine digests
from Harvard Business School Publishing, The Economist magazine, and Forbes magazine; audiobooks from Harper
Audio/Caedmon, Random House AudioBooks, Bantam Doubleday Dell Audiobooks, Time Warner AudioBooks, Simon
& Schuster Audio, Books on Tape, Penguin Audiobooks, Recorded Books, Dove Audio, and many others; a range of
content from Nightly Business Report, Gartner Group, Technologic Partners, Stanford University and Pimsleur Language
Programs; and subscriptions to public radio programs such as Sound Money, Fresh Air, Car Talk, Marketplace, and
Garrison Keillor's monologues from A Prairie Home Companion.

About Audible:

Audible is one of the Internet's largest and most diverse providers of premium spoken audio content for playback on
personal computers and mobile devices. Founded in 1995 and headquartered in Wayne, N.J., Audible allows customers
to take better advantage of their commute, travel and desktop computer time by delivering premium information and
entertainment when their eyes are busy but their minds are free. Audible's content partners include more than 100 leading
audiobook publishers, broadcasters, magazine and newspaper publishers, business information providers, and educational
and cultural institutions. Visitors to www.audible.com can browse, sample, purchase, subscribe to, schedule and download
more than 17,000 hours of audio content. The Company's technology partners include AT&T Corp., Casio Inc., Compaq
Computer Corporation, Creative Labs Inc., Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc., Everex Systems Inc., The Intel
Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Philips and RealNetworks, Inc. Audible 's mission is to focus on audio content
sourcing, development, packaging, delivery, and playback, as well as the advancement of platform, tools, services, and
varied licensing opportunities afforded by the Audible Internet audio service.

RealNetworks, RealStore and RealPlayer are trademarks or registered trademarks of RealNetworks, Inc.



To: cm who wrote (8941)9/6/1999 1:50:00 PM
From: cm  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 11417
 
A Serious Response...

Audible is a leader in the aggregation and distribution of SPOKEN AUDIO content. Their success does not in the least diminish the possibilities and realities of Wave Systems. In fact, Audible's success has no bearing here. It's sort of like bringing an article about, say, a UNIX operating system to a thread about a provider of hardware security for the secure distribution of digital content. In other words: absurd.

And re: the Lego Media children's software distribution deal... Wave Systems need not apologize for going to Europe to ink the leading children's software provider for a deal. Europe is in its use of consumer satellite communications quite a bit ahead of the U.S. (As predicted about this deal, "Up from the crowd... came a grumbling Dude.")

As for why Audible is playing with big companies... I don't know. I congratulate them. Again, their success has no bearing WHATSOEVER on WAVX's success. I am content to have (a mix of content and development partners including) Mattel (via The Learning Company)... Electronic Arts (per the PGE opinion)... Tom Clancy's Red Storm Entertainment... HP... IBM... McGraw-Hill Interactive... Lego... while the co-founder of the leading annual interactive games event, E3, i.e., Allan Chaplin (on board since May) is out securing new entertainment and games content... and the inventor of Atari, Nolan Bushnell, sits on our board. As sandboxes go, it ain't bad to have these companions to play with.

Now, I think I'm going to start visiting the, say, SI XOMA and LGND threads with posts about green tea ice cream. (And I encourage fellow SI-ers to join me.) However to make it relevant... I will note that green tea has certain anti-carcinogenic and free radical-busting (i.e. antioxidant) properties... and thus could pose a serious competitive threat to biotechnology companies of all stripes. After all, green tea ice cream is, to some at least, delicious. And thus will enjoy far wider consumer acceptance. And green tea ice cream doesn't need FDA approval.

On second thought, I'm not gonna do that. Because I don't have a position in XOMA or LGND. And, even if I were shorting them, appearing to harass or distract those investors... who have been on the downhill course until fairly recently... would, I think, be seen as not very sporting at best... and venal... at worst. It's just a matter of choices you make in life. Some things you just don't do.

Happy Labor Day to all WAVX Longs... May the summer of our discontent pass... into a thoroughly uplifting Fall...

Best Regards...

c m