MusicMatch Announces Commercial Availability of MetaTrust Certified MusicMatch Jukebox
MusicMatch's Leading Digital Music Jukebox Supports InterTrust Digital Rights Management
SAN DIEGO, Nov. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- MusicMatch Inc., maker of the award-winning MusicMatch Jukebox(TM) software application, today announced that its MusicMatch Jukebox digital music software has been MetaTrust Certified(TM) by InterTrust Technologies Corporation (Nasdaq: ITRU - news). The MetaTrust(TM) certification of the MusicMatch Jukebox incorporates InterTrust's digital rights management (DRM) technology, enabling content providers to sell, and music fans to purchase, secure digital music over the Internet.
The MetaTrust Certified MusicMatch Jukebox will be used in digital music commercial deployments and trials from MetaTrust Partners Magex, the digital commerce service from NatWest, in Q4 1999 and Q1 2000.
``We are pleased to have achieved this important milestone in our partnering agreement with InterTrust and look forward to continuing to work closely together in the future,' said Dennis Mudd, CEO of MusicMatch, Inc. ``With the DRM capabilities of the new MetaTrust Certified MusicMatch Jukebox, our customers will be able to obtain high-quality new digital music in multiple formats.'
``In order to protect the rights of artists, labels and consumers, it is important to incorporate DRM technology into applications at all levels of the music delivery process,' said Peter van Cuylenburg, President and COO of InterTrust. ``This application represents the completion of an important step toward developing compelling DRM consumer solutions.'
InterTrust DRM enables music labels to deliver digital music to consumers in a number of music formats in a secure DigiBox(TM) Container. The MusicMatch Jukebox recognizes protected content and can present consumers with offers that are specified by content providers. Users can select from a variety of offers such as free previews, pay-per-use or purchase. After purchase the music remains protected, so users can forward the songs to other music fans who are then presented with the same offers.
Peter Beverley, Managing Director, of Magex said, ``Magex has developed a service which enables consumers to access, pay for and consume rights protected material. We are delighted that InterTrust has certified the MusicMatch Jukebox as we have been working closely with both companies to make sure that it is compatible with our advanced digital commerce service. Consumers will soon be able to download and pay for music from Magex, which acts as the clearing-house for payments, before listening to it from the MusicMatch.'
The new MetaTrust Certified MusicMatch Jukebox integrates InterTrust DRM into many of the MusicMatch Jukebox's existing features, including as playlists. Consumers can store, manage and play music tracks protected with InterTrust DRM interchangeably with music in non-secure formats. Users can also customize individual tracks to automate the purchase process, allowing the MusicMatch Jukebox to play a series of secure and/or non-secure songs uninterrupted.
NatWest will utilize the new MusicMatch Jukebox in its Magex digital commerce service. The Magex service uses InterTrust DRM to protect digital content, sell content online and process financial and usage transactions.
About MusicMatch Jukebox
MusicMatch Jukebox is the world's first personal jukebox software. It lets users build extensive collections of CD-quality digital music downloaded from the Internet and recorded from music CDs, vinyl and cassette tapes. MusicMatch Jukebox lets users organize all of their tracks in a digital music database on their PC, create custom playlists and play them on their PC in CD-quality. It is also the first jukebox software to offer personalized music recommendations to its users. MusicMatch Jukebox is one of the world's most popular audio software programs, downloaded by over 1 million people each month. It is currently bundled with a number of hardware devices, including Creative Labs' NOMAD portable MP3 players and Sound Blaster Live! sound cards, and with select Dell© Dimension© and HP Pavilion PCs.
InterTrust Digital Rights Management
Digital rights management (DRM) technologies protect and manage rights and interests in digital information. InterTrust's DRM platform provides a common foundation for authors, publishers, enterprises and others to define rules for using digital information and building commercial models. InterTrust technology is designed to protect digital information, apply rules persistently after information is distributed, and automate many of the commercial consequences of using the information. InterTrust's DRM platform is general purpose and can manage a broad range of media types, including music, publications, business information, video, games, software, and images. Content providers and enterprises can take advantage of InterTrust DRM through the use of the MetaTrust Utility, a neutral environment for digital commerce.
About MusicMatch
MusicMatch (www.musicmatch.com) develops digital audio software that lets people take control over how they access and listen to their music. The company's award-winning MusicMatch Jukebox software turns a PC into a powerful component of a user's stereo system. Its Web site is one of the top 25 music related sites on the Internet (www.hot100.com). The company has 58 employees, was incorporated in February 1997, and is headquartered in San Diego. MusicMatch is 20 percent owned by Thomson Multimedia Inc. Together with Fraunhofer IIS, Thomson was the co-developer of the MP3 technology and ranks No. 1 in the United States and No. 4 in Europe in sales of consumer electronics.
InterTrust Technologies Corporation
InterTrust Technologies Corporation is a leading provider of digital rights management (DRM). InterTrust has developed a general purpose DRM platform that serves as a foundation for providers of digital information, technology, and commerce services to participate in a global system for digital commerce. InterTrust licenses its DRM platform as software and tools to partners. Collectively, these partners will offer digital commerce services and applications that form a global commerce system branded as the ``MetaTrust Utility.'
About Magex
Magex is a digital commerce service developed by NatWest to create a secure and efficient environment for the trading of digital content on the Internet. The Magex technology addresses many of the security and payment problems surrounding digital distribution, enabling fast, safe and easy web transactions. Created by NatWest and incorporating Digital Rights Management from US partner, InterTrust Technologies Corporation, Magex delivers the persistent protection of copyright products such as -- music, information and games in any format alongside a simple, trusted payment process. Because businesses can now offer their best products for download with confidence their customers will appreciate the broader, richer choice on offer. Consumers and content providers can find more details and register their interest at the Magex website. magex.com. Magex -- liberating the digital economy.
For Further Information Contact: Joeli Yaguda, MusicMatch, Inc., 858-385-8381, joeli@musicmatch.com; or Wes Robinson, Golin/Harris International, 213-623-4200, wrobinson@golinharris.com; or Joseph Jennings, InterTrust, 408-855-0201, jjennings@intertrust.com; or Leigh Anne Varney, Varney Business Communication, 415-387-7250, lavsfo@wenet.net; or Lucy Rich, Profile Public Relations, 44-181-948-6611, lucyr@profilepr.co.uk; or David Vindel, Band & Brown Communications, 44-171-4196938, david.vindel@bbpr.com.
MusicMatch and MusicMatch Jukebox are trademarks of MusicMatch, Inc. (R) DELL is a registered trademark of Dell Computer Corporation. (R) DIMENSION is a register trademark of Dell Computer Corporation.
SOURCE: MusicMatch Inc.
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