Here's the first of MANY newsworthy announcements today!
Lucent Technologies Licenses ePAC Music Coder to VedaLabs for Internet
Software and Hardware Players
MIDDLETOWN, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 24, 2000--Lucent Technologies
(NYSE: LU) announced today that it has licensed its industry-leading
Lucent Enhanced Perceptual Audio Coder(TM) (ePAC(TM)) to Internet music
developer VedaLabs, Inc., which will incorporate ePAC into its
AudioVeda 1.0 software player/encoder/jukebox product and a new line of
handheld and home stereo ePAC players.
Available immediately, AudioVeda 1.0 is the first Internet jukebox
player to fully incorporate the ePAC file format. VedaLabs' hardware
players will be released in March, 2000 for both the portable and home
stereo markets. The portable ePAC player will be debuted at the Midem
2000 International Music Market in Cannes, France at the Lucent booth
#R02.17 in the Palais des Festivals from January 23-27.
VedaLabs will offer a free version of the AudioVeda
player/encoder/jukebox, which can be downloaded at www.audioveda.com. A
more robust, upgrade version of the product can be purchased for
$19.95, a discount from the $29.95 retail price.
"Our extensive work with ePAC has yielded consistently strong results
in every application we've developed for the Internet music industry,
from distribution to playback," said Jason Hewitt, president of
VedaLabs. "We have architected our business around the ePAC coder and
firmly believe that it offers distinctly higher audio quality than
anything else we've heard."
Hewitt has also encoded tracks from the catalog of his independent
label Swahili Records (www.swahilirecords.com), using ePAC.
"The VedaLabs team is well-respected in the recording industry, and we
welcome their innovative spirit to the growing family of ePAC
developers," said Joyce Eastman, director of audio initiatives at
Lucent Technologies. "The AudioVeda jukebox and the VedaLabs player are
optimized for the audio professional, and both products demonstrate
ePAC's superb digital audio qualities to the fullest advantage."
Lucent's ePAC coder is interoperable with RealNetworks' G2 Player and
has been licensed to e.Digital for its handheld Internet music device
and to Lydstrom, Inc. for its Songbank home Internet stereo device.
ePAC is based on the Lucent Perceptual Audio Coder(TM) (PAC(TM)), the
highest-quality digital audio codec in the industry.
ePAC is a new version of the Lucent Perceptual Audio Coder(TM)
(PAC(TM)) developed by Bell Labs, the research and development arm of
Lucent Technologies. PAC is an audio compression algorithm with the
highest-quality audio at the lowest bit rates. At 128 kilobits per
second, ePAC offers CD-transparent stereo sound.
ePAC uses psychoacoustic modeling - that is, a representation of how
humans hear sound - to compress music in a way that is not noticeable
to the ear. Music is compressed at a rate of 11 to 1, thus reducing the
transmission time/bandwidth and storage by the same ratio, while still
retaining its fidelity.
Several recent improvements in ePAC have pushed its performance levels
to new heights, including: ePAC's improved quantization and coding,
allowing higher quality audio at lower bit rates, and ePAC's improved
psychoacoustic modeling from Bell Labs research, which provides
CD-transparent sound at 128 kbps.
ePAC's variable bit rates and superior audio quality allow the coder to
be used in multiple bandwidth applications.
Lucent Technologies' famed research and development arm, Bell Labs, has
been at the forefront of technology for the music industry for decades,
with the introduction of sound for motion pictures in 1926; the
invention of stereo recording in 1933; the invention of the transistor
in 1947; the introduction of computer-synthesized music in the 1950s;
the introduction of psychoacoustics in the 1960s; sub-band coding of
audio in the 1970s; the introduction of linear predictive coding in the
1980s, and the Perceptual Audio Coder in the 1990s.
VedaLabs, Inc. Is based in Baton Rouge, LA and currently develops
software, hardware and retail platforms for the delivery of compressed
audio. VedaLabs also provides encoding and distribution service for
audio over the Internet, including music and speech. Its Web sites
include vedalabs.com, audioveda.com, and fastsongs.com, which is a
retail Web site. For investment opportunities, please e-mail
investors@vedalabs.com or call Jason Hewitt at 225-343-7003.
Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J., designs,
builds and delivers a wide range of public and private networks,
communications systems and software, data networking systems, business
telephone systems and microelectronic components. Bell Labs is the
research and development arm for the company. For more information on
Lucent Technologies, visit the company's web site at www.lucent.com.
CONTACT:
Lucent Technologies
Chris Pfaff
908/582-7571 (office)
800/705-2368 (pager)
cpfaff@lucent.com
or
Wendy Zajack
908/582-4824 (office)
wzajack@lucent.com
KEYWORD: NEW JERSEY
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