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Technology Stocks : e.Digital Corporation(EDIG) - Embedded Digital Technology -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bob who wrote (11008)	2/16/2000 7:03:00 PM
From: Pamela Murray	Respond to of 18366

from rb//gotta love it..who can question edig when Lucent includes them in pr to verify Lucents tech. Lucent (pr) working on challenger to MP3 Published in the Asbury Park Press 2/16/2000 NJ News By DAVID P. WILLIS BUSINESS WRITER MIDDLETOWN -- Lucent researcher Joyce Eastman-Griffeth is not a big fan of MP3, a computer format commonly used to download music from the Internet. Music compressed digitally using the MP3 format might be fine to listen to on your computer's speakers or through small headphones. But how about listening to MP3-encoded tunes on your high-quality stereo in the living room? "The quality of MP3 is like a stretched-out (cassette) tape," said Eastman-Griffeth, vice president of audio initiatives at Lucent Technologies. So what's an audiophile to do? Eastman-Griffeth, of Beachwood, and Lucent believe they have the answer: the Enhanced Perceptual Audio Coder, or ePAC for short. The format, also called a codec, compresses music in a way that is not noticeable to the human. So, when the music is decompressed to full size there is no loss of audio quality and fidelity when it comes out of stereo speakers. The result is "tremendous audio quality" compared to other formats like MP3, said Fred Falk, president and chief executive officer of e.Digital, a San Diego company that designs digital music players using the ePAC music format and others. Lucent says the quality is comparable to a compact disc played in a piece of stereo equipment. Eastman-Griffeth said ePAC also has anti-piracy protection, a feature not available with MP3. Major record labels are unwilling to release songs using the MP3 format, because it's too easy to trade and copy music. Typically, music on many Web sites that use the MP3 consists of unknown bands or groups that have agreed to release their music. "It's not the Rolling Stones. It's not the Beatles. It's not Eric Clapton," Eastman-Griffeth said. Lucent's technology allows a record company or Web site to sell digital music with assurances that it can't be copied and pirated worldwide, experts say. The secret is in the electronic key that becomes embedded into a digital music player, such as Winamp or Real Player. A person can download the ePAC plug-in at sites where ePAC-encoded music is available. The user can transfer songs from a computer onto a memory card that can be played on a stereo. It allows people to download the music for themselves and their families. "We give you the ability to share the (free) key" with five others, Eastman-Griffeth said. Those six keys also serve as a back-up in case one is lost on a computer hard drive. But ePAC prevents music from being transmitted to people who do not have the unique key needed to unlock the songs. The online world is already responding. Producers and record label executives were attracted to Lucent's booth recently at the Midem International Music Market in Cannes, France. VedaLabs has licensed ePAC for its AudioVeda 1.0 jukebox and for a line of hand-held and home stereo players. Future digital music players will be able to play ePAC content as well. The Orchard, an online Web music wholesaler, recently announced it will encode its 50,000-track library with ePAC. The catalog includes songs from A Flock of Seagulls, D.O.A. and Less Than Jake and is offered at sites such as Amazon.com and CD Now. The security enables Web sites, such as The Orchard, to price content cheaply. "There is no reason why a song should cost $1 or $1.50," said Daryl Berg, the company's senior director of business development. The price could drop to 30 cents or even 10 cents per song, Berg said. "Once you take away the old world pricing model and you make something cheap enough and a good enough product, people will want to pay for it," Berg said. Published on February 16, 2000