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Technology Stocks : CDNow (CDNW) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jjs_ynot who wrote (1187)	5/2/1999 10:13:00 AM
From: jjs_ynot	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1465

ANOTHER POSSIBLE EXPLANATION OF PRICE RISE By Paul Festa Staff Writer, CNET News.com April 30, 1999, 9:45 a.m. PT RealNetworks on Monday is expected to jump into the world of MP3 and other digital music download formats with a product called Jukebox, according to sources familiar with the plan. A company spokesman would not discuss RealNetworks' plan except to reiterate that an announcement was planned for Monday. But CNET News.com spoke with four sources who have seen the product and been briefed by RealNetworks. The domain name "RealJukebox.com" was registered by the company earlier this month, according to the Whois database. Jukebox is a client-side application that converts, or "rips," compact discs and translates them into a digital file format, the sources said. The product also automatically enters information such as song title and artist into a manageable database for music downloaded from the Internet or CDs. Jukebox is being launched in response to the explosive growth of MP3 ( MPEG 1, Audio Layer 3), a compression format that allows for easy downloading of music files onto a PC hard drive or portable MP3 player. Although the format itself is legal, it lacks copyright protections, and the music industry has cracked down on sites offering illegally copied music. But thousands of amateur artists and several high-profile professionals have embraced the technology to distribute their music on the Net. Jukebox also is Real's first product for use with MP3, but Real on Monday is expected to announce support for other formats as well. Until now, RealNetworks has concentrated on real-time streaming media, both audio and video, as opposed to download technology.

To: jjs_ynot who wrote (1187)	5/2/1999 1:40:00 PM
From: American Spirit	Respond to of 1465

SONY would be the one IMHO. Universal vs. Warners vs Sony records. Bertelsmann too. Universal has their sales site now the others need to play catch up. Buying CDNW would trump Universal and its relatively cheap. Hear that CEO's? Start the bidding. I'm sure they're all reading SI threads.

To: jjs_ynot who wrote (1187)	5/2/1999 2:18:00 PM
From: American Spirit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1465

*Here's a press release on possible suitors. TW and BMG. Stock deals. So maybe we get a half share of Time Warner (at $70 now) fore each share of CDNW. A $35 deal and not bad at all. But who knows. We'll just have to wait and see. Anyway it looks very promising. CDnow (CDNW: news, msgs) jumped 3 7/16 to 19 3/8 with 4.5 million shares changing hands -- some six times its average daily volume -- as talk circulated that Time Warner (TWX: news, msgs) or BMG, a unit of Bertlesmann, was nearing a stock-based deal to acquire the company. Officials from the Jenkintown, Pa.-based company were mumt. "We don't comment on market rumors," said spokeswoman Merlo Zoda. CDnow, which completed its merger with New York-based rival N2K this year, has been seen as a merger partner before. "There has always been speculation that it could be Time Warner," noted analyst Steve Frankel at Adams Harkness