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

To: Savant who wrote (3575)	5/4/1999 4:23:00 AM
From: Walter Morton	Respond to of 18366

When Renwick issued it's analysis on EDIG in November the following statement was made and I quote: "The company recently completed prototyping a portable Internet music player for Lucent Technologies. This prototype plays compressed CD-quality music downloaded from a PC and contains a number of advanced features... "Capabilities of this product would include: a 22:1 compression ratio providing music at... 'near CD Quality' a 14:1 compression ratio providing music at CD quality sound." Well, back in November Lucent and EDIG were talking about PAC. Now, we are talking about EPAC. What stands out to me is that the article seems to claims that AAC can provide CD quality in a compression ratio of 22:1. EDIG was only able to provide NEAR CD quality at a 22:1 compression ratio. Is Scheirer exaggerating AAC's capabilities or am I reading too much into that that paragraph?

To: Savant who wrote (3575)	5/4/1999 10:11:00 AM
From: cAPSLOCK	Respond to of 18366

1."It is worth mentioning that, since the architecture for secure digital music solution being used will be interoperable, both AAC and EPAC could be used." Yes. This is something I have been thinking about as well. There is no reason that the unfolding digital music wave has to mirror the VCR revolution of the early eighties. In that scenario the player was hardware... AND the medium was mechanical... cassette tape. It would be too cumbersome to make hardware that would support multiple formats. So eventually one format had to win out over all others. Of course this is not necessarily the case with this new technology. Our scenario could be different. We still have a hardware player, but we don't HAVE to. Players will undoubtedly be designed in software. Ones that can do as many formats as they care to include/license. I imagine this could happen eventually even outside the computer. I have a mini satellite dish. It's system software is stored on flash memory, and every now and then we turn it on, and they have added another feature. I imagine high end home stereo equipment could evolve to not only be upgradable to play different formats, but have slots for the different formats of media available. Sort of like the changing world of DVD with it's several formats. Newer generation players support more new formats. So... in the grand scheme of things, the format which is what we are talking about here so much, may not be so important. (I am simply thinking out loud... ;) It may come to rest on what format best serves the MI and the consumer. MP3 has the great advantage of a head start, and open development, but the newer formats will offer better sonic quality. Also worth considering is whether or not the formats will support emerging audio advances. My studio is 24 bit 96kHz. Music sounds better at these sample rates and bit depths. DVD supports them. Eventually they will be the choice of the digital audiophile (that's already happening), and someday even the standard. Hopefully Lucent is building future support for these advances into the architecture of the EPAC format. As I see it, flash memory is going to become VERY cheap over time. In conclusion: Although some formats may disappear before this is over, there may be room for more than one in the end. I think EPAC stands a fighting chance. Wish I could hear it. Anyway... I'M done blabbing. cAPSLOCK