Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: Walter Morton who wrote (5107)	6/2/1999 8:29:00 AM
From: Jacalyn Deaner	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18366

Information found by "Alpha Wolf" on EPAC technologyy: NEW PLAYER TO CHALLENGE MP3 Technology embraced by music business by Robert E. Calem MURRAY HILL, NJ, June 1, 1999 -- There's another competitor to the popular MP3 digital audio format on the way, this time from telecommunications giant Lucent Technologies. The company claims to have developed a better way to encode, distribute and play back CD-quality digital music. And according to an executive familiar with the situation, Lucent is already working with manufacturers and music publishers to bring a portable audio player that uses the technology -- known as EPAC (Enhanced Perceptual Audio Coder) -- to market by year's end. Rachel Walkden, VP and director of audio at Lucent's new ventures group in Murray Hill, New Jersey, said that an official announcement naming the manufacturers will be made in about six weeks and that portable players will be available for the holiday shopping season. A "reference design" player, which manufacturers can use as a model for their own devices, is already under development at e.Digital Corp., a technology design firm based in San Diego, California, that specializes in audio products. SanDisk is supplying 32MB CompactFlash memory cards for the player. Making MP3 sound bad by comparison With EPAC, Walkden said Lucent is able to produce a digital music file that sounds just as good as a song saved in the MP3 format but that is one third smaller -- making it faster to download and less demanding of hard disk space. And at the same file size, Walkden claimed EPAC produces much better sound quality than MP3 -- similar to the quality difference between songs from a CD and songs from an audiocassette. She predicted that eventually users might have a choice between the smaller file size or the higher sound quality when music publishers make EPAC music downloadable from the Web and PC software is available to convert a CD collection to the Lucent file format. For at least the next month, though, development of the EPAC player -- and of players based on competing digital audio technologies from AT&T (Lucent's former parent company) and others -- is in limbo while the music publishers and technology companies work on making digital music piracy-proof. At the behest of the music publishers, the latter and the tech companies formed the Secure Digital Music Initiative, an international committee of the Recording Industry Association of America, to set standards for copyright protection technologies for digital music files. And SDMI, of which Lucent is a founding member, will begin to gradually release standards for music publishers and player makers at the end of June. How does Waldken feel about all the potential competition? "The Internet and the music industry is a hotbed of potential foes," Walkden said, but "they can also be customers." Nevertheless, at this time the Lucent-designed player will play only EPAC files. Its price is still to be determined.