QDesign
selects e.Digital portable internet music player design for showcase product
Custom
Music Player to Demonstrate the New QDX Codec for Digital Music to Executives
in Music and Electronics Industries
(San Diego, California - August 1, 2000) - e.Digital
Corporation (OTC: EDIG) announced today that it has been contracted
by QDesign Corporation to create and deliver special edition portable
digital music players incorporating a Texas Instruments DSP and featuring
the QDesign QDX scalable music compression format. The special edition
QDX / MP3 digital audio player is expected to be delivered to QDesign
by the end of August and will be used to showcase the new QDX technology
to leading members of the digital music industry.
The new QDX format is a next generation technology to MP3 that makes digital
music easy for consumers and content providers alike. Storing up to an
entire audio CD in 16MB flash, QDX provides higher compression and audio
quality than MP3. To heighten and simplify the digital music experience
for consumers, QDX offers a unique Fit-To-Media™ function that allows
all QDX encoded audio to be dynamically and automatically scaled to fit
in portable audio players . This combination of scalability and audio
quality eliminates consumers' need to understand bit rates, sample rates
or file size; users simply click-and-drag a chosen playlist to the device
for playback - one single file provides absolute portability.
To simplify digital music for content providers, QDX also features Fit-To-Stream™
for optimal Internet or wireless delivery. Fit-to-Stream™ allows QDX encoded
music to be dynamically adapted to fit available bandwidth during streaming
or network delivery, guaranteeing the consumer the highest possible quality
of service. Fit-to-Stream™ allows music distributors to provide on-demand,
customized access to content by music subscribers wherever they are and
at the best possible quality and brings unprecedented flexibility in music
downloading and streaming options.
"QDX was officially launched at the Jupiter Plug.In conference last week
and we received some tremendous feedback," says Richard J. Beaton, President
and Chief Technology Officer of QDesign Corporation. "We believe that
each new generation of audio technology, from vinyl to CD, offers consumers
significant enhancements to the listening experience. We believe QDX brings
that to digital music by providing unparalleled consumer functionality
and quality. The QDX/MP3 Digital Audio Player designed by e.Digital will
showcase the quality and flexibility of our technology to those industry
leaders who are creating music, innovating on new content distribution
models and defining the future of digital music."
Fred Falk, president and CEO of e.Digital said, "We are happy to take
this next step with QDesign to maximize exposure of our combined technologies
to executives in the music and electronics industries. The benefits of
this music player stretch from the original creation/encoding process
to the delivery, storage, and playback of music on portable players. We
provide designs that help balance the recording industry's need for security
with consumers' desires for a simple way to enjoy music downloaded from
the Internet."
Jorge Kittl, worldwide business manager of Internet Audio at Texas Instruments,
said, "This is a perfect example of the many possible uses for our DSP
products. Additionally, using TI's DSPs helps extend the battery life
of digital audio players by up to 50 percent, and their small size enables
digital audio player makers to design devices with extremely compact form
factors."
In addition to bringing remarkable compression quality and user convenience
features to digital music, QDX offers enhanced format security to copyright
owners by integrating encryption and watermarking that prevents access
to content by unauthorized players. QDX is designed for SDMI compliance
and is compatible with the InterTrust's MetaTrust Utility ™ and other
industry-approved digital rights management/copyright protection measures.
For more detailed technical information, the QDX White Paper is available
at the company's website located at www.qdesign.com.
About QDesign
From the release of the world's first real-time MP2 audio compression
software in 1996 to the introduction of its own MP3 and QDesign Music
technologies, QDesign has established itself as the leading provider of
the most advanced audio compression solutions in the broadcast, new media
and Internet delivery markets. Since the inclusion of the QDesign Music
Codec in Apple QuickTime as the audio compression solution for Internet
streaming, multimedia authoring and digital music, QDesign has received
numerous industry accolades for delivering the best web audio technology.
Last fall, the company introduced digital music to the masses with "MVP",
the first software application for creating and managing the most complete
range of music and video formats on both Mac OS and Windows platforms.
Today, QDesign's audio technologies appear in hardware processors, digital
audio production, automation and distribution systems as well as consumer
multimedia software. QDesign is a founding member of the Secure Digital
Music Initiative (SDMI), the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA) organization for developing solutions to protect content owners
rights for managing access and distribution of their content. For more
information on QDesign and its products, please visit: www.qdesign.com.
About Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Incorporated is the world leader in digital signal processing
and analog technologies, the semiconductor engines of the Internet Age.
The company's businesses also include materials and controls, and educational
and productivity solutions. TI is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and
has manufacturing or sales operations in more than 25 countries.
Texas Instruments is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol
TXN. More information is located on the World Wide Web at http://www.ti.com.
About e.Digital
e.Digital Corporation offers an engineering partnership for the world's
leading electronics companies to link portable digital devices to PCs
and the Internet. e.Digital develops and markets to consumer electronics
manufacturers complete end-to-end solutions for delivery and management
of open and secure digital media with a focus on music players/recorders
and portable digital voice recorders. Engineering services range from
the licensing of e.Digital's patented MicroOS™ file management system
to custom software and hardware development, industrial design and manufacturing
services. For more information on the company, visit www.edig.com.
Safe Harbor statement under the Private Securities Litigation
Reform of 1995: This document contains forward-looking
statements relating to future performance, technology and product development
that may impact on future results and the future viability of the company.
Actual results could be affected or differ materially from those projected
in the forward-looking statements as a result of risk factors such as:
future products and results; technological shifts; potential technical
difficulties that could delay new products; competition; general economic
conditions in the markets in which the company operates; the ability of
the company, its customers, and suppliers to solve latent Year 2000 compliance
issues; pricing pressures; and the uncertainty of market acceptance of
new products by OEM's and end-user customers.
Note: e.Digital and MicroOS
are trademarks of e.Digital Corporation. All other company, product, and
service names are the property of their respective owners.
CONTACTS:
QDesign Corporation:
media@qdesign.com
Texas Instruments:
Stephanie Groswirt (214) 480-2512
sgroswirt@ti.com
e.Digital Corporation
Robert Putnam or Wendy Ravenel (858) 679-1504
robert@edig.com or wendy@edig.com
The MWW Group (for e.Digital)
Matt Messinger (201) 964-2377
mmessing@mww.com
|
