Press Room
Digital Music Now Playing on Palm m100 and m105 Handhelds
New Package Offers Shinei MP3 Player, Palm Co-branded Liquid Player Plus Software and Song–download Website - Everything Needed for Music On the Go
SYDNEY, September 7, 2001 – Music lovers now will be able to rip CDs, organise play lists, view album covers and listen to CD–quality music using their Palm(TM) m100 and m105 handheld computers. Palm, Inc., Shinei International and Liquid Audio, Inc. today announced a complete digital music package for handheld users - including Shinei's expandable Portéson MP3 player and easy–to–use Palm co–branded Liquid Player Plus desktop software, licensed by Shinei from Liquid Audio. Palm and Liquid Audio also launched Palm Music Connection www.palm.com/musicplayer, a Palm branded music–download website hosted by Liquid Audio that gives users access to thousands of secure digital downloads.
To kick off the launch, Palm is providing 100 Palm m100 handhelds with stylish Turbo Red faceplates for MTV's Video Music Award gift baskets, and Shinei is providing 100 new 64MB Portéson MP3 players, loaded with CD–quality downloads from MTV award nominees supplied by Liquid Audio. The Palm m100 handhelds and snap–on MP3 players will be given to all of MTV's presenters and music performers.
"The digital music revolution is gaining momentum," said Lesley McKnight, marketing manager, Australia, New Zealand and India, Palm, Inc. "The biggest demand for music on Palm handhelds has been coming from our Palm m100 and m105 handheld users. We're delivering this in true Palm style – a great user experience that's simple to use and affordably priced."
Shinei's Portéson MP3 Player
Shinei's Portéson MP3 player can be used as a standalone product or in conjunction with Palm m100 and m105 handhelds. There are two memory options – 32MB for US$149.99 (AUD$285) and 64MB for US$199.99 (AUD$380) (estimated street prices).
Used as a standalone, the Portéson MP3 player allows users to play, stop, pause, and skip tracks forward and backward. When the player is used with a Palm m100 series handheld, users also can adjust the volume and equalisation levels, as well as arrange their play lists with simple "drag and drop" flexibility. They can even change the entire look of the interface by changing the skin or graphic overlays.
In addition to the flash memory inside the player, a Secure Digital (SD) and MultiMediaCard expansion slot lets users add memory for maximum storage capacity. The Portéson MP3 player is compliant with the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI). It supports the Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) music format, runs on two AAA batteries, and comes with a USB interface for fast music transfers to and from a PC.
To give consumers easy access to a wide variety of music, Portéson's MP3 player uses Liquid Audio's Secure Portable Player Platform (SP3) for its digital music rights management solution.
Palm Co–branded Liquid Player Plus Desktop Software
The Palm co–branded Liquid Player Plus desktop software offers a wide range of functionality by providing a secure way to download, play back and store CD–quality music and multimedia content from the desktop. Using the Liquid Player Plus software, Portéson users can import songs and albums, rip songs from existing personal collections, manage play lists, transfer tracks to the Portéson MP3 player and burn them to CDs.
Palm Music Connection
Palm and Liquid Audio have teamed up to create the Palm Music Connection www.palm.com/musicplayer, a Palm branded website where people can find a wide selection of promotional and paid digital music downloads. Liquid Audio has licensed one of the largest collections of secure downloadable music, giving Palm Music Connection users access to more than 150,000 secure, digital downloads from a wide variety of artists and genres.
Where to Purchase
The Portéson MP3 player, complete with the Palm co–branded Liquid Player Plus desktop software, is now available online at The Palm Store http://store.palm.com. Palm also is offering a special promotion at The Palm Store - a Palm m105 and Portéson MP3 player for US$299 - a saving of US$49.
About Shinei
Shinei International www.shinei.com.sg, a Solectron company, is an electro–mechanical contract manufacturer to the Fortune top 50 companies. Headquartered in Singapore, it has a global presence with additional manufacturing sites in the USA, UK, China and Malaysia. Other accessories developed for Palm handhelds include voice recorders and travel chargers. More information is available at www.i–vox.com
About Liquid Audio, Inc.
Liquid Audio, Inc. is a leading provider of software, infrastructure and services for the secure digital delivery of media over the Internet. The Liquid Audio solution gives content owners, Web sites and companies the ability to publish, syndicate and securely sell digital media online with copy protection and copyright management. Using the Liquid(TM) Player software, available for free download at www.liquidaudio.com, consumers can preview and purchase downloadable music from hundreds of affiliate Web sites in the Liquid Music Network(SM). Traded on Nasdaq under the symbol LQID, Liquid Audio is located in Redwood City, Calif.
# # #
Liquid, Liquid Audio, the Liquid Audio logo, and Liquid Store
are trademarks of Liquid Audio, Inc. Palm OS is a registered
trademark and Palm is a trademark of Palm, Inc. Other brands
may be trademarks of their respective owners.
About Palm, Inc.
Palm, Inc. is a pioneer in the field of mobile and wireless
Internet solutions and a leading provider of handheld computers,
according to IDC (December 2000). Based on the Palm OS®
platform, Palm's handheld solutions allow people to carry
and access their most critical information with them wherever
they go. Palm(TM) handhelds address the needs of individuals,
enterprises and educational institutions through thousands
of application solutions.
The Palm OS platform is also the foundation for products from Palm's licensees and strategic partners, such as Franklin Covey, HandEra (formerly TRG), Handspring, IBM, Kyocera, Sony, and Symbol Technologies. Platform licensees also include Acer, Garmin, Nokia and Samsung. The Palm Economy is a growing global community of industry-leading licensees, world-class OEM customers, and more than 160,000 innovative developers and solution providers that have registered to develop solutions based on the Palm OS platform. Palm went public on March 2, 2000. Its stock is traded on the Nasdaq national market under the symbol PALM. More information is available at www.palm.com
Palm OS is a registered trademark, and Palm is a trademark of Palm, Inc. or its subsidiaries.
