archives

o Pressplay Adds Recommendations, TVT Catalog and BMI Songs to Service
o E Ink Gets Strategic Investment for Electronic Ink Displays
o RioPort Licenses BMG Songs for Music Subscription Service
o Microsoft Partners with Rock Band Linkin Park for Xbox Promotion
o Disney Interactive Forms New Game Unit "Plaid Banana Entertainment"
o Nintendo Details European GameCube Launch, Discounts Game Boy Advance
o Briefly Noted: U.S. Copyright Office conference, Chinese DVD
manufacturers vs. Japanese DVD manufacturers, Western Digital - TiVo,
Image Entertainment - TVN, Midway Games - "Mortal Kombat: Deadly
Alliance," Musicnotes - Musician's Friend, EverQuest's economy
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o Pressplay Adds Recommendations, TVT Catalog and BMI Songs to Service

Los Angeles -- Pressplay, a digital music subscription service joint
venture between Universal Music Group and Sony Music, announced on Monday
that it has licensed software from MediaUnbound for its service that will
provide personal music recommendations based on a subscriber's music
preferences. The software will be included through all of Pressplay's
distribution partners, which include Yahoo, MSN, Roxio and MP3.com.
Pressplay also announced that songs from artists on independent record
label TVT Records will now be available on the service. TVT Records
artists include Nine Inch Nails, XTC and Naughty By Nature. Finally,
Pressplay announced that it has reached a long-term licensing agreement
with Broadcast Music International (BMI), a performing rights
organization. The license gives Pressplay access to BMI's 4.5 million-song
repertoire in return for royalty payments made to songwriters, composers
and music publishers covered by BMI. The Pressplay service lets
subscribers stream and download a limited number of songs each month to
their PCs. A limited number of these selections can then be burned onto
CD.
http://www.mediaunbound.com/pr_01-28-2002.jsp
http://www.pressplay.com/pressroom/pr_20020128.html
http://www.bmi.com/news/200201/20020128b.asp
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o E Ink Gets Strategic Investment for Electronic Ink Displays

Cambridge, Mass. -- E Ink Corporation, a developer of electronic ink
technology for paper-like displays, announced on Monday that Air Products
and Chemicals, a supplier of electronic gases, chemicals and services to
the electronics industry, has taken an undisclosed equity stake in the
company. Air Products will provide technical support for the joint
development of a high-resolution display that is thin, flexible and rugged
enough to become the next generation paper. Massachusetts-based E Ink is
developing its technology for use in point-of-sale signs in retail stores,
cell phones, PDAs and thin, portable electronic books and newspapers.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020128/282273_1.html
http://www.eink.com
http://www.airproducts.com
_____________________________________________

o RioPort Licenses BMG Songs for Music Subscription Service

San Jose, Calif. -- RioPort, a developer of digital music distribution
technology, announced on Monday that it has licensed songs from major
record label BMG Entertainment for its music subscription service. The
agreement will initially include 22,000 songs from artists on BMG labels.
RioPort's service is unique in that it uses proprietary technology to
allow users to transfer secured songs to portable music players and
devices like set-top boxes, while retaining the usage rules determined by
copyright holders. San Jose-based RioPort plans to launch its service with
music portability through online retailers, broadband and wireless service
providers and consumer electronics companies late in the first quarter of
2002.
http://www.rioport.com/RioCorpPressReleases/1,3614,,00.html?article_id=1000721
http://www.bmgentertainment.com
_____________________________________________

o Microsoft Partners with Rock Band Linkin Park for Xbox Promotion

Redmond, Wash. -- Microsoft announced on Monday a plan to promote its Xbox
video game console through product placement on an upcoming tour by Warner
Bros. recording artists Linkin Park. Microsoft will provide promotional
support for the 19-city Projekt: Revolution tour, while the Xbox will be
featured on tour signage, logos on merchandise and autographed consoles
for radio promotions with the band. Linkin Park's debut LP "Hybrid Theory"
sold 4.81 million copies sold in the U.S. in 2001, according to SoundScan.
Opening acts on the Linkin Park tour will be Adema, Cypress Hill and
DJ-ZTRIP.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020128/sfm075_1.html
http://www.projektrevolution.com/
_____________________________________________

o Disney Interactive Forms New Game Unit "Plaid Banana Entertainment"

Burbank, Calif. -- Disney Interactive, a division of Disney that develops
interactive entertainment and educational games, announced on Monday the
formation of Plaid Banana Entertainment, a new publishing label run by
Hulabee Entertainment that will develop kid's adventure games. Engineered
for children ages three to nine, Plaid Banana will release its first two
titles -- "Moop and Dreadly in The Treasure on Bing Bong Island" and "Ollo
and the Sunny Valley Fair" -- for PC and Mac in March.
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?day0/220280157&ticker=
http://disney.go.com/disneyinteractive/flash/index.html
http://www.hulabee.com
_____________________________________________

o Nintendo Details European GameCube Launch, Discounts Game Boy Advance

Tokyo -- Nintendo announced on Monday that its GameCube video game console
will cost about $216 when it goes on sale in Europe on May 3, Reuters
reported. The company undercut the cost of both Microsoft's Xbox -- which
will sell for $414 -- and Sony's PlayStation 2, which currently sells for
around $270 in Europe. Nintendo plans to release 20 game titles when the
GameCube launches in Europe. The company also announced a worldwide price
reduction for its handheld Game Boy Advance. In the U.S., the game will be
discounted by 20 percent and sell for $80; in Japan the game will now sell
for about $65, and in Europe the Game Boy Advance will be reduced to about
$86.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-824192.html
http://www.nintendo.com/news/news_articles.jsp?articleID=6091
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o Briefly Noted:

(Washington, D.C.) The U.S. Copyright Office announced on Monday that it
has joined with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to organize a
conference on copyrights in celebration of World Intellectual Property
Day. The conference, entitled "Beyond the DMCA: A Copyright Conference,"
will be held April 25-26 in Washington, D.C.
http://www.loc.gov/copyright/

(Tokyo) Top Japanese manufacturers of DVD players are considering
litigation against Chinese DVD manufacturers for their failure to pay
licensing fees on patented materials used in the devices, AsiaBizTech
reported. Companies such as APEX sell their DVD players for under $100,
over 30 percent less than Japanese counterparts like Sony. Licensing fees
for technology such as MPEG compression and Dolby sound can account for as
much as $20 per device, or 14 percent of the total wholesale cost. Chinese
production represents about one-third of all DVD players manufactured, and
it is estimated that between $140 and $200 million is lost to unpaid
licensing fees annually.
http://www.nikkeibp.asiabiztech.com/wcs/leaf?CID=onair/asabt/moren/165841
http://www.apexdigitalinc.com/html/

(Lake Forest, Calif.) Western Digital, a developer and manufacturer of
data storage devices, announced on Monday that its hard drives will be
used in TiVo's upcoming line of digital video recorders. The TiVo Series 2
will offer TV viewers up to 60 hours of recording time, in addition to its
ability to pause and fast-forward through programming like a VCR. "Digital
entertainment is an important market for Western Digital, and similar to
gaming consoles, digital video recorders are one of many non-traditional
products creating increased demand for personal storage," said Western
Digital CEO Arif Shakeel.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020128/lam036_1.html
http://www.westerndigital.com

(Chatsworth, Calif.) Image Entertainment, a licensee and distributor of
DVD programming in North America, announced on Monday an agreement with
pay-per-view and video-on-demand provider TVN Entertainment. Under the
terms, Chatsworth-based Image will release live concert music programs to
cable and satellite pay-per-view and video-on-demand through TVN. Image's
library features live concerts from artists including U2, Johnny Cash, Los
Super Seven and Godsmack.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020128/280215_1.html
http://www.image-entertainment.com
http://www.tvn.com

(Chicago) Midway Games, a developer and publisher of console and
coin-operated video games, on Monday announced plans for the release of
the latest sequel in its "Mortal Kombat" series. Since 1992, the franchise
has generated more than $1.5 billion in revenue through games, movies,
music, toys and other merchandise. "Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance" will
be shipped in the fall of 2002 for Xbox, GameCube, Game Boy Advance and
other gaming systems.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020128/282340_1.html
http://www.mortalkombatdeadlyalliance.com

(Madison, Wisc.) Musicnotes, a publisher of digital sheet music, has
announced a distribution agreement with Musician's Friend, a division of
retailer Guitar Center that sells musical instruments and accessories on
the Internet. Under the agreement, Wisconsin-based Musicnotes will offer
its digital sheet music on the Musician's Friend website, which includes
songs from Warner Bros. Publishing, BMG, Famous Music, Mel Bay and other
publishers.
http://www.musicnotes.com/press/mf.asp
http://www.musiciansfriend.com

(San Francisco) CNET recently published an article on the independent
economy created by players of Sony's online roleplaying game EverQuest,
who regularly buy and sell characters, skills and possessions they acquire
while playing the game on Internet auction sites. It's estimated that
players earn $3.42 for every hour they play the game and collectively
produce annual gross "exports" of more than $5 million. "What you see with
'EverQuest' is that economies happen by themselves," said Edward
Castronova, associate professor of economics at California State
University at Fullerton. "If you get a bunch of people together and they
have things they can produce and opportunities to exchange them, you've
got the makings of an economic system."
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-823260.html?tag=cd_mh
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