AAC Audio Format Selected By BMG And Universal Music Group For Commercial Music Downloads

Music Companies Choose State-Of-The-Art Audio Compression For Delivery Of Legitimate Digital Music

1-Sep-00

Dolby Laboratories announced that Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) and Universal Music Group are using the AAC audio compression standard in their respective programs for legitimate digital music delivery. AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) is the latest audio codec standardized by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as part of the MPEG specification. Compared to MPEG Layer-3, popularly known as MP3, AAC provides higher-quality audio, yet requires approximately 30 percent less storage space and bandwidth.Bertelsmann Music Group is home to over 200 record labels in 54 countries, including Arista Records, RCA Music Group and Ariola. Universal Music Group, the world's largest music company, consists of record labels Interscope Geffen A&M, MCA Records, Universal Motown Records Group, Island Def Jam Music Group, MCA Nashville, Mercury Nashville, Verve Music Group and Universal Classics Group, among others. ""We have chosen to distribute our artists' music in AAC format because of its ability to deliver a superior audio experience to the consumer,"" said Karl Slatoff, Vice President, New Media of BMG. ""Our announcement is intended to provide the software and consumer electronics industries with the information they need to deliver SDMI-compliant products into the market that will support legitimate music from BMG artists.""""Universal Music Group recently began using the AAC format in the trials of bluemattertm, our new digital music product,"" said Laura Goldberg, Vice President, P.C.-Based Digital Music, Global e. ""AAC is an attractive format for us because it offers consumers high audio quality but requires a limited amount of bandwidth for downloading.""In addition to higher-quality music reproduction, AAC is being used in conjunction with Digital Rights Management (DRM) technologies, which control the unrestricted copying and unlawful distribution of songs. BMG's and Universal's legitimate digital music delivery programs embrace the latest technologies and protect the rights copyright holders.Ramzi Haidamus, Dolby Laboratories' Technical/Business Strategist said, ""Dolby is very excited to be working with two major music companies. AAC compatible devices from major consumer electronics manufacturers will begin to appear on shelves this fall and we expect to see many devices from major manufacturers in time for the holiday season. Now that two of the largest music companies in the world are beginning distribution of AAC-encoded content, and as portable players become SDMI compliant and DRM compatible, a fully portable high-quality music experience will become a reality.""For more information about AAC, please visit the AAC Web site, www.aac-audio.com, or email aacla@dolby.com.About AACAAC is high-quality audio coding technology and the solution of choice for many broadcast and electronic music-distribution applications. AAC is compatible with all digital rights management, encryption, and watermarking solutions available today. In independent tests, the coding efficiency of AAC proved to be superior to MP3, providing higher-quality audio reproduction at lower bit rates. AAC provides up to 48 channels of audio, sample rates of up to 96 kHz, and can achieve ITU-R broadcast quality at 320 kb/s for a 5.1-channel audio program. Developed and standardized as an ISO/IEC specification by four industry leaders (AT&T, Dolby Laboratories, Fraunhofer IIS, and Sony Corporation), AAC is supported by a growing number of hardware and software manufacturers.About Image Entertainment, Inc.

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