New RCA Lyra Players Primed for Subscription Music Trend

August 30, 2005 - To support the rapid proliferation of online subscription music services, Thomson now offers three RCA LYRA Micro Jukebox players that are compatible with all Internet music download and subscription services that support secure Windows Media Audio, including Yahoo! Music Unlimited, RealNetworks' Rhapsody and other Microsoft "PlaysForSure" online music stores. Weighing just under three ounces, the 4GB RCA LYRA RD2762, 5GB RCA LYRA RD2763 and the 5GB RCA LYRA RD2765 are so small that they fit behind a business card, and feature a 1.5-inch display for navigating through music content. The RD2762 and RD2765 are available now at retailers throughout the U.S. The RD2763 will be available next month.

"According to a recent InStat survey, the online music market will grow by 134 percent this year and achieve the $1 billion sales mark," said Dan Collishaw, Vice President, Worldwide Audio and Video, Thomson. "A key influence in this surge is the recent influx of new subscription music download services that will enhance the appeal of compatible digital audio players."

Sporting a metallic bright red finish and easy-to-read monochrome screen, the 4GB RD2762 (suggested retail price $149) stores up to 2,720 songs* or 136 hours of music. Offering slightly more capacity, the metallic blue 5GB RD2763 (suggested retail price $179) and metallic silver 5GB RD2765 (suggested retail price $199) store up to 3,400 songs* or 170 hours of music, and include a color screen for viewing JPEG photos and album cover art. The RD2763 also includes an FM transmitter for easy in-car use. A free www.rca.com firmware upgrade for enhanced performance quickly updates the three models for better support of subscription-based services.

The three players will also support Audible content with a software download later this year, enabling the simple and secure transfer of digital spoken information and entertainment. Consumers can choose from more than 70,000 hours of content from www.audible.com, including the latest, best-selling audiobooks, as well as audio editions of newspapers, magazines, broadcast television and radio programs.

"We're excited to be working with Thomson and giving RCA LYRA Micro Jukebox customers access to Rhapsody," said Bud Rosenthal, Vice President of Music Marketing and Operations for RealNetworks. "With Rhapsody and an RCA LYRA Micro Jukebox, music fans have a great way to discover and purchase music from Rhapsody's library of over one million songs, and enjoy those purchases on the go. It's a dream combo."

With the RCA LYRA Micro Jukebox, navigation and file selection are simple. Various functions including music playback, shuffle and sort options are identified with distinct icons and can be browsed using the centrally located jog wheel. Music is easily dragged and dropped onto the player via a swift USB 2.0 connection. Once loaded onto the player, music files can be viewed by artist, album, song title, genre or year with full ID3 tag support.

The players can accommodate ten hours of playback time with a rechargeable lithium ion battery. They come packaged with a music management software CD that includes MusicMatch Jukebox and LYRA System applications.

*encoded at 64mbps mp3 or WMA.

For more information: www.thomson.net

SOURCE RCA