RCA LYRA mp3 Jukeboxes Now Offer up to 600 Hours Of Playback

February 19, 2003 --It’s difficult to picture the music lover of yesteryear whose primary source of home entertainment was Thomas Edison’s phonograph, a heavy and cumbersome instrument that played a single tune on a cylinder that had to be changed each time a new song was played. As we approach the 125th anniversary of the patent for Edison’s phonograph this week, however, it’s obvious that we owe Mr. Edison a very strong debt of gratitude. After all, it was his phonograph -- invented February 19, 1878 -- that laid the foundation for a very different piece of equipment that consumers use today to listen to their favorite music. Digital music players that weigh only a few ounces have replaced the phonograph and its successors, enabling music fans to store thousands of songs in devices that can fit in their pocket.

Thomson’s RCA brand continues to enhance the music listening experience by incorporating the latest technological advancements into the RCA LYRA digital audio product line. The current RCA LYRA mp3 Jukebox and new products on tap for 2003 support playback of mp3PRO files -- a music codec which doubles the storage capacity of digital audio products. More than just a music storage and playback device, RCA LYRA Jukebox products provide hard-disc drive capability to store and transport files from a desktop including digital images, presentations and word processing documents.

"The RCA brand has been associated with the playback of recorded music ever since the RCA mascot, ‘Nipper’ was depicted listening to ‘His Master’s Voice’ in the early days of the phonograph," said Mark Redmond, Vice President, Worldwide Audio and Video. "Similarly, Thomson has played an integral part in providing advancements in digital audio, first as a co-developer of the mp3 codec and now the mp3PRO codec -- which significantly improves the listening experience, allowing music fans to manage twice as many music files on their portable device."

RCA LYRA mp3 Jukeboxes Can Now Play Back mp3PRO Files
The two current RCA LYRA mp3 Jukebox products, the 20GB RD2820 and 10GB RD2800, now support mp3PRO playback, via a download located in the "Customer Support" section of www.rca.com. In addition to doubling the music capacity of the two devices (20GB - 600 hours) (10GB - 300 hours), mp3PRO also provides superior sound quality. Files created in mp3PRO are both backwards and forwards compatible with mp3 and are one-half or less the size of original mp3 files. Additional software is required to create mp3PRO audio files, which can be found at the following website: http://www.thomson.net/gb/01/0161.htm. The "Plus" version of MusicMatch management software is also mp3PRO-enabled.

In addition to the mp3PRO playback enhancement, the download provides several other upgrades for the RD2800 and RD2820:

• Supports playback of Windows Media Audio files
• Allows the shuffle feature to perform a random playlist of over 8,000 songs (mp3 playlist is 2000)
• Improves the speed of the embedded LYRA profiler by 10 to 20 percent, which cuts down the wait time after music is downloaded and when it can be played back
• Improves id3 tag recognition, eliminating erroneous text and gaps in display data such as song and album title and artist.
• Allows the user to navigate his or her content while listening to music

Suggested retail price of the RD2820 is $249 and the RD2800 is $199.

2003 RCA LYRA Products Support mp3PRO
The new lineup of RCA LYRA products coming to stores this summer will also incorporate mp3PRO playback. These products include:

• The newly designed 20GB LYRA mp3 Jukebox with USB 2.0 connection (RD2821, suggested retail price $249), which supports mp3PRO right out of the box.



• The 20GB RCA LYRA Audio/Video Jukebox, which features a 3.5 inch screen and enables playback of video files (RD2780, suggested retail price $399), which can be upgraded through a future download.



• The 1.5GB RCA LYRA Micro Jukebox which measures less than three inches around and features a USB 2.0 connection (RD2760, suggested retail price $249), which can be upgraded through a future download.



• The RD1071 (128MB, suggested retail price $99) and RD1021 (64MB, suggested retail price $79) pocket players, which support mp3PRO right out of the box.

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