Iomega Announces Launch of HipZip Digital Audio Player

Iomega today announced the retail launch of the HipZip digital audio player, a sleek new device that combines affordable music storage with support for licensed digital downloads of copyrighted music and spoken word content.

The HipZip digital audio player, available nationwide September 24, plays music stored on Iomega's PocketZip 40MB disks and radically lowers the cost of creating portable personal music collections. Additionally, the HipZip player utilizes Microsoft's Windows Media Format (WMA) and digital rights management (DRM) technology and other DRM technologies to secure commercial music content to PocketZip disks, offering artists and publishers protection from the unauthorized distribution of commercial content.

"This is a major breakthrough in digital audio and gives consumers the ability to buy the music they want at the price they want to pay," said Bruce Albertson, president and CEO, Iomega Corporation. "We applaud Microsoft and other DRM providers for helping expand the market for the legal distribution of online music. We believe that the combination of affordable storage, in the form of Iomega's PocketZip disks, and digital rights management utilizing PocketZip's unique serialized disks will open the doors to rapid growth in the market for digital downloads of commercial content."

PocketZip Media Offers Consumers Affordable Alternative
Iomega's PocketZip 40MB disks break the price barrier for digital audio storage, providing an affordable new alternative to the costly flash memory cards that have limited the widespread consumer adoption of MP3 and other digital audio players. Formerly marketed under the Clik! trademark, PocketZip disks are approximately one-quarter of the size of CD audio discs, are encased in a metal shell for better durability than a CD, store more minutes of music than a CD using the Microsoft Windows Media Format, and are serialized to enable the digital rights management (DRM) of licensed content. PocketZip disks incorporate the same technology as Iomega's award- winning Zip disks.

Iomega estimates that consumers build a media library averaging 20 disks in the first year after they adopt a new music format. With the HipZip player, that 20-disk collection has a media cost of about $200, or $10 per PocketZip disk. Building an equivalent music collection with solid-state memory cards in the MP3 format, the sole format used in approximately 75 percent of players on the market today, would take twice the storage space compared to files in Microsoft Windows Media Format and would cost nearly $4,000, well beyond the reach of many consumers. With PocketZip-based players like HipZip, consumers can now build affordable digital music collections.

"Iomega is strategically positioned to play a leading role in the new consumer electronics marketplace with the introduction of PocketZip technology, an affordable and easy-to-use storage solution," said Albertson. "The recognition of PocketZip by a growing number of content providers and manufacturers signals widespread acceptance for this format."

Windows Media Player 7 Selected
Microsoft Windows Media Player 7 has been selected to be the default Windows-based PC jukebox to be included in every HipZip box. Windows Media Player 7 delivers a complete, all-in-one experience, including digital audio and video playback, a jukebox, an Internet radio tuner, an integrated media guide, audio CD creation, and one-click transfer of digital music to portable devices. Microsoft Windows Media Player 7 ends user confusion and the need to use several products to perform the most common digital media activities. Using the Microsoft Windows Media Format, combined with Windows Media Player 7's integrated one-click transfer feature for portable music devices, the HipZip player can store about 80 minutes of digital music and other audio content on each 40MB PocketZip disk. Together, Iomega's PocketZip technology and Microsoft Windows Media Rights Manager offer the first affordable, portable solution for supporting secure digital music, bringing Internet delivery of digital content from top artists to consumers and enabling viable digital music e-commerce.

"HipZip and the PocketZip technology take digital music affordability to a new level," said Dave Fester, general manager, Digital Media Division, Microsoft Corporation. "Consumers using PocketZip combined with Windows Media's CD quality sound and superior file compression can now store their whole music collection for a fraction of the cost of other portable media."

Iomega Garners Industry Support for PocketZip Platform
The following content providers from the music, publishing and software industries have announced their support for the PocketZip platform:

EMI Recorded Music
"Iomega's exciting PocketZip disk offers music labels the very real potential of a secure format for downloading and locking content to one location while creating an equitable transaction between content owner and user," said Ted Cohen, vice president of new media, EMI Recorded Music.

I-Jam
I-Jam Multimedia L.L.C., a pioneer in the digital audio arena, also announced the company's intention to license and market premium music content on pre-recorded PocketZip disks.

"Iomega's PocketZip disks represent a new portable, affordable music format that has the potential to challenge the compact disc in consumer acceptance and use," said Doug Marrison, president and CEO of I-Jam Multimedia. "I-Jam will be using the PocketZip disk as the basis for a new secure digital format for pre-recorded music, best-selling books, classic radio shows and digital magazines."

Simon & Schuster
"Iomega's PocketZip disk represents a breakthrough format for downloading and locking content to a single place, creating exciting possibilities for Simon & Schuster's digital audio content," said Gilles Dana, senior vice president, Simon & Schuster New Media. "PocketZip disks offer a convenient new option for on-the-go consumers to enjoy our audio books."

Random House
"Iomega's PocketZip disk offers real promise as a new format for downloading and securing content, creating a secure and equitable exchange between the provider and the user," said Richard Sarnoff, president of the New Media Group at Random House. "For spoken word works, PocketZip disks represent a convenient and secure format for delivering entertainment to active consumers."

Treble V Music
"Treble V Music supports the portability of its music to our customers in a secure format. Our business is to simply provide entertainment," says Greg Barbero, partner and vice president of Treble V Music. "Our lives become more digital every month. We want our customers to play their Sam Cardon and Michael Dowdle music whether working at their computer or working out at the gym. Iomega's PocketZip technology allows our customers to do that securely, and in digital high fidelity."

Iomega's HipZip Portable Digital Audio Player Features
The palm-sized player, using iObjects Dadio operating system, downloads or records digital files and then allows users to play them anywhere. The HipZip player is compatible with today's popular digital formats, including the Microsoft Windows Media Format and MP3, and is software upgradeable to other audio formats, such as Audible and Dolby AAC. It includes a large, backlit display, customizable equalizer, a USB port for fast music transfers, and a 12-hour rechargeable lithium ion battery. The player's software package will include Windows Media Player 7 for Windows users and MusicMatch Jukebox Plus software for Mac users, allowing consumers to download audio files from the Internet and create customized music collections from their audio CDs.

Iomega's HipZip player, priced at $299, will be available September 24 at Best Buy Stores across the nation and can also be purchased directly from Iomega at www.iomegadirect.com. The company expects other consumer electronics retailers to stock the player in time for the holiday shopping season.

Other manufacturers that have already announced support for the PocketZip disk format include Sensory Science Corporation, which began shipping the Rave:mp 2300 player in July, Addonics Technologies Corporation, Varo Vision Co., OptoMedia Corporation, LG International Corp., Rexon Technologies, RFC and Frontier Labs.

About Iomega
Iomega Corporation (NYSE: IOM) manufactures and markets the award-winning Zip®, Jaz(R) and PocketZip(TM) drives and disks and markets Iomega CD-RW drives and disks. Iomega's products help people to save, share, manage and create important information such as spreadsheets, slides, Internet downloads, audio files and personal photographs, while protecting that content from viruses and hackers. Used in homes, businesses, government and educational facilities and by creative professionals everywhere, Iomega storage solutions are the enabling technologies preferred by millions. The Company can be reached at 1-800-MY-STUFF (800-697-8833), or on the Web at www.iomega.com.

Source: Iomega