Archives for September 1996

RealAudio System 3.0 Brings Stereo, DolbyNet, and “Pseudo Streaming” to the Web

New York, NY. The parade of key interactive audio software announcements continues at IMA Expo’96 in New York. Today, the attention grabber is Progressive Networks, with its introduction of RealAudio System 3.0.

This is the first version of RealAudio to deliver stereo. The new release also features more reliable audio delivery via improved transmission protocols. A beta version is available immediately from the Progressive Networks web site.

“We’re excited by the many new applications now available to our customers through the introduction of broadcast-quality sound on the Internet,” stated Rob Glaser, Chairman and CEO of Progressive Networks. “This breakthrough marks the beginning of the next era in Internet multimedia broadcasting.”

RealAudio 3.0 is also the first Internet product to ship using DolbyNet™ technology from Dolby Labs. This technology uses new audio codecs created jointly by Progressive and Dolby. The new codecs produce increased frequency response and error mitigation, with reduced levels of audio artifacts. Producers and developers can also select from various encoding options to optimize for different bandwidths and tuning options such as pop, instrumental and voice.

“RealAudio 3.0 truly delivers stereo sound at 28.8 and near-CD quality at ISDN bandwidths,” added Mike Homer, Senior V-P of Marketing at Netscape Communications. “We expect to see many new Internet applications based on this new broadcast-quality audio.”

More than 40 providers have announced plans to launch content utilizing the stereo sound featured in RealAudio 3.0. Early adopters include music labels Sony, Warner, Polygram, BMG and MCA; web music sites including AudioNet, SonicNet and ENSO/Muzak; radio networks Evergreen and Infinity; and national broadcasting companies including CBS Radio, NBC, ABC and the CBC.

“I can’t believe how far RealAudio has come in just 18 months,” said Kathryn Dillon, V-P, Production and Technology, ABC Multimedia Group. “The broadcast community will really stand up and take notice of RealAudio 3.0 stereo quality and plan new broadcast applications. ABC intends to announce new services and programming using RealAudio 3.0.”

In a demonstration of the audio quality possible with the new system, Seattle classical music station KING-FM aired three selections directly from a RealAudio player in their studio. The audio was delivered via ISDN from a server at Progressive Networks’ head office. The player output was patched directly into the KING-FM station feed and sent out to the transmission tower.

“The result of the test confirms in my mind that RealAudio 3.0 truly delivers broadcast-quality audio over the Internet,” said KING-FM GM and Program Director Peter Newman. “Our audience consists mainly of experienced classical music listeners who demand the best in audio quality. Our listeners couldn’t tell the difference!”

Another innovation in RealAudio 3.0 is the capability of serving small audio files from regular web servers, without a dedicated RealAudio server. This “pseudo-streaming” feature will be included as an option with the RealAudio 3.0 Encoder, available now from the RealAudio web site.

elemedia: AT&T Spawns a New Player in the Streaming Audio Game

Murray Hill, NJ. Lucent Technologies, the recently formed spin-off from AT&T and Bell Labs, today established a new venture group to market high-quality voice, music and video software for applications on the Internet.

The new division will be called elemedia (elements for multimedia), and it will deliver products under the Media Plus™ label. The line will include software to enable FM stereo/CD-quality audio software for services such as music-on-demand and real-time audio broadcasting. Other offerings will include voice software for “telephone quality” conversations over the net, and speakerphone software, to give PCs and Internet phone devices full-duplex capabilities.

“We’re capitalizing on a more than a decade of Bell Laboratories software research and development in packet technologies to bring Internet telephony to the level of quality people are accustomed to,” said Joe Mele, President of elemedia. “This software will help move voice, music and video over the Internet beyond the current base of technologists and hobbyists and into the mainstream.”

With this mission, elemedia is positioning itself to go head to head with the current industry leaders in realtime audio delivery over the Internet: Progressive Networks (RealAudio™), Xing (Streamworks™), and VocalTec (Internet Phone™).

Among the first to adopt elemedia’s Media Plus software will be Soundprint Media Center, a provider of Internet services for the public radio broadcasting industry.

Day One of IMA Expo Brings Major Audio Software Announcements

New York, NY. As expected, IMA Expo’96 in New York is turning out to be the venue of choice for a number of major audio software introductions.

Leading the parade today was Apple Computer Inc., which announced its Interactive Music Toolkit. Music Toolkit is a set of software tools for creating “Blue Book” enhanced audio CD’s (ECD’s). It is designed to allow audio producers, developers and artists to create multi-session ECD’s that can be played on both Mac and Windows platforms.

“Apple has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to working with developers and artists,” said Leo Rossi, technical advisor for the EMI Record Group and principal of Highway One Media Entertainment. “The Music Toolkit allows the professional recording artist and developer to take the creative process to a new dimension.”

Music Toolkit ECDs are 16-bit audio CDs with added multimedia content. The multimedia materials can include graphics, pictures, lyrics, and QuickTime movies. The key component of Music Toolkit is a music engine for the Apple Media Tool. Media Tool is a high-end multimedia authoring environment which is used to assemble the interactive portion of the ECD. Also included is the Lyric Synchronizer utility, which synchronizes lyrics to the music.

In keeping with the corporate mandate to tout Internet applications before all else, Apple has focused attention on the Music Toolkit’s capability of creating “Virtual CD’s” (VCD). A VCD contains multimedia content without the audio. Users download a VCD from the Internet, put the appropriate audio CD in their computer’s CD-ROM drive, and the sound and multimedia content will play back simultaneously. Record companies can now add interactivity to audio CDs without having to produce a new version by posting the VCD file on their website.

The VCD feature is reminiscent of (but not identical to) a technology called CD-Link™ that multimedia publisher Voyager has been promoting for more than a year. CD-Link allows a downloadable file from the Internet to control playback of an audio CD, so that artists and end users may create edited versions of existing audio and synchronize the edits with web page text and graphics.

The Apple Interactive Music Toolkit is available for free download immediately at Apple’s web site. Also available there is the beta version of the AppleCD Player, which is required for playback of ECDs created with the Music Tool Kit.

The Toolkit requires a Mac, Power Mac or PowerBook computer with a 68030 processor or higher, running Mac OS 7.1 or later. 5MB RAM required, 12MB RAM recommended, and 10MB available disk space.

Hong Kong Cracking Down on CD Piracy

Hong Kong. The Xinhua news agency is reporting that Hong Kong Customs seized pirated CD’s with an estimated street value of $90,000 (US) in weekend raids. Customs officers raided 12 shops and confiscated a total of 14,000 pirated discs, including CD-ROM’s and Video CD’s.

Sixteen men aged between 16 and 41 were arrested in the latest anti-piracy action, which was the sixth in a series of raids this year aimed at curbing vigorour Asian trade in pirated software.

Government sources in Hong Kong said that these operations demonstrate the governments full commitment to eradicating piracy activities in Hong Kong and protecting the rights of copyright owners.

Sky Radio Chooses Satellite Audio from International Datacasting

Ottawa, Canada. International Datacasting announced today that they have been selected to supply a satellite digital audio system to Sky Radio Network of Sydney, Australia. Sky Radio Network is Australia’s largest affiliated commercial radio network.

The contract is valued in excess of $300,000 (US). It includes addressable QPSK satellite receivers, uplink equipment and customized head-end control software. The customized software allows Sky Radio Network to interface its existing program scheduling system with International Datacasting’s head-end Network Control Processor.

Sky Radio Network will use International Datacasting’s FlexRoute satellite digital audio system to distribute network programming to 140 radio stations throughout Australia and New Zealand. The new digital audio system replaces the sub-carrier above video system the company had been using. Sky Radio’s digital services are uplinked from Sydney by four SCPC QPSK carriers on the Optus satellite.

“This contract affirms International Datacasting’s position as the preferred provider of satellite digital audio systems for Australia’s broadcasters,” commented Hugh Mullington, President and CEO of International Datacasting. The Australian Broadcasting Corp. and other regional networks in Australia have previously acquired International Datacasting systems.

International Datacasting has over 15,000 satellite digital audio and data broadcasting earth stations installed worldwide.