Dolby Announces Sanyo's Support for AAC in New Portable Audio Player; Model SSP-PD7 Now Available in the US With AAC-Enabled CD-Ripper

Business Wire, Jan 23, 2001

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 23, 2001

Dolby Laboratories announced today that Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. has licensed AAC for inclusion in the company's SSP-PD7 Portable Digital Memory Player. 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.

Sanyo's new device supports playback in both AAC and MP3 formats, and includes CD-ripping software, which allows users to encode CDs in AAC format. Since AAC encoding at 96 kbps can exceed the quality of MP3 encoding at 128 kbps, Sanyo's player can store more songs than MP3-only playback devices. Sanyo's player comes with a removable 32MB MultiMediaCard flash memory card for storing audio data.

The SSP-PD7 supports Liquid Audio's Secure Portable Player Platform (SP3) format that allows for the secure distribution of digital music to portable devices in accordance with SDMI guidelines. Users can access over 120,000 high-quality music tracks from hundreds of retail and music websites in the Liquid Music Network, as well as extras such as lyrics, liner notes, and album art.

"Dolby is very pleased that Sanyo is introducing its player to the US market," said Ramzi Haidamus, Dolby Laboratories' Director of Business Development. "The SSP-PD7 is among the first portable devices to include support for CD-ripping in AAC format. AAC's greater efficiency, compared to MP3, allows consumers to 'Store Less and Hear More,' which means smaller files that retain higher quality audio."

For more information about AAC, please visit the AAC website, www.aac-audio.com,, or send email to aacla@dolby.com. The Sanyo SSP-PD7 Portable Digital Memory Player is available for purchase at www.store.sanyousa.com.

About AAC

AAC 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 kbps 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 Sanyo

Sanyo Fisher Company (www.sanyousa.com) is a division of Sanyo North America Corporation, a subsidiary of Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (Nasdaq:SANYY), an $18 billion manufacturer and distributor of consumer and commercial electronics and electric products.

About AT&T

AT&T Corp (www.att.com) is among the world's premier voice, video and data communications companies, serving more than 80 million customers, including consumers, businesses and government. With annual revenues of more than $62 billion and 148,000 employees, AT&T provides services to customers worldwide. The company runs the world's largest, most sophisticated communications network and has one of the largest digital wireless networks in North America. Its services are backed by the research and development capabilities of AT&T Labs, which is working to create the information services and communications network of tomorrow. AT&T Labs is a leader in the development of technologies and standards for audio (http://www.research.att.com/history/soundinnovation.html), speech, video and image compression; electronic commerce and digital copyright management; search and directory services; speech processing and coding of all sorts; network architecture, design, engineering and operations; and other areas critical to the advancement of new broadband communications and Internet offerings.

About Dolby Laboratories

Dolby Laboratories (www.dolby.com) is the developer of signal-processing systems used worldwide in applications that include motion picture sound, consumer entertainment products and media, broadcasting, and music recording. Based in San Francisco with European headquarters in England, the privately held company also has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Beijing and Tokyo.

About Fraunhofer IIS

Fraunhofer IIS (www.iis.fhg.de/amm) is the leading research laboratory in the area of audio coding. For more than ten years, Fraunhofer IIS has actively driven forward international standardization of several audio compression algorithms, including MPEG Layer-3 and AAC. Besides devising advanced algorithms, Fraunhofer IIS engineers focus on the effective implementation of state-of-the-art audio and video coding schemes on PCs and digital signal processors (DSPs). Fraunhofer IIS is active in international efforts focussing on methods for intellectual property management and protection, including MPEG-4 and SDMI.