Looking for who said what in the sound world? Well there is no better place to find every audio related press release than 3DsoundSurge.!

Industry Applauds Absence of Use Fees and Low Royalties for PC-based Decoding

``The MPEG-4 AAC co-licensors listened to licensees and understand the complexities of the marketplace -- it is impractical to expect content owners or distributors to adopt a format which involves use fees, dramatically increasing their costs while also burdening them with tracking usage,'' said Tom Jacobs, president of ISMA. ``ISMA members have been very concerned that the proposed use fees for MPEG-4 video patent licensing will inhibit the uptake of MPEG-4 among its most important constituents -- the companies that create and/or distribute multimedia content. ISMA strongly supports the MPEG-4 AAC business model. It encourages the use of this important new technology by making it attractive to the content industry, which will in turn promote the sale of products and the success of the MPEG-4 standard.''

The MPEG-4 AAC patent license treats PC-based products as a separate class of products from non-PC devices. Low fees and maximum annual payments for PC-based decoders will allow companies to proliferate MPEG-4 AAC playback on personal computers.

``We're gratified by the show of support from the ISMA,'' said Ramzi Haidamus, Dolby Laboratories' Director of Business Development. ``Dolby and the MPEG-4 AAC co-licensors have worked very hard over the past several years to develop a licensing program that is responsive to the needs of different companies in diverse markets. MPEG-4 AAC is superior audio technology, which we are making available under a set of fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing terms that have broad appeal. We're looking forward to working with IC companies, software developers, hardware vendors, and most of all the content companies that will leverage a global, interoperable standard to create new generations of products and services.''

About MPEG-4 AAC Format

MPEG-4 AAC is high-quality audio coding technology and the solution of choice for many broadcast and electronic music-distribution applications. Independent tests proved the coding efficiency of MPEG-4 AAC to be superior to MP3, providing higher-quality audio reproduction at lower bit rates. MPEG-4 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 within ISO/IEC, MPEG-4 AAC is supported by a growing number of hardware and software manufacturers.

About ISMA

The Internet Streaming Media Alliance is a non-profit corporation founded by Apple (AAPL), Cisco Systems (CSCO), IBM (IBM), Kasenna, Inc., Philips (PHG) and Sun Microsystems (SUNW) to accelerate the market adoption of an international ubiquitous open implementation specification for streaming rich media over the Internet Protocol (IP) that encompasses scalability, ease of use and effectiveness. The ISMA is a diverse alliance with representatives from all points of the streaming workflow. In addition to the founders, the following companies are members of the ISMA: AOL Time Warner Inc., Analog Devices, Bitband, Dolby Laboratories, Entriq, Envivio, France Telecom, Fraunhofer Institute, Hitachi, IndigoVision, Inktomi, iVast, Lucent Technologies, Macrovision, National Semiconductor, NeoMagic, Network Appliance, ObjectVideo (formerly DiamondBack Vision), Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd., On2 Technologies, Optibase, PacketVideo, Serome Technology, Sigma Designs, SGI, Sony, SRI International,/Sarnoff, Streaming21, Telecom Italia Lab, Thomson Multimedia and Volera. Additional information and a complete list of members can be accessed at www.isma.tv.

CONTACT: Jennifer Ackman of Edelman Public Relations Worldwide for Internet Streaming Media Alliance, +1-650-968-4033 ext. 2758, or jennifer.ackman@edelman.com.

SOURCE: Internet Streaming Media Alliance