Panasonic Wednesday announced plans to collaborate with
RealNetworks Inc.
The relationship is designed to enable consumers to
download audio content to RealJukebox and to Panasonic SD Memory Card
compatible devices.
The two companies also announced the RealJukebox will be
the only music management application to be bundled with portable SD Audio
players in the U.S.
Panasonic will provide RealNetworks with interactive multimedia and content
protection software technologies for music and other data transmitted over
the Internet, which will then be incorporated into RealJukebox. The
technologies will include the interface for the new SD Memory Card, a secure,
postage stamp-sized flash memory storage device that Panasonic developed with
Toshiba Corp. and SanDisk Corp.
Panasonic will also provide electronic media
distribution technologies it developed along with its Nigel Project joint
venture partners, AT&T Corp., Bertelsmann Music Group and Universal Music
Group.
Matsushita Electric , the owner of Panasonic, will develop a plug in for the
RealJukebox Internet music player to support portable SD audio devices
including the one that Panasonic will launch this fall. The enhanced
RealJukebox and Panasonic SD devices are expected to contribute to the demand
for music and other audio products delivered over the Internet, while
effectively protecting the copyrights of artists, studios and other content
owners.
“We are pleased to be working with RealNetworks to provide the more than 35
million unique registered RealJukebox users with a fast and easy way to enjoy
their digital audio content on the wide variety of upcoming SD Memory Card
devices,” said Sakon Nagasaki, director of Matsushita Electric’s AV Media
Card Business Development Office. “We expect our collaboration and
commitment to content protection to accelerate the adoption of electronically
distributed music by content creators and consumers alike.”
