MEDION AG, Fraunhofer IIS, and Thomson: medionmusic, the Online Music Shop of MEDION AG, Brings MP3 Surround to the Commercial Download Arena.

ERLANGEN, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 9, 2005--MP3 Surround was developed by Fraunhofer IIS in collaboration with Agere Systems and allows the reproduction of high-quality multi-channel sound at bit rates comparable to those currently used to encode stereo MP3 material. Most importantly, the new format offers complete backward compatibility to any existing MP3 software and devices. This makes MP3 Surround perfectly applicable for music download services such as medionmusic.

Martina Effmert, Director Marketing and Cooperation of MEDION AG: "MP3 Surround creates a brand new listening experience. We set a high value on sound quality at medion-music and offer each MP3 song at 192 kBit/s. We are glad to offer our customers a sound upgrade through the cooperation with Fraunhofer IIS."
Furthermore, Fraunhofer IIS introduces Ensonido® - surround sound to go. The software solution enables the playback of multi-channel content over conventional stereo headphones. Ensonido® will be demonstrated in combination with a new MEDION headphone.
Further information can be obtained at www.ensonido.com .
"Through the integration into the broad range of MEDION consumer electronics products and the medionmusic store, surround sound comes now into everyday life", confirms Harald Popp, Head of the Multimedia Realtime Systems Department at Fraunhofer IIS.
"Thomson is pleased to be offering MP3 Surround technology as a feature in medionmusic's innovative website, which provides a 'one-stop' resource for accessing the latest digital music content," said Henry Linde, Thomson's Vice President of New Business. "We feel cuttingedge, innovative companies such as MEDION are a perfect outlet for implementing the new MP3 technology."
At CeBIT 2005,
MEDION AG (Hall 2, C56) and
Fraunhofer IIS (Hall 9, B36)

present the MP3 Surround technology.