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<FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Eight companies (Kenwood Corp., Sharp Corp., Sony Corp., Pioneer Corp., Onkyo Corp., D&M Holdings Inc., Victor Company of Japan, Ltd. (JVC), and Yamaha Corp.)
agreed on a joint investment to establish <STRONG>Any Music Inc.</STRONG> </FONT></P>
<FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>The new company will establish a broadband music service platform that will distribute music <EM>directly</EM> to compatible audio equipment. Any Music service is due to start on May 20, 2004. Any Music will partner with LabelGate Inc. a music distribution company formed by the joint investment of Japan's leading record labels for system integration and content provision. A music library of approximately 38,000 songs will be available for the Any Music service start and will be priced from ~$1.50 (¥158) per single to ~$10 (¥1050) per album.</FONT></P>
<FONT face=Arial size=2>While Any Music service has yet to be announced domestically, you can expect this to be a good test bed for a US release sometime next year. With all of the major players providing support, we wouldn't be surprised to see some hardware modifications designed to work with this new system in upcoming product releases.</FONT></P>
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Read the Release</FONT></P></font>