MP3 Hits the Highway

MP3 is one of the biggest developments in the history of music. It allows listeners to download music onto their computers. It's a great way to expose unknown bands to a wide audience. Of course record companies are worried about piracy and losing money on sales of CDs. At first MP3s were only playable on the computer. Then a whole bunch of companies developed portable MP3 players. And now, the next step has been taken.

i2Go.com has introduced the eGo, the world's first portable digital audio (MP3) player designed for interactive use in the car. Sam Johnson, founder and Chief Executive Officer of i2Go.com, Inc., said: "We developed the eGo to bring the Internet to the car and deliver to consumers a listening experience that they have control over and customize themselves. Because traditional radio broadcasts are programmed for a large audience, they bring you a lot of content and music you are not necessarily interested in. By bringing consumers a rich variety of digital audio content that is relevant to them and that they can then interact with, the eGo keeps them both entertained and productive while in the car."

The eGo gives consumers much more than the ability to manage and listen to music play lists. Coupled with i2Go's MP3Agent® desktop software application, the new player enables consumers to plug into a personal computer, select programming such as music play lists and other audio from the company's Web site, and download it for later play on the car stereo. Unique eGo® interactive features, such as MP3Mail®, MP3Chat® and e-mail2Go®, even allow users to convert e-mails into audio and record responses or notes as an MP3 file, which then can be sent attached to an e-mail when the eGo is re-connected to a computer.

The eGo player provides the latest digital audio technology to a new tech-savvy generation. There are approximately half a million MP3 portable players currently in the market. Forrester Research forecasts 32 million unit sales of portable digital players by 2003. MP3 refers to the technology that compresses high-quality audio into a smaller computer file for easier transmission and distribution over the net. i2Go is the first to expand this technology for use in the car.

The eGo player was designed with both current consumer demands and future technology in mind. The eGo's built-in Cargo expansion bay will enable i2Go and third-party hardware partners to develop other accessories and upgrades for the eGo - such as interfaces to external devices, a wireless adapter, direct connect modems, and even GPS devices. To give the player infinite memory expansion capability i2Go developed the dual Compact Flash II slot, a cargo accessory that enables the eGo to expand to twice the largest available Compact Flash II memory, or 680 MB. And as Compact Flash II memory expands - so can the eGo.

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