CD Lockdown

They have become the companies music fans around the world love to hate. But to their stockholders, the businesses developing CD-restriction technologies are a promising new technology niche for investing. SunnComm is one of these new companies dedicated to finding means to restrict the ways consumers can use compact discs, and last week they used their annual stockholder meeting as an opportunity to announce their latest copy-protection product.

At the presentation, which took place at SunnComm's corporate offices, the company explained that its new "revolutionary technology" had been kept under wraps due to the "intense competition within this market segment." SunnComm's Peter H. Jacobs said, "This is a very important step for our company and we are excited to be able to showcase MediaCloQ 5.0 to our stockholders."

Jacobs added that his company had been working closely with current and prospective record label and media customers. "Our technology needed to create a legal and licensed way for consumers to make personal copies on their computers while inhibiting unauthorized duplication of digital content. We also had to make sure that the CD plays on just about every CD player and DVD player out there. I believe MediaCloQ 5.0 accomplishes this."

SunnComm says its new restriction technology will be available this summer, and plans are underway to deploy the product into the manufacturing segment. The company's William H. Whitmore, Jr. told stockholders that, in order to quickly develop MediaCloQ 5.0, "We were fortunate to have very influential partners helping us to expedite the process and bring our products to a high level of productivity in a very short period of time." Among the "partners" Whitmore identified are BMG, Sonopress, DCA, and Microsoft.

Whitmore concluded, "I strongly believe that it will be these solid relationships that will enable SunnComm to provide digital music enhancement and security on compact discs and the Internet for years to come."

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