“The Internet has literally exploded into our lives,“says Product Manager Audio/DVD Philips Consumer Electronics, Jane
Waddel. “Everyone is relying increasingly on Internet services for information, purchasing, education, entertainment and
more.”
“The fact that it’s only taken it four years to achieve 50 million users, whereas radio took 37 years to achieve a
listener level of 50 million and television 13 years to win 50 million viewers, further highlights the Internet’s
tremendous impact.”
With this is mind, Philips is entering the MP3 player market with one of the most compact and stylishly-designed solid
state audio devices to date – RUSH!
“MP3 is a revolutionary compression technology that has become the standard audio compression format used on the world
wide web. As a file storage system it’s unbeatable,” Jane Waddel says.
RUSH! provides access to Internet-delivered music in a neat 7x7cm square device measuring just 1.7cm thick – small
enough to fit into a shirt pocket. As the RUSH! has no mechanical parts, it weighs next to nothing – just 50gm.
Thanks to solid state technology, RUSH! has an ultra-compact, completely shock-proof design that makes it ideal for
people on the go. RUSH! is simple to use, and being totally digital offers many functional benefits.
“In creating Solid State, Philips aims to meets the need of Internet-friendly young people - and many of the older
generation too,” Jane Waddel says.
“Internet compatibility is the key to the future of Solid State. Already the Internet offers a wide range of music and
is seen to be the future marketing tool of the music industry. It also makes sound files available and all this,
combined with its incredible rate of expansion, means that the range of sound material available to Solid State users is
literally growing every minute.”
“What’s more the needs of music lovers around the world are changing,” Waddel says. “They no longer want to own the
latest in technology just so they can enjoy excellent sound reproduction when playing their CDs or cassettes. They want
to customise their music.”
RUSH! has been designed to give consumers access to the vast array of audio material available on the Internet. The
device plays back compressed digital MP3 files downloaded from the Internet, or the consumers’ own CDS via a PC, and
stored on a SmartMedia Card. A standard 64MB SmartMedia card (32MB cards are also available) – as supplied with the
RUSH! – can store approximately two hours of near CD-quality music and can be endlessly erased, overwritten and
re-indexed. Furthermore, RUSH! is fully secured.
“The two hours or more of music playtime available through the SmartMedia card offers limitless opportunities for
customisation,” Jane Waddel says.
Lighter and smaller than the average MP3 player on the market, RUSH! is great to look at, super-compact so that it can
be taken anywhere, and packed with design details and audio technology that make it the “must-have” player for everyone
who loves to play music on the move
Importantly, Philips RUSH! technology is SDMI-compliant, which ensures all future Internet compressed music will be
compatible with the RUSH! Also, RUSH! is AudibleReady, which means it features Audible’s internet audio service
providing users with the ability to download content from any of the more the 20,000 hours of premium spoken word audio.
Daily, selected audio content from The Wall Street Journal and daily digests of The New York Times and audio books from
best-selling authors including Stephen King and John Grisham are available at Audible.com.
“Philips intends to lead the market in New Zealand with MP3 technology and plans to extend its MP3 product range in
2001,” says Jane Waddel.
Full details and specifications of the Philips RUSH! can be found on the Philips New Zealand Website:
www.philipsnz.co.nz
Ends
For further information and/or visuals contact:
Jane Waddel, Philips Consumer Electronics, 09 815 4128