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OLD news

e.Digital

about 14 years ago

see old news below:

don't know if any of this means anything...but note "Voice Nav" features of odyssey below.

"The Odyssey is just the latest MP3 player from the company, which launched its first player, the Treo 15, in 2001--just prior to the iPod's launch, Ravenel says"

The first generation iPod
October 2001 - July 2002
The iPod head of the family.

A homely child of more meager means than its descendants and the first born in the New World, the iPod had only 5GB of storage to its name-though unprecedented at the time, it was immediately rebuked for its price of $399. It had with it a mere monochrome 160 x 128 LCD, 32MB of RAM and 32MB ROM, but included two things then widely unheard of, a 1.8-inch hard drive, and the mechanical scroll wheel. Alas, the iPod didn't know how to work with Windows, was FireWire-only at first, and only sold 125,000 units in its first two months. In March of 2002 the iPod went to 10GB, but passed on peacefully in July of 2002.

e.Digital Announces Apparant iPod Look-Alike MP3 Player For Windows & Mac

July 21st, 2002 at 3:00 PM - News by Brad Smith

e.Digital Corporation announced today the new Odyssey 1000 digital jukebox and data storagedevice. The new media player, compatible with both Mac & PC, features a 20GB hard drive, 13-hour battery life, and a USB 2.0 interface. From the press release:

Jim Collier, President and COO of e.Digital said, "The Odyssey 1000 sets the standard by which all other portable entertainment products will now be judged. It is the result of our first joint project with our strategic development partner Digitalway. It combines an elegant, world class industrial design from Digitalwayis award-winning engineering team with e.Digitalis state-of-the-art, patented audio technology. There is nothing else available that matches its elegant looks, full range of features, and cutting-edge Drag-n RipTM technology."

[...]

The Odyssey 1000is high-speed USB 2.0 connection and remarkable ease of use make downloading and transferring music a breeze. With the Odyssey 1000is USB 2.0 connection, users can transfer an entire CD to their player in about 5 seconds. And e.Digitalis Drag-n Rip technology enables users to transfer music in one easy step simply by dragging tracks directly from a CD directory onto their playeris hard drive. Drag-n Rip optionally enables users to create a mirror library of music on theircomputer. The Odyssey 1000 also is compatible with Mac iTunes TM.

While similar in appearance to Appleis iPod, the Odyssey 1000 goes beyond the feature set of the iPod. You can navigate the device via voice commands, record voice and sounds via a built-in microphone, and listen to radio with a built-in FM tuner.

The Odyssey 1000 will be available this fall for both Mac & PC. It clocks in with dimensions of 2.87" x 4.3" x 0.9" (versus 2.4" x 4.0" x 0.78" for the iPod). At the moment, no price is quoted on the e.Digital web site. More information on the Odyssey 1000 can be found in the press release.

New MP3 Player Ready to Rival IPod

Odyssey 1000 offers deluxe features, including voice recognition, USB 2.0 connectivity, 20GB of storage--and a lower price tag.

Tom Mainelli, PCWorld

Jan 10, 2003 2:00 pm

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LAS VEGAS -- A small company named E.Digital hopes to challenge Apple's IPod for the title of World's Slickest MP3 Player with its new voice-activated, hard-drive-based Odyssey 1000.

The company announced the $349 player this week at the Consumer Electronics Show and plans to begin shipping the unit on February 5. Among its many features are 20GB of storage, USB 2.0 connectivity, and voice-recognition technology that lets you navigate menus by speaking.

In addition to playing MP3 and WMA audio files, the Odyssey also has an FM tuner, a digital voice recorder with built-in microphone, and the technology to act as an add-on hard drive to your PC.

Just Say It

Chief among the Odyssey's capabilities is its VoiceNav technology, says Wendy Ravenel, director of product management and communications at E.Digital. By using the included Music Explorer software to transfer albums from your PC to the unit you can then verbally request music by artist or track title.

Best of all, the Odyssey doesn't require voice training: It works out of the box, she says.

"It's just regular American English; there's no need to recite the alphabet or read the Gettysburg Address first," she says.

Users who prefer to access their music by hand can scroll through their collection using the scroll wheel and the backlight blue-green LCD.

The unit is relatively compact and light at 2.9 inches wide, 4.3 inches tall and 0.9 inches thick and 8.2 ounces.

Service, Too

An Odyssey will also come with a variety of music files from E.Digital's WeDigMusic.comInternet music site. The site contains more than 3000 royalty-free tracks from independent artists, says Bryan Jones, vice president of broadband entertainment.

Right now, anyone can access the site for free, but in the future it will likely become a pay-for-play service, he says. Odyssey owners will receive a free subscription, he says.

The site's content runs the gamut from jazz to country to classical, Jones adds. Once the site begins charging, the musicians can receive a cut, he says. In the meantime, it's all about people hearing their music. "Artists should be everywhere they can be to get exposure," he comments.

Taking on the Big Boys

Despite E.Digital's small size (the company has just 30 employees), Ravenel says she's confident its technology and burgeoning music site will help it compete with more established vendors like Apple and Creative Labs, which recently launched the Nomad Zen.

Ravenel acknowledges the IPod's strengths and admits that Apple's extensive research and development resulted in a sharp product. However, she says, the 1000 "does Windows better." Add to that its voice navigation and lower price and savvy buyers should be willing to give the Odyssey a chance, she says.

The Odyssey is just the latest MP3 player from the company, which launched its first player, the Treo 15, in 2001--just prior to the iPod's launch, Ravenel says. Today the company offers three Smart Media-based players, one that uses a CompactFlash card or microdrive, and two with built-in hard drives.