Petteri Pyyny
21 Oct 2003 15:24
Four Japanese major consumer electronics, Sony, Sharp, Pioneer and Kenwood, have developed a prototype of an A/V equipment that's directly connected to a online music store, with no need for PCs in between. Companies have set up a joint venture, called Any Music, to develop the concept.
Devices are supposed to become available in Japan by the early next year and they include a small LCD screen for navigation and an Ethernet port for Net connections. Music purchased from a Japanese online store LabelGate, can be copied from the stereo equipment to portable devices, minidiscs and other storage media,
Companies have no plans to launch the devices overseas, but according to Any Music CEO, their target is to create the system as a worldwide standard for seamless Net integration for home entertainment equipment.
Source: Yahoo!