Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Jan 24, 2006
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Jan 24, 2006 |
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Radio/TV Info-Tech - Software Variety - Music & Dance Access to online radio may soon get easier — Epigon Media working on recording tool Preethi J.
Bangalore , Jan. 23 ONLINE radio has charmed music fans all over the world. Bangalore-based Epigon Media Technologies is working on an independent software application similar to a desktop music player such as Winamp, which will make listening to online radio a straight forward exercise. It would play on in the background without the need to either log on to a radio Web site or a real time communication service. Content aggregators already re-route broadcasts through software clients such as Yahoo! Messenger and Windows Media Player. The difference in this software is that it includes recording capability. Since the entire medium is digital, it will make for an excellent opportunity for music fans to download quality tracks released anywhere in the world. Hence, the next time you hear a song that has just been released playing online, you could immediately begin recording and add it to your collection. When asked about the legal facet of allowing netizens such freedom, Mr R.J. Venkatraman, Chief Business and Product Development Officer, Epigon Media Technologies, said, "It is the broadcasters and content aggregators that have to worry about it." Apparently, recording of music played on online radio channels is allowed. It is even legal in Germany, informed Mr Venkatraman. The software will soon be available for download at a minimal price of $1-2, he added. The company has also revised Maya, the reference design for Internet Radio. It now runs on Texas Instrument's OMAP platform, making it usable on third generation mobile handsets. The company is now working on bringing FM radio capability to a DSP processor. Called Software FM radio, this will run on an embedded platform. "Currently, PMPs (portable media players) and mobiles have this capability on a separate chip, which costs $2.5. We are working on making the embedded software run on the same DSP chip," said Mr Venkataraman. With this, devices will become cheaper by $2 and will also see a vast change in size, design and weight. The company is patenting demodulation techniques in this domain. Epigon will have revenues of $1 million ending March 2006, and will be 60 employees strong by then, said Mr B. Radhakrishan Rao, CEO and President, Epigon Media Technologies. The company is targeting $2 million next year and will have a presence in the US by the third quarter of this fiscal.
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