For the second year running, Bantam Interactive has been selected as the Consumer Electronics Association’s Innovations Design and Engineering Award Honoree, this time for both its BA50 and BA1000 portable MP3 devices. The Innovations Awards program recognizes products that exhibit excellence in design and engineering at the International CES. Bantam’s products will be on display with other Innovations winners at the Las Vegas Hilton during the show on January 9-12, 2003.

The BA1000 is a full-featured portable hard drive player with a built-in MP3 encoder for in-line stereo recording directly from a cassette, CD or album, without a PC. Combined with FM radio and voice recording capabilities, it offers the first customizable horizontal or vertical LCD with white backlight. The BA1000 includes USB 2.0 technology to transfer files up to 40 times quicker than standard USB 1.0 port connections.

Bantam Interactive’s fist-sized BA50 is a multi-format digital audio player with FM radio and voice recording capabilities. Priced at $79.99, the device comes equipped with 64MB of built- in flash memory and a SD (Secure Digital) card expansion slot. It uses a single AA battery for 12 hours of playback.

“Being consistently recognized by CES is a positive endorsement that our MP3 players are a cut above our competitors,” said Santosh Patel, president of Bantam Interactive, Inc.

“Last year, we were the first company to bring home two awards in the same category in the same year. Our reputation is built on innovation and consumers will continue to see cutting edge technology and design in our next generation digital audio and video products.”

About Bantam Interactive

Bantam Interactive Technologies, Inc. is an emerging developer in Web-enabled audio and visual technology. The company’s mission is to develop, manufacture and distribute market leading personal audio and video devices that provide customers with performance, value, unique features and innovative, ultra compact bantam-sized design. The company is headquartered in St. Louis, MO.

Bantam Interactive Web Site

First International Digital (FID), a Motorola spin-off and maker of the popular irock! portable audio devices, today introduced the irock! BLiNG CD/MP3/FM player. The versatile BLiNG plays MP3 CDs (CD-R and CD-RW), standard audio CDs and includes an FM radio tuner to allow users to enjoy music in their preferred format. The irock! BLiNG enables users to carry 150 MP3 songs on one CD and offers up to 15 hours of continuous playback.

“The BLiNG player offers all the features that users want and need in an MP3/CD player, and best of all, we have managed to introduce it at a very appealing price point for consumers,” said Randy Cavaiani, Executive VP of Marketing and Sales for FID. “The BLiNG makes a great addition to our digital audio player line as we continue to provide customers with top quality audio players at the best prices in the industry.”

The BLiNG features a sleek remote control complete with a robust FM tuner and an LCD display. A backlit three-line LCD on the main unit supports ID3 tags and displays song title, artist, bit rate and elapsed time. The user- friendly navigation system allows users to sort by album or to perform alphabetical searches. The unit also features six preset equalizer modes (Flat, Rock, Classical, Jazz, Pop and Bass) and six play modes (normal, repeat 1, repeat all, random, intro and program list) to provide the customization that consumers desire.

Additional irock! BLiNG features include:

• Playback resume function — BLiNG remembers where you left off
• Battery charger for use with rechargeable batteries or AC power
• Hold function — no need to worry about accidentally pressing a button
• Power save mode: 30-60 second auto shutoff depending upon mode
• Supports bit rates from 32Kbps to 320 Kbps

The irock! BLiNG comes equipped with high fidelity stereo earphones, an AC/DC power adapter, a pocket/belt clip for the remote, two AA Batteries and a user’s manual. It will be available in December for an estimated retail price of $99.99.

Buy iRock at AudioShops

iRock Web Site