News Release：Pioneer introduces HDD and MagicGate Memory Stick features to its home and car audio systems

Tokyo, Japan, October 23, 2001--- Pioneer Corporation announced the introduction in Japan in early November of the X-HD1 HDD Digital Jukebox, a new style of home audio CD system, with advantageous features of Hard Disk and MagicGate Memory Stick^*1. Together with the DEH-P999HDD, the industry's first Car Audio System featuring Hard Disk and MagicGate Memory Stick^*1, to be introduced in Japan in late November, Pioneer aims to meet the new demand in the new age of musical enjoyment through "networks".

< Development Philosophy >

With the increasing use of computer and Internet, the audio listening environment is undergoing major changes, and the custom of enjoying music not just at home but also loading music data for outdoor listening is becoming an established feature of daily life. Pioneer takes advantage of the merits of these new styles while also pursuing ease of use and high sound quality. The HDD Digital Jukebox X-HD1 is a Japan's first home-use CD system, equipped with a hard disk onto which approximately 100 CDs can be recorded.

The DEH-P999HDD is a car audio main unit, available late November in Japan, equipped with a hard disk drive and 2 slots for MagicGate Memory Stick*1, an industry's first. MagicGate Memory Stick*1 that has been recorded on the X-HD1 can be played back on DEH-P999HDD car stereo system and other devices equipped with MagicGate Memory Stick^*1 slots, and vice versa.

< HDD Digital Jukebox X-HD1: Main Features >

X−HD1

1 ) About 100 CDs can be recorded onto the hard disk (featuring OpenMG^*2 copyright protection technology)

Approximately 100 CDs^*3 can be recorded onto the built-in 2.5-inch, 6GB hard disk. Since the built-in CD player allows an average 5x trasfer rate (with a maximum transfer rate of 8x), a 60-minute CD, for example, can be recorded onto the hard disk in 12 minutes for quick and easy recording Also the X-HD1 features OpenMG^*2 copyright protection technology, when tracks are copied from copyrighted music CDs onto the hard disk^*4, the music data is encoded to prevent unauthorized copying.

2 ) Easy, uninterrupted playback of tracks

The HDD function enables easy, uninterrupted playback of tracks without needing to change CDs manually. In addition, such convenient features as "folder" or "album" enable grouping of songs by genre, etc.

3 ) MagicGate Memory Stick^*1 slot with copyright protection

Tracks recorded onto the hard disk can be transferred to a MagicGate Memory Stick^*1 which can then be played back on car audio systems or any other device, including portable devices, equipped with a MagicGate Memory Stick^*1 slot. The Open MG^*2 copyright protection technology included in the X-HD1 controls the recognition of MagicGate Memory Stick^*1 and limits the number of times a track can be copied from the hard disk to a MagicGate Memory Stick^*1.

4 ) Auto Title function: Data for about 80,000 CD titles is stored on the hard disk.

Data for approximately 80,000 CD titles released from several years ago through the first half of 2001 has been pre-installed on the hard disk. When one of these CDs is loaded, the album name, artist name, and track names are displayed, and all the data is also recorded onto the hard disk. If the CD includes CD-Text content, the text data can also be recorded onto the hard disk. If the title of a CD is not displayed, it can be entered using the 10 keys on the remote controller, attached.

5 ) Equipped with newly-developed Direct-Diffuse speakers to produce clear sound contours and a rich resonance.

The X-HD1 includes Direct-Diffuse speakers with acoustic technology developed by Pioneer to reproduce the sort of ambience of a concert hall or cinema that envelops the listener with sound. Each speaker system comprises two speaker units: the unit installed on the front outputs Direct sound while the unit at the top outputs Diffuse sound. This design produces a pleasing acoustic effect ideal for listening to background music over extended periods of time. Pure aluminum of 3mm thickness has been used for the body to minimize unwanted vibration and preserve high sound quality.

< Other Features >

• Portable Link terminal: Music from the hard disk can be recorded onto a portable audio device with internal memory (compliant with Open MG) connected to this terminal.
• 1 set of AUX IN terminals (for analog/optical digital input)
• 1 set of LINE OUT terminals (analog)
• Subwoofer output terminals
• Headphone jack
• Text input: Supports alphanumerics and Japanese characters
  (The X-HD1 does not support data transfer with computers via a USB port.)
• Includes remote controller
• Supports the Serial Copy Management System (SCMS)
• Complies with Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) standards

< CD/Tuner/HDD Main Unit DEH-P999HDD: Main Features >

DEH-P999HDD

1 ) Music Server, for uninterrupted playback

1. 10GB hard disk with storage capacity for about 200 CD albums^*5
   Approximately 200 CD albums can be recorded onto the built-in 10GB hard disk using ATRAC3 audio compression technology^*6. By creating a music library on the hard disk, there is no need to carry a large number of CDs in the car, and uninterrupted playback, without changing CDs, is also possible.
   
   *5 With a recording bit rate of 105 Kbps and assuming each CD album contains 60 minutes of music.
   *6 Other compression systems are not supported.
2. Auto Title Add and Auto Play List Create functions, for easy selection of tracks
   Information that is used to search for tracks from among the huge number that has been recorded from CDs is automatically added from Gracenote's CDDB^*7 database of approximately 220,000 titles already embedded on the hard disk. Based on this added information, the Auto Play List Create function automatically groups the tracks and creates a play list sorted by disk or by artist. This play list enables users to easily search for tracks they want to hear by artist name, disk name, or track name.
   
   *7 CDDB is a registered trademark of Gracenote.
3. Convenient recording mode designed for use in the car
   The DEH-P999HDD provides three modes for easy recording of music from CD: DISC mode records the entire CD, TRACK mode records only pre-selected tracks, and SINGLE mode records only the first track on the CD. Also provided are two recording bit rates: 105 Kbps for high compression and 132 Kbps for high sound quality.

2 ) MagicGate Memory Stick^*1 support

Besides playing music data recorded on MagicGate Memory Stick^*1, the DEH-P999HDD also allows music data on the hard disk to be transferred to a MagicGate Memory Stick^*1 which can then be taken out of the car and played at any time on other devices supporting the Memory Stick media.

3 ) Built-in CD player with MP3 playback

Since the DEH-P999HDD also plays MP3 files recorded on a CD-R/RW disc, car users can enjoy the library of MP3 files that they have recorded with their home computer.

4 ) Easy operation in the car and technology for high sound quality

• Superior ease of operation using hierarchical directories on an organic EL display and selection keys
• High-quality sound reproduction using a 50-watt, 4-channel Power MOS-FET amp
• Auto Equalizer, for automatic correction of sound field characteristics to match the specific car interior
• Realtime frequency characteristics correction ASL, for automatic detection of road noise and correction of sound quality and volume
• Supports the CD-PC1 PC link kit that rewrites organic EL displays to desired graphic images