Ahead's Nero 5.5 and TDK's veloCD Surge CD Burning Market; Enhanced Music Editing Meets Fastest Fail-Safe Burner for the Ultimate Digital Recording Experience

Business Wire,  April 4, 2001  

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Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

KARLSBAD, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 4, 2001

Ahead Software, GmbH and TDK Electronics Corp. took steps to raise the performance expectations of personal content developers Wednesday when they announced TDK's newest veloCD line of CD burners will include the added power of Ahead's Nero5.5.

Combined, the products deliver ultra-fast writing, rewriting and audio ripping speeds, as well as the most advanced multimedia recording capabilities. Simple enough for the casual user, yet enhanced enough for the professional, the new veloCD burners with Nero 5.5 will begin providing users with unmatched music and multimedia recording performance later this month.

Nero 5.5 adds several significant enhancements including a complete and non-destructive audio editor, the ability to create compatible MPEG data for video CD recording, a full MPEG 1 video encoder and a VCD/SVCD menu creator.

To take advantage of the higher drive speeds provided by TDK's veloCD line, the Nero Toolkit has been added to greatly improve recording routines. To complete the package, Nero 5.5 also includes a full-featured Cover Designer application and a Wave Editor, providing users with an unprecedented level of creative control.

The TDK veloCD burners offer bit-perfect digital audio ripping and high-speed writing capabilities resulting in a one-drive alternative for CD-to-CD-R recording that's better sounding and takes less than half the time of most two-drive setups. To prevent buffer underrun errors, the veloCD includes BURN-Proof(TM) technology to monitor buffer memory.

With BURN-Proof, the veloCD suspends recording when it detects a possible underrun error until the buffer is re-filled. To continue recording at the appropriate place, the veloCD drive compares the recorded data with the data in its buffer and synchronizes adjacent frames. With this technique, the drive restarts recording at exactly the precise position where recording was originally suspended.

"The technology behind TDK's line of veloCD burners is complex, but the benefits to the user are exceptional and simple to use," said Richard Lesser, president of Ahead Software.

"Combined with Nero 5.5, users can produce their own content as easily as drag-and-drop, or with the complexity of a complete studio-like session. The burners themselves ensure 100 percent completion of every recording with some of the fastest speeds the market has seen."

"Nero 5.5 is the world's most advanced multimedia recording software," said Bruce Youmans, executive director of marketing for TDK Electronics. "The OEM version offers more features and free regular updates to keep pace with the latest technology advancements.

"Ultimately, bundling Nero means we are able to provide greater value to our customers. Nero can even control two of our veloCD burners simultaneously," Youmans continued, "making it easy for corporate users to convert their desktop PCs into a flexible duplication station. It's an ideal complement to our high-performance line of CD recorders."

Pricing and Availability

Box versions of Nero 5.5 began shipping throughout the United States in March with a suggested retail price of $69. An exceptional value for previous Nero owners, customers who purchased Nero 5.0 or TDK recorders bundled with Nero 5.0, can download an upgrade free of charge from the Ahead Web site.

For further information please visit www.nero.com. Customers can purchase Nero 5.5 direct at www.nero.com or at their local retail outlet.

About TDK

TDK Corp. (NYSE: TDK) is a leading global electronics company based in Japan. It was established in 1935 to commercialize "ferrite," a key material in electronics and magnetics. TDK's current product line includes ferrite materials, electronic components and ICs, wireless computer networking products, magnetic heads for HDD, digital recording hardware and advanced digital recording media.

Net sales in FY2000 were U.S. $6.3 billion. TDK Electronics Corp. is a U.S. subsidiary of TDK U.S.A. Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of TDK Corp. For more information about TDK, please visit www.tdk.com.

About Ahead

Founded in 1995, Ahead Software, GmbH is one of the industry's leading privately held developers of software applications for CD-R/RW, DVD, and Internet Audio. Its flagship products include Nero-Burning ROM, NeroMIX (Born2Burn), Nero Cover Designer, Nero Toolkit, Nero Wave Editor, NeroMAX, InCD and Feurio!.

Ahead's specialized line of optical recording software enables individuals to personalize and store music onto recordable CDs that can be played back on any CD player, CD-R or CD-RW drive, as well as new DVD players.

In addition to a strong global retail and distribution presence, Ahead maintains strong OEM relationships with major computer system and hardware manufacturers, as well as other strategic partners. Ahead Software is headquartered in Karlsbad, Germany.

Nero(R) is a registered trademark and InCD, NeroMIX and NeroMAX are trademarks of Ahead Software, GmbH. Any other product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

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