SigmaTel D-Major Audio Drives Degen Hard-Drive MP3 Player

Business Wire,  Oct 15, 2004  

Tags: MP3

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AUSTIN, Texas -- SigmaTel, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGTL), the market leader for MP3 audio controller chips within portable MP3 players, announces that Degen Electronics Company has selected the SigmaTel D-Major(TM) MP3 controller technology to drive the Degen DE81, its newest hard-drive MP3 player featuring an embedded FM transmitter.

Scheduled to be available for sale in December, the DE81 will be marketed under the Degen brand name within the China retail market. According to China-based CCID (China Center of Information Industry Development) Consulting, demand for MP3 players in China is projected to reach about 3.9 million units in 2004, up 117 percent from 1.8 million last year, with an estimated 18 million units by 2008.

The Degen DE81 is a 5GB, 1-inch hard-drive player that will hold up to 1,250 songs. With a product-distinguishing embedded FM stereo transmitter, the DE81 can wirelessly be played through a car or home radio by tuning to a specific frequency. Using a LIon rechargeable battery, the DE81 will play for 12 hours on a single charge through a USB connection to a PC. Additional special features of the DE81 include lyrics synchronization and the ability to read text files through the 4 centimeter square LCD screen. The player also features simple language learning capabilities through its voice record functions. The DE81 will play WMA and MP3 and is compatible with most music download Web sites.

"SigmaTel is the world-wide market leader for MP3 controller chips to the MP3 player market and is known for their highly integrated solutions," said Sunny Deng, with Degen Electronics. "Their products and service have held up to their reputation, enabling us to successfully launch the DE81 into the marketplace."

"Degen, as a China retail market leader, will successfully introduce this great product into their already-established channels," said Ron Edgerton, president and CEO of SigmaTel. "The China MP3 player market is on the verge of great things, and Degen, with SigmaTel's help, is poised to capitalize on this latest trend."

For additional information on SigmaTel, please visit http://www.sigmatel.com.

For additional information on Degen Electronics, please visit the Degen website at http://www.degen.com.cn.

About SigmaTel:

SigmaTel, Inc. a fabless semiconductor company headquartered in Austin, Texas, designs, develops, and markets proprietary, analog intensive, mixed-signal ICs for a variety of products in the consumer electronics and computing markets, including portable compressed audio players, such as MP3 players, notebook and desktop PCs, DVD players, digital televisions, and set-top boxes. SigmaTel provides complete, system-level solutions that include highly-integrated ICs, customizable firmware and software, software development tools, reference designs, and applications support. The Company's focus is on providing system-level solutions that enable customers to rapidly introduce and offer electronic products that are small, light-weight, power-efficient, reliable, and cost-effective. SigmaTel is ISO 9001:2000 certified and is committed to providing customers with high performance, quality products along with superior customer service.

Cautionary Language:

This press release contains forward-looking statements based on current SigmaTel expectations. The words "expect," "will," "should," "would," "anticipate," "project," "outlook," "believe," "intend," and similar phrases as they relate to SigmaTel or future events are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect the current views and assumptions of SigmaTel, but are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. A number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, and there will be events in the future that SigmaTel is not able to accurately predict or control. For a discussion of factors that could impact SigmaTel's financial results and cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, please refer to recent SigmaTel filings with the SEC, particularly the 424(b)(4) final prospectuses filed September 19, 2003 and February 19, 2004, the Form 10-Qs that were filed on October 29, 2003, April 20, 2004 and July 20, 2004 and the Form 10-K that was filed on February 17, 2004.

D-Major is a trademark and SigmaTel is a registered trademark of SigmaTel. All other products and brand names as they appear in this release are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. All specifications may be changed without notice.

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