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Press Release
 
Sony DADC - Europe's leading producer of the Hybrid Super Audio CD
 
Salzburg, May 10, 2003 - Sony DADC announced the production start of the Hybrid Super Audio CD (SACD) format in Anif/Salzburg. The facility has a daily capacity of 15.000 SACDs. This new audio format is the advancement of the CD-Audio and satisfies listeners' growing demand for real audio experiences. The line will initially produce 15,000 hybrid SACD discs per day. Hybrid SACD replication services will also be available to third-party clients.
The Super Audio CD format delivers the highest form of sonic purity with unprecedented frequency response and dynamic range, and is recognized by critics, music industry professionals and consumers as the next generation sound carrier, markedly superior to standard CDs. Currently, Sony DADC is the only optical storage manufacturer offering a global production solution and having the capability of manufacturing the SACD format in Europe, the United States and in Japan. Present global capacity is 75.000 SACDs per day. As a developer of the SACD format, Sony is dedicated to expanding the awareness for and broadening the acceptance of this innovative technology. The Super Audio CD started in the area of Independent labels. Meanwhile the format has continuously grown and accessed the mainstream area. As major researchers predict, Sony DADC also believes that the Super Audio CD format will take off in 2004. But today there are already over 1,200 titles available on Super Audio CD. The demand for this format is continuously growing. Why consumers are adopting this format can be explained easily: It offers exceptional sound quality through the Direct Stream Digital system (DSD) and can accommodate more than four times the information of the current CD format. This means that the sound is digitally recorded directly from the source without conversion, so that the reproduced sound wave is nearly identical to the original.

Super Audio CD comprises four key enabling technologies:
1) Direct Stream Digital (DSD). This technology closely reproduces original analogue waveforms, producing a clearer, more natural sound that captures the musical atmosphere and emotional impact of the source material.
2) Direct Stream Transfer (DST) technology, which allows both stereo and multichannel mixes on one disc
3) Content protection technology containing the invisible watermark PSP (Pit Signal Processing) for both content access and playback control
4) Single layer, dual layer and hybrid discs

As the world's largest producer of pre-recorded optical discs, Sony DADC supplies a full line of highquality products and services for the education, entertainment and information industries. Services include digital authoring, copy control, graphic design, mastering, replication, packaging, distribution and fulfillment for CD, CD-ROM, DVD, Super Audio CD, PlayStation™ and hybrid Internet discs.