Mandriva 2006 to offer built-in online music service feature through Mindawn

The press release is available below and on our website:
http://www.mandriva.com/fr/company/press/pr/


Mandriva 2006 to be the first Linux Desktop to offer built-in online
music service feature through Mindawn

Paris, February 23rd - Mandriva, the publisher of the popular Mandriva
Linux operating system, and The Kompany, the creator of Mindawn, a
Linux-friendly online music and video service,  today announced their
partnership to provide customers with built-in software to take
advantage of legitimate digital content using Mandriva Linux 2006.
Thanks to the  collaboration between the two companies, Mandriva Linux
2006 users can access high quality music and video files at
http://www.mindawn.com. 
 
Mindawn, an open platform for digital content


For many years, the Linux operating system has been virtually ignored
by all the digital content distribution services available to date. In
contrast, Mindawn has now been supporting Linux for over a year. The
Mindawn platform makes it easy and convenient for Linux users to
access a growing library of diverse music. Mindawn is open to all
artists as well as all consumers, so the many amateur, home and
professional musicians using Rosegarden, Ardour or any of the other 
music sequencing and recording systems available for Linux have a
ready-made channel to distribute their music.

Most online music services tie the user to one or at best two computer
platforms: iTunes is only for Mac OS X and Windows; Napster is
Windows-only. Mindawn, on the other hand, works with all three major
platforms including Linux. With Mindawn's cross-platform client
software, users can hear a full preview of the entire song, unlike
competing services which only offer brief excerpts.
Customers can perform any function of the system on the Mindawn
website aside from previewing songs, which requires the Mindawn
player. This software allows customers to preview a song up to three
times in full length, without having to pay for it. When users are
ready to buy, the player will provide several download and file format
options. Mindawn's player is a full featured audio client with robust
library capability and integrated Internet radio client. 
	
The best quality for the best sound


Mindawn's competitors typically offer music files that are reduced in
quality through what's called "lossy compression". The more compressed
a file is, the greater the loss in sound quality. By contrast, Mindawn
offers its files in both Ogg Vorbis and FLAC formats. Ogg Vorbis
employs lossy compression, but unlike MP3, is a totally free and open
sound format. It offers superior sound quality compared to MP3 and
other lossy compression techniques. Meanwhile, FLAC employs lossless
compression, allowing it to offer full CD quality in a file 50%
smaller than a WAV file. FLAC can easily be converted to AIFF or WAV
files and burned to disc for use in standard CD players. It can also
be converted to virtually any other lossy format for use on any
portable media player.

Mindawn is among the few online music services to provide FLAC and Ogg
Vorbis as standard music file formats, as well as offering music in
both "lossy" and "lossless" formats.

Download pricing starts at $0.99 per 10 minutes of Ogg Vorbis format
audio.

« Online music is a popular Internet service, but Linux users had been
left out until now. With Mindawn's player integrated into Mandriva
2006, we're correcting this exclusion. Our users can now take
advantage of an online music and video service that rocks! » said
François Bancilhon, Mandriva CEO. 

Shawn Gordon, President of Mindawn, concluded: « Mandriva has been
seen as the premier Linux operating system for consumers for years now
and we are very pleased to be able to work with them on bringing a
music service to their customers. »

About Mandriva Linux 2006
Mandriva Linux 2006 is the result of the convergence of three leading
Linux technologies. Widely recognized as one of the easiest to use
operating systems, it blends desktop and server features from
Conectiva and Lycoris, two Linux publishers acquired by Mandriva.
Mandriva 2006 offers the ultimate in Linux for a wide array of
computing requirements such as office, multimedia, Internet and
servers. It is the only Linux system to be officially compliant with
Intel® Centrino® mobile technology and to offer complete integration
of the Skype free voice calling over Internet software. Other key
features include desktop search, interactive firewall and auto-install
server functionality. 
Mandriva Linux is available in three editions: Discovery/Lx (for the
Linux beginner), PowerPack (for the advanced computer user) and
PowerPack+ (for SOHO users).


About Mandriva
Mandriva, formerly known as Mandrakesoft, is the publisher of the
popular Mandriva Linux operating system, one of the most full-featured
and easy to use Linux systems. The company offers its enterprise,
government educational customers a complete range of GNU/Linux and
Open Source software and related services. Mandriva products are
available in more than 120 countries through dedicated channels and
also from Mandrivastore.com, the company's online store. "Born on the
Internet" in late 1998, has offices in the United States, France and
Brazil. Mandriva is traded on Paris Euronext Marché Libre (ISIN Code:
FR0004159382/MLMAN; Reuters code: MAKE.PA) and the US OTC market
(stock symbol MDKFF).
Press Contact: Kadjo N'Doua press at mandriva.com / + 33 1 40 41 67 67
http://www.mandriva.com

About Mindawn
Mindawn (www.mindawn.com) is a division of theKompany.com
(www.thekompany.com), a California-based software company with
developer teams in North America and Europe, and a sister company of
ProgRock.com (www.progrock.com), the first name in progressive rock on
the Internet.
theKompany.com's products are marketed both online and through B&M
channels such as Microcenter and Fry's Electronics.