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Groundbreaking New Service Delivers Museum-Quality High Resolution Art and Photography Into the Home on Flat Panel TVs and PCs


WEBWIRE

SEATTLE, WA -- 01/11/2005 -- Beon Media (www.beonmedia.com) today announced availability of GalleryPlayer, a groundbreaking new service that allows consumers to view museum-quality art and photography right in their homes, including content from Life Magazine, National Geographic, Corbis, The Andy Warhol Foundation, George Eastman House, Eaglemont Press and others, in extremely high definition on any display.

GalleryPlayer transforms any display into a digital canvas for museum-quality art and photography, giving everyone the chance to experience truly incredible content that has never before been available to a mass consumer market.

GalleryPlayer’s initial consumer launch is as an Online Spotlight premier partner, accessible online directly from the “START MENU” on all Microsoft Media Center Edition PCs. GalleryPlayer will also soon be available on all Windows PC platforms and as an on-demand service from cable and satellite providers.

“With the proliferation of Flat Panel TVs, there is a growing demand for unique content to place on them,” said Rob Enderle, President and Principal Analyst for the Enderle Group. “A good example of a device that fills this need is GalleryPlayer which enables a flat panel TV to become the centerpiece for a party and turn a device that would otherwise be a distraction into an asset. It is this added utility that makes these new TVs so much more than the products they replaced. Products like GalleryPlayer are extremely important for the future of these new televisions.”

Consumers choose which collection of images to play, selecting from a wide array of themes including lifestyle, landscapes, nature, sports, grand masters and much more. They can also set the duration each image is displayed, as well as turn on and off various preferences and parental controls.

Custom settings also allow customers to change the image duration (from just seconds to 20 minutes), choose which galleries that they want to view, and apply parental controls to limit viewing of certain types of images based on nudity, suggestive matter, alcohol, tobacco, etc. Personal play lists can also be built to further customize the viewing experience.

“GalleryPlayer uses technology that ensures our artwork will not be copied or used in any unauthorized way. This was a key requirement for us and solidified our decision to partner with GalleryPlayer,” said Martin Cribbs, Director of Licensing for The Andy Warhol Foundation.

GalleryPlayer content is an expanding library of art and images updated weekly and monthly, including collections and masterpieces from the likes of Ansel Adams, Cézanne, DaVinci, Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh and others. The company is also in discussions with other museums, institutions, brands and collections, with additional plans to deliver sports, entertainment, and news photojournalism imagery on a daily basis.

“There are other media player products that claim to offer something similar to GalleryPlayer, but none of these provide a service wrapped around the highest quality imagery and digital rights protection for its sources. GalleryPlayer is different since it offers a complete image delivery service aimed at sourcing, producing and distributing content across multiple devices,” said Tim Bajarin, president, Creative Strategies.

GalleryPlayer allows consumers to experience art in three different ways: an ever-changing service via a monthly gallery subscription, purchase of individual images, and purchase of groups of images as permanent collections.

“Dynamic digital imagery presents a new and unique opportunity to differentiate a space and control an environment, including tone, time of day, etc., all tailored to meet consumer décor objectives. From sports to travel, from black & white vintage photography to fine art, GalleryPlayer can be used to entertain and educate its audience,” said Alexis Gerard, president and publisher, The Future Image Report.

At launch it will be available to consumers as a 7-day free trial. Following the free trial, subscription pricing will be offered from $4.95 per month and up for individual galleries. Individual image pricing starts at $0.99, and permanent collections are priced from $8.95 for 15 images, depending on the number of images in the collection, the perceived value of the collection, and the costs of the underlying image license rights. High-margin, limited-edition private collections will be offered at premium prices.

“Many folks in the photography community have long been interested in applications for commercial electronic display of their work. The catch has been adequate encryption to protect their copy-protected photos without sacrificing maximum display quality. We chose to provide GalleryPlayer with material from our picture collection precisely because both requirements were achieved,” said Jeff Burak, Director, Time & Life Pictures.

Credits are displayed for each work of art and photograph, including artist name, title, as well as additional image information. In addition, there are special effects such as pans, transitions, builds, and mattes.

“GalleryPlayer is the Holy Grail for content owners such as publishers, institutions, brands artists, collections and museums, because we make dormant content suddenly mainstream by ushering in what has previously been a completely untapped consumer market,” said Scott Lipsky, Beon Media Founder and CEO.

Content files originate from the highest quality sources available and are professionally mastered using proprietary technology to ensure undistorted, true-color native resolution compatibility with virtually any display, creating a true high-definition experience.

About GalleryPlayer

GalleryPlayer is a digital home gallery service that delivers high-resolution, museum-quality art and imagery to any Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Media Center Edition PC. GalleryPlayer allows you to view an ever-changing collection of imagery, transforming your display into a dynamic, radiant, digital canvas. GalleryPlayer combines the world’s finest images with patent-pending digital rights management and distribution technologies. From sports to travel, from black & white vintage photography to fine art, GalleryPlayer entertains, educates, and moves its audience. For more information, visit www.GalleryPlayer.com.



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