FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 11, 2001

NEW YAMAHA 24X OFFERS TOP QUALITY AUDIO RECORDING IN THE INDUSTRY WITH ITS EXCLUSIVE AUDIO MASTER SYSTEM

CRW3200 LightSpeed³ Family Supports Mt. Rainier Format for Floppy-Disk Convenience

BUENA PARK, CA–Yamaha Electronics Corporation has announced a new addition to its growing line of award-winning CD recorders. The CRW3200 LightSpeed^3™family of optical recorders, which will make their debut with an internal IDE model (CRW3200EZ) in October 2001, will be the industry’s first 24X ReWritable CD recorders to feature Mt. Rainier support and Yamaha’s exclusive Audio Master Quality Recording System.

Mt. Rainier support adds true drag-and-drop CD rewriting and on-the-fly formatting to CD creation in operating systems such as Microsoft Windows XP^TM and Linux, making the CD the ideal floppy disk replacement. The need to install separate CD-mastering software or a hardware driver is a thing of the past as Yamaha’s CRW3200EZ is the first CD recorder that can write to a CD as easily as a floppy disc drive.

In addition, the exclusive new Audio Master Quality Recording System, designed by Yamaha, guarantees the best possible audio or data recording quality on conventional 74 or 80-minute CD-R discs. When Audio Master recording mode is enabled, the system widens the lands and the pits, significantly reducing jitter created during CD-R recording, improving audio and music recording quality to a level rivaling professionally prepared music CDs.

"Our new CRW3200 Series offers far more than just 24X write speed" states Allen H. Gharapetian, general manager, Yamaha Multimedia Products Division. "With our exclusive Audio Master technology, quality of CD recording or CD duplication is enhanced by 30%. That’s in addition to the 25% improvement on the reduction of jitter levels achieved through employment of our Pure Phase Laser System" states Gharapetian.

The new CRW3200 Series features an intense blue LED that lights up when recording. The LED will change to a purple-white (fluorescent) color when the drives are idle. Lightspeed³ recorders also feature Yamaha’s new, professional-look design in Platinum White and a high-quality, super-smooth tray system.

"Yamaha pays a lot of attention to the practicality of product designs and ergonomics" states Gharapetian. "In the meantime, we are following industry trends and evolution of PC designs and that’s why we are introducing the CRW3200 Series with the trendy blue ice LED and the new, platinum white enclosure and faceplate."

The new Lightspeed³ family of drives can record on CD-R discs at a top speed of 24X, writing a full CD in less than three minutes; rewrite CD-RW discs at a top speed of 10X, and can read CDs at a sustained maximum rate of 40X. The units also rip audio CDs at a maximum speed of 40X–up to 66 percent faster than conventional CD-RW recorders–allowing digital audio extraction of a 74-minute audio disc in less than three minutes.

The new model also features the Yamaha SafeBurn^™ System with its exclusive Triple Protection Architecture™. SafeBurn provides an advanced buffer underrun control system, a large 8MB buffer, and Yamaha’s Optimum Write Speed Control^™. By monitoring a disc’s capability and recording conditions, the recorder can automatically select the optimum writing speed.

SafeBurn will suspend recording if data transfer is delayed or buffer memory drops below a critical level. Once the buffer has regained sufficient memory, recording will restart seamlessly from the point at which it was suspended. LightSpeed³ recorders are equipped with an 8MB buffer memory–four times larger than that of its competitors–to ensure stable and efficient recording.

Following the success of the award-winning LightSpeed² family, the LightSpeed³ family will also feature Partial Constant Angular Velocity (P-CAV) technology. This combination of CAV and standard Constant Linear Velocity (CLV) technologies keeps disc rotation speed constant, while adjusting the data transfer rate depending upon which portion of the disc is being recorded.

"Unlike other high-speed CD-RW recorders, Yamaha’s LightSpeed³ recorders do not compromise quality for speed," says Gharapetian. "By employing Partial CAV, the CD-Recorders are able to maintain constant and controlled rotation speeds while recording the inner tracks on discs, and that significantly reduces vibration and data corruption."

In addition to using conventional CLV recording at 2X, 4X, 8X, and 10X in rewriting mode, the CRW3200 supports the 4X-10X CAV mode. This permits high-speed random writing or reading of data and realizes floppy disk-like ease of operation using packet writing.

The CRW3200 series includes an award-winning software suite, including: Ahead Software Nero 5.5^™;; the new InCD^™; for packet writing; NeroMIX^™; for audio ripping; Nero Wave Editor^™; for audio file editing; Nero Utility kit^™; for troubleshooting; Adobe PhotoDeluxe 4.0^™;, Adobe ActiveShare^™; digital imaging products, MusicMatch^™; software, which includes an audio ripper and MP3/CD player software; and Earthlink^™; internet software (Ahead Nero Max^™;, Neato MediaFace II and Adobe Photoshop LE 5.0^™; are also included for the Mac).

The internal E-IDE CRW3200EZ will be the first model of the CRW3200 Series, shipping in late October 2002 and carrying an attractive $199.99 estimated street price. Other members of Yamaha’s LightSpeed³ family will include: the external CRW3200SXZ using Ultra SCSI interface will be available at a street price of $349.99; the external CRW3200FXZ using IEEE 1394 FireWire™technology will be available at a street price of $329.99 and the external CRW3200UXZ using USB 2.0 interface will be available at a street price of $299.99 in November 2001. The FireWire and USB 2.0 connections provide simple installation, reliable performance and fast recording speeds. All models are compatible with IBM PC. The external drives are also compatible with Macintosh computers.

For product and sales information, contact Yamaha Electronics Corporation, Multimedia Products Division, 6660 Orangethorpe Avenue, Buena Park, CA 90620; www.yamaha.com; telephone (714) 522-9011.

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Yamaha Electronics Corporation (YEC), USA, based in Buena Park, California, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Yamaha. YEC offers Home Theater components and systems, featuring A/V Receivers, Amplifiers, DVD/CD, Speakers, Mini-Systems, Video Projection, as well as A/V & IT Convergence Products. YEC Multimedia Products Division (MPD) offers CD-ReWritable Recorders, CD-R/W Media, Computer Speakers and Headphones.