Music Browser Goes Live at Tower Records

Music Browser Inc. today announced the launch of Music Republic, an innovative broadband digital music delivery and promotion system for music retail stores. A pilot installation of 14 Music Republic stations was launched at Tower Records, Lincoln Center in New York City.

Music Browser, Inc. hired OJC Technologies in 1998 to assist with programming, development, and testing of Music Republic. OJC created screen mockups, helped select a programming environment, created a prototype, and developed the prototype into a finished product. OJC also helped install the Music Browser system on location at Tower Records.

Music Republic allows music retail store customers to quickly browse through, select, and listen to thousands of complete music tracks. The system uses a proprietary, patent-pending, music-relation system to recommend albums that are related to user-selected titles. Additionally, Music Republic delivers targeted advertising to music buyers.

Fourteen Music Republic stations are strategically placed throughout the store and at the upper-level Village Voice coffee shop listening bar. Each station employs a 15" flat-panel display and a touchpad housed in a sleek blue enclosure. Measuring less than 3" deep, the blue Music Republic stations are mounted directly on store walls and fixtures with minimum footprint. Each networked station operates independently from each other, tracks user selections (hits), and gathers important usage statistics.

"We are very happy to be testing the Music Republic system with New York's largest record retailer; Tower Records, Lincoln Center. Two years of R&D have allowed us to create a broadband music-delivery system with a user-friendly interface and lightening-fast response." said Dr. Yaz Shehab, Chief Executive Officer of Music Browser Inc. "Our goal is to measure the 'Music Republic Effect' within a large store and in a large market," said Dr. Shehab, referring to the company's early testing which have shown the Music Republic system to drive store traffic and increase record sales. "Our testing has already yielded an extremely high user-satisfaction rate. Everyone who has used the Music Republic absolutely loves it."

Contact: Lori Patterson, 217-278-3933

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