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Subject Launches 'Free' English Study Content Service for iAUDIO Users Date 2002.02.01
- Market-leading MP3 player 'iAUDIO' users are allowed to use high-quality language study service for free.

- Weekly updates of high-quality English study materials based on South Korea's leading English-language daily 'The Korea Herald'.

- Students rush to MP3 players as an alternative to old-fashioned glitch-prone cassette players.

February 1, 2002 (SEOUL) -- COWON SYSTEMS Inc. (CEO Park Nam-gyu, www.cowon.com), a leading digital multimedia hardware and solutions developer in South Korea, says all the users of 'iAUDIO CW200', a popular compact-size portable MP3 player, will be allowed to download high-quality English language study materials from its specially-designed site (english.cowon.com).

The iAUDIO foreign language content download service comes at a time when more and more students are embracing digital MP3 players rather than glitch-prone cassette players, Cowon says.

For the new content service, COWON says it has inked a pact with an English-language education Web site Winglish (www.winglish.com). Under the agreement, Winglish has begun to update the content site with select English news articles from The Korea Herald, a major English-language daily newspapers in Korea. The study materials are formatted in MP3 files so that iAUDIO users can download them into their MP3 players instantly and listen to them wherever they go.

The English study materials also include lectures formatted in documents (original text, key expressions, Korean translations and so forth), a multi-purpose format that will help users to sharpen their English language ability. The topics revolve around Korea largely because students and language learners tend to better understand the English articles whose subjects are domestic, compared with other foreign wire news.

COWON says the domestic market for portable MP3 players is surging in Korea particularly because people are drawn to the convenience of digital multimedia software and hardware in studying foreign languages.

COWON has already attracted a number of users with its low-priced iAUDIO CW100S, an earlier version. iAUDIO CW200, a much-anticipated sequel to CW100S, is an all-in-one compact-size MP3 player equipped with not only MP3 file play function but also other extra features such as FM radio and voice recording. Because of its powerful tools, iAUDIO CW200 is now widely recognized as the best MP3 player for those who study foreign languages and listen to digital music.

'The newly-launched language study content service, which is totally free for iAUDIO users, offers a great incentive for our potential and existing customers. At the same time, we expect MP3 players to replace cassette players as a new champion of foreign language study tools,' COWON CEO Park Nam-gyu says.

To use the free-of-charge English learning program, those who have iAUDIO MP3 players should access the iAUDIO language study content site on the Web (english.cowon.com) and then update JetShell, an MP3 player management software, before downloading MP3 and text files.

Unlike other general-purpose MP3 files, the English language study materials are specially formatted for iAUDIO players only. The extension of the MP3 files and text materials is 'ido' and all the content are copyright protected.

COWON says it plans to roll out 256MB-memory iAUDIO CW200 in March, in a bid to follow the consumer trend favoring larger memory for foreign language education. The company says it will stage a memory upgrade promotion event for existing iAUDIO users, as well.