For Immediate Release:
August 20, 1999

Omaha, Nebraska - Proteron, LLC today announced the preview release of
N2MP3, an easy to use, full featured MP3 encoder for the Mac OS. Targeted
at iBook toting students and G3 addicted audiophiles, N2MP3 gives novice
and technical users alike a powerful tool for bringing digital audio to
their desktop.

N2MP3 aims to be the best MP3 encoder available for the Macintosh. It
simplifies encoding so that the novice iMac user can enjoy the benefits of
MP3, yet provides high-end hi-fi quality for the veteran MP3 fan.

N2MP3's key features include:

- Seamless Drag-and-Drop encoding from audio compact discs
- High quality, fast MP3 encoding engine with support for VBR
- Play As You Encode(TM) technology
- Live CDDB support for desktop naming of discs and tracks
- Support for ID3v2 tags
- Integration with Panic's recently announced Audion MP3 and CD player
- CD ripping for lossless audio capture
- encoded MP3 files have unlimited use

N2MP3 contains the Proteron MPEG encoder for MPEG1 layer III format. The
algorithm is a variation of the psycho acoustic model and supports variable
bitrate (VBR) with minimum bitrate specification and full support for joint
stereo encoding.

The quality of Proteron's encoder is of the highest caliber and is being
licensed from Fraunhofer-Thomson. Although based on the International
Standard source for MP3, the Proteron encoder includes proprietary
improvements making it substantially better-sounding than plain ISO
psy-model based encoders. On most G3 Macintosh computers, including all
iMacs and iBooks, Proteron's MPEG Encoder is capable of encoding 128kbps,
better quality (psy-model) MP3s faster than real time. Lower quality modes
are much faster of course, and higher bitrates approach that of
full-quality 44khz CD audio.

N2MP3 is available for free download as a preview release which limits
encoding to twenty tracks and thereafter will only encode the first minute
of additional tracks. For a limited time, pricing for the preview release
of N2MP3 has been set at only $24.95. This pricing is only good until
September 6, when the final version will be released. Pricing after
September 6 has yet to be determined.

N2MP3 can be downloaded and purchased immediately from: http://www.n2mp3.com