Apple Brings Music to the Macintosh with Help from Roland Corporation

CUPERTINO, California--May 10, 1994--Apple Computer, Inc., a computer and
information industry pioneer, and Roland Corporation, a leading
manufacturer of professional musical instruments, today announced an
agreement in which Apple  will license Roland's musical instrument sound
collection for use in future versions of QuickTime , Apple's software that
brings multimedia capabilities to computers and consumer electronics
devices.

The Roland  Sound Canvas  musical instrument collection includes digitized
samples of more than 10 instrument families including piano, organ,
guitar, bass, strings and orchestra, ensemble, brass, reed, percussion,
sound effects and more.  These sounds can be used to create and play music
on computers--without users needing to know the technical nuances of MIDI
technology.

"Until now, our instrument samples have been used primarily by professional
musicians," commented Ikutaro Kakehashi, president of Roland Corporation. 
"The rapid growth in the multimedia industry, however, has prompted us to
lower the barriers to entry for people who want to create and play music,
without assembling an entire music studio.  Apple's move to include our
Sound Canvas libraries with QuickTime will make high-quality music much
more widely available, while allowing a natural upgrade path to Roland's
professional instruments."

"Like music in feature films, music in CD-ROM titles and multimedia
presentations results in a more approachable, entertaining user
experience," said Tom Ryan, manager of the AppleSoft Media Software Group.
 "Over time, music will become a standard part of the Macintosh
experience."

QuickTime Music Architecture Makes Music Easy The QuickTime Music
Architecture, a component of QuickTime 2.0, includes several features that
make it easier for computer users to create, edit, play, and synchronize
music with video.  Through the use of the Roland instrument library and
Apple's proprietary sound synthesis technology, the architecture requires
no additional hardware to play music.

A key feature of the QuickTime Music Architecture is that it requires very
little of the user's disk space.  For example, Beethoven's Moonlight
Sonata would require nearly 180MB if recorded as CD-quality audio, but
when stored as a QuickTime movie it only uses 75K of disk space.  Or an
entire corporate presentation--complete with high- quality images with
background music--could fit on one floppy disk.

The QuickTime Music Architecture is also compatible with MIDI, yet is
distinctly different from MIDI.  Any Standard MIDI File can be converted
directly into a QuickTime music movie, and MIDI devices, such as MIDI
keyboards, can record directly into music movies.  In addition, the
architecture is scalable, so it will automatically take advantage of the
best available device for playback--including MIDI devices, such as those
offered by Roland.  Unlike MIDI, additional hardware is not required and
users do not need to know how to configure instruments or channels, or
understand complicated file formats.

QuickTime 2.0:  Bigger, Faster Video

QuickTime 2.0, announced this February, not only includes enhanced support
for music, but also provides greatly increased performance for video.  The
latest version of QuickTime provides for larger video windows to be played
at faster frame rates, resulting in full-screen movies without the
addition of hardware.  QuickTime 2.0 also provides an infrastructure for
development and delivery of interactive television applications, including
MPEG support and network enhancements so that QuickTime can address
distributed networks and devices.

System Requirements

QuickTime 2.0 will run on any color-capable (68020 or later) Macintosh
computer running System 7 or 6.0.7 with at least 2 MB of memory.

Availability

The QuickTime 2.0 developer kit for the Macintosh is expected to be
available in mid-1994.  As with previous versions, QuickTime 2.0 is
designed to permit cross-platform compatibility between platforms which
support it.

Headquartered in Cupertino, California, Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)
develops, manufactures and markets personal computer, server, and personal
interactive electronic systems for use in business, education, the home,
science, engineering and government. A recognized pioneer and innovator in
the information industry, Apple does business in more than 120 countries.

Roland Corporation is a leader in the development and production of
electronic musical instruments.  Headquartered in Osaka, Japan, Roland
manufactures and distributes products through four divisions: musical
instruments, contemporary keyboards, professional audio and a newly formed
multimedia division.  Roland promotes a multi-brand strategy which
includes the Roland, BOSS and Rodgers lines of products.  Roland is a
global company with 19 overseas joint ventures and affiliates, 40
distributors, and six R&D facilities worldwide.

Apple Computer Inc, 20525 Mariana Ave, Cupertino, CA 95014
408-996-1010

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