"..The Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA) today revealed that 17 CD drive manufacturers, representing well over 90 percent of all CD optical drive shipments worldwide, have achieved compliance with its MultiRead specification. MultiRead is an optical drive specification that enables all classes of CD discs (CD-Audio, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW) to be read on current and future CD and DVD devices. Today's announcement marks a key milestone in the association's ongoing effort to protect users' investments in optical media and its content by ensuring disc read compatibility as they upgrade to newer CD and DVD drives.

To support the industry's growing migration to DVD technologies, OSTA also announced today that it has extended the capabilities of its MultiRead specification with the release of "MultiRead 2". Developed to address the burgeoning needs of DVD technology, MultiRead 2 will enable manufacturers of DVD drives to ensure read compatibility with the industry's first rewritable DVD format- 2.6 GB DVD-RAM-in addition to allowing these drives to read all classes of CD media. MultiRead 2, which incorporates all elements of OSTA's original MultiRead specification, is designed to protect users' investments in CD media and its content as they upgrade to newer CD and DVD drives.

The MultiRead 2 and MultiRead specifications and test plans are available for viewing and downloading on the OSTA Web site at www.osta.org.." NULL