[Updated Aug. 7, 2001; 6:15 pm PDT] MP3.com has selected Embedded Linux vendor Lineo Inc. to supply its next-generation Business Music Media Server (BMMS) after evaluating the solutions of 12 different supplier candidates. The BMMS has been used by companies such as Petco and Rubio's to play in-store music and advertising MP3 files for visiting customers.

The BMMS is based on Lineo's SecureEdge Internet appliance platform, which runs Lineo's implementation of uClinux operating system, a version of Linux for processors without memory management units. The device generates two channels of monaural sound which are fed to an external amplifier, thereby supporting two independent music zones simultaneously, including the possibility of providing background audio for a business phone system while customers are on hold.

The MP3.com BMMS
Here is an excerpt from a joint news release issued this morning by Lineo and MP3.com . . .

San Diego, CA — August 7, 2001 — Beginning this fall, subscribers to MP3.com's, Inc. Business Music Services will begin receiving a new media server designed by MP3.com and Lineo, Inc. The next-generation player at less than half the size of the existing media player retains all of the current features plus added enhancements such as keyboard access and troubleshooting capabilities. To view the Business Music Media Server (BMMS) product, visit www.mp3.com/product_hardware. Details about the BMMS are available here.

“The product is extremely reliable and designed for easy installation at the store level,” said Steven Scott, director of Business Music Services at MP3.com. “We met our core engineering and performance objectives with this product — providing a media server that will cost less than a commercial tape or CD player and provides low-cost installation, continual play, low-touch operation and performance reliability in a retail operation environment.”

The new player is based on the Lineo SecureEdge Internet appliance platform and uses a Lineo uClinux embedded operating system that's more advanced than its predecessor, with new features and a quicker startup. The Business Music Media Server (BMMS) is designed to deliver two independent music or advertising programs simultaneously, while downloading content from MP3.com's Business Music Services site. As MP3.com's Business Music Services expands into the global marketplace, the player's applications were created to accommodate international applications.

“Input from our early partners Petco and Rubio's contributed to refinement of this truly powerful, scalable, low-cost solution,” said Bob Simril, vice president of Business Music Services at MP3.com. “By leveraging the many years of combined business music expertise with talented and committed engineering resources, we have created what we believe is the new standard for global, web-based business music and audio ad distribution.”

Lineo is scheduled to operate a fulfillment center in Salt Lake City to support MP3.com's Business Music Services. The Lineo Fulfillment Center is slated to be the distribution, shipping and receiving hub for new BMMS players. The center will receive orders for new installations, configure BMMS players and ship them to installation destinations. Through fulfillment center operation, Lineo becomes a vertically integrated supplier to MP3.com, providing the hardware, system software and other value-added services to the MP3.com Value Added Reseller (VAR) network. Lineo is scheduled to develop follow-up designs for MP3.com while providing ongoing product design, manufacturing, fulfillment and post-sale service for the MP3.com global VAR network. MP3.com will drive the BMMS while delivering audio programming to subscriber business establishments.

MP3.com's Business Music Services is a subscription program that makes highly customizable music and audio messaging available to a variety of businesses, including restaurants, fashion retailers, supermarkets, convenience stores, salons, offices, big-box retailers and a variety of other business establishments. The services provide subscribers with the ability to control the music as well as audio advertisements throughout multiple locations. This flexibility affords businesses the ability to select music and messaging for specific demographics within an individual location or an entire chain of stores by simply accessing a web-enabled, password-protected MP3.com Internet account.

In addition to Business Music Services, MP3.com provides a variety of innovative, business-related offerings, explained in greater detail here. Among these offerings is Radio Services, a multitiered program designed to bring the power of digital music to traditional radio outlets. The company's Music Licensing Program is comprised of various services intended to allow music supervisors to shop for talent from the vast pool of MP3.com's artist community.

MP3.com's Mobile initiative continues to help shape the future of music distribution via wireless devices. And Audio Hosting is designed to empower companies that want to add music to their offerings with access to the same high-quality technology that MP3.com relies on to deliver more than 1 million songs a day to music fans.

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This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.