FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

ESCIENT® BEGINS SHIPPING ITS FIREBALL™ DVDM-300, THE ULTIMATE DVD MOVIE AND DIGITAL MUSIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

-- Easy-to-Use TV Interface Provides Total Access to Entire Collections of DVDs, Music and More, Without Ever Touching a Silver Disc! --

INDIANAPOLIS, IN, February 22, 2005 – Escient, a world leader in advanced digital home entertainment solutions, today announced it has begun shipping its breakthrough FireBall DVDM-300 Media Management system, introduced at CES 2005 in January. The FireBall DVDM-300 (SRP: $4,999) merges Escient’s industry-leading music management capabilities with its one-of-a-kind DVD movie management system, now available in a single home media server.

Enjoy Every Movie in Your Collection at the Touch of a Button
With the DVDM-300, users can manage, control and access more than 1,200 DVDs stored and protected in up to three external Sony or Kenwood DVD/CD changers. To manage such a vast collection, the DVDM-300 utilizes Escient’s patented automatic transport and identification technologies, as well as CD recognition technology from GracenoteTM, to instantly find and play the desired disc stored in a connected changer. In addition, the DVDM-300 accesses Escient’s world-renowned MovieDB™ DVD database, to provide users with an integrated movie guide that automatically displays titles, cast information, ratings, running time, and cover art for every movie in your collection.

The Ultimate Music Management System
With its massive 300GB internal hard drive and ability to manage up to 1200 external CDs, the new Escient FireBall DVDM-300 can store and catalog even the largest music collections. It is now possible to store over 850 hours of true CD quality music using the new FLAC encoder (Free Lossless Audio Codec), or over 5000 hours of MP3 music (depending on compression rate). In addition, with built in file-sharing services, consumers can easily transfer music files between the DVDM-300 and their PC or MAC, allowing music library backups and music file importing. The file-sharing services also allow users to stream and listen to audio files directly from their FireBall to a computer on the same network.

Music I/O
Like all Escient Fireball music management products, the DVDM-300 features a built-in CD-RW that lets users conveniently rip CDs directly to the internal hard drive. The CD-RW drive also allows users to burn customized mix CDs based on user created Playlists. Thanks to the new optimized FLAC encoder, the DVDM-300 provides true CD quality recording (eliminating the loss of information inherent in conventional MP3 compression) while using half the hard drive space compared to the original CD. In addition, the refined FireBall user interface improves the entire recording process, allowing automated recording from the internal drive and connected external CD changers.

Easy Setup and Integration
The FireBall DVDM-300’s built-in 10/100 Ethernet connector allows easy connection to a variety of in-home, wired or wireless networks. Once connected, users can stream files across the home network as well as backup files from the FireBall. Furthermore, with the integrated web server, a DVDM-300 can be controlled from any PC or MAC on the network using the Escient EWP-2000 wireless touch panel or an HTML compatible browser (Internet Explorer or Safari) from a PC or Mac.

The FireBall DVDM-300 allows users to view, manage, and stream music to a FireBall MP-100 or the new FireBall MP-150 Digital Music Player when connected on the same home network. The DVDM-300 also provides access to a variety of high quality Internet Radio Stations provided by RadioIO, Radio Free Virgin and others. Users can also program new Internet Radio Stations into the iRadio guide.

The FireBall DVDM-300 provides automatic audio and video switching for each of the three external DVD/CD changers, eliminating the need for expensive external video switchers and custom programming. Using patent pending technologies, the DVDM-300 will automatically control external A/V receivers from Marantz and Denon, switching them to the correct surround mode and input depending the type of disc played. As with other FireBall products, Escient’s powerful external control protocols are included to provide easy integration with third party controls systems such as AMX, Crestron, Niles, Xantech, and others.

Easily installed in as little as 15 minutes, the FireBall DVDM-300 ships with “Quick Set-Up” instructions that show several connection options. Free third-party external control modules for advanced custom installations are available on the Escient website www.escient.com.

The Fireball DVDM-300 is currently available and carries a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $4,999.

About Escient
Escient is a division of D&M Holdings U.S., Inc., and is the pioneering leader in the design, development, manufacture, marketing, sales, distribution and support of a groundbreaking category of audio/video products that meld the power of the Internet seamlessly with intuitive home-entertainment devices. Escient’s products and services are designed to enhance the entertainment experience by providing previously unheard-of ways to access music, movies and related content throughout the home. The company possesses a deep portfolio of designs for new products including media servers, DVD systems, remote players and networking and streaming devices, that are brought to market under the Escient brand through a channel of over 800 locations throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Mexico, and in partnership with other leading global consumer electronics brands.

About D&M Holdings Inc.
D&M Holdings Inc. (TSE II: 6735) is based in Tokyo and owns the Denon, Marantz, McIntosh Laboratory, Boston Acoustics, Snell, D&M Professional, ReplayTV®, Rio® and Escient® brands. Denon, Marantz, McIntosh and D&M Professional are global industry leaders in the specialist home theater, audio/video consumer electronics or professional audio markets, with a strong and long-standing heritage of manufacturing and marketing high-performance audio and video components. Boston Acoustics, with its signature Boston Sound,™ is a leader in premium loudspeakers for home and audio markets. Snell is a super premium speaker brand. The ReplayTV, Rio and Escient brands represent award-winning technologies in digital home entertainment. Additional information is available at www.dm-holdings.com.

DISCLAIMER
Statements in this news release that are not statements of historical fact may include forward looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of the company. We wish to caution you that such statements are just predictions and that actual events or results may differ materially. Forward looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties surrounding competitive and industry conditions, market acceptance for the company's products, risks of litigation, technological changes, developing industry standards and other factors related to the company's businesses.

Escient and the Escient logo are registered trademarks and FireBall is a trademark of Digital Networks North America, Inc.


FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Media Contact:                            
DBA Public Relations
John Muscari
+1-212-388-1400        
jmuscari@dba-pr.com