MARS, PA, January 19, 1999–DVD Empire, the pioneering online retailer of
digital video discs (DVD) and video compact discs (DVD-ROM), jumps into the
online bookselling fray with the Rocket eBook, NuvoMedia’s paperback-sized
electronic book designed for reading Web-distributed content.
DVD Empire will be only the second retailer to carry the Rocket eBook since its holiday 1998 introduction. The first was Delray Beach, Florida – based mail order retailer Levenger. DVD Empire will be NuvoMedia’s first exclusively online retail partner.

DVD Empire will sell the Rocket eBook for its suggested retail price of $499
beginning by March 1, 1999 at a new website, linked to the
DVD Empire homepage. Per standard DVD Empire practice, the Rocket eBook will
be in stock for immediate delivery from the 6,000 square foot DVD Empire
warehouse outside Pittsburgh, PA. In addition, Rocket eBook customers will
soon be able to buy any of the eBook titles now available online at
DVD Empire’s www.ebookempire.com site.

The move opens a significant new area of business for online retailer DVD
Empire. “The Rocket eBook has the potential to revolutionize the publishing
industry, opening a new, low overhead method of distribution for an industry
that has seen its margins squeezed in recent years,” says DVD Empire
president Jeff Rix. “Unlike some of our larger online retail competitors we
hope to ensure profitability by focusing on products which are ideal for
online sale. For eBook titles, online sale is not only technically the most
convenient for the customer and the retailer, it is also the most inexpensive
method. The entire warehouse fits into a net server.”

The $499 retail price of the Rocket eBook includes the 22 oz, palm-sized
reading device, a cradle which plugs into the serial port of a PC, and a
CD-ROM which contains the RocketLibrarian software needed to download titles
to PC by modem. The Rocket eBook can hold about 4,000 pages, the equivalent
of 10 novels. It permits the reader to carry a small, hand-held library almost
anywhere. Titles are loaded onto the Rocket eBook from the PC via the serial
port. NuvoMedia, Inc. has championed an “open platform” standard for
Web-based publishing, which will allow any publisher access to the customer
through the Rocket eBook. To date over a dozen have signed up, including
HarperCollins, Henry Holt and Company, McGraw-Hill, Random House, and
Simon & Schuster.