KODAK PHOTO CD DISCS WILL COME IN SMALLER SIZE

New 80 mm Format Designed to Meet the Needs of Transportable Users

LAS VEGAS, Nov. 15--As new, smaller-format CD-ROM drives begin appearing in
laptop and notebook computers, Eastman Kodak Company unveiled plans to
offer a smaller version of its popular Photo CD disc.

The 80 mm disc format will complement the original, 120 mm Photo CD discs
that have become widely accepted by the computer industry during the past
year. Kodak announced its intent to support the 80 mm format here at the
COMDEX Show, where Panasonic is showing a prototype 80 mm Photo CD disc as
part of the demonstration of a new notebook computer.

Kodak designed the new Photo CD discs to be compatible with the 80 mm
CD-ROM drives likely to be found in future notebooks, laptops, and
personal digital assistants (PDAs). The discs also will play on nearly all
existing Photo CD-compatible devices, including existing CD-ROM drives,
Photo CD, and CD-I players. Kodak expects to make the 80 mm Photo CD
format available late in 1994.

"Hardware manufacturers have identified the 80 mm format as the best way to
bring the benefits of CD-ROM digital storage to a range of transportable
devices, from notebooks to PDAs," said Fred Geyer, general manager and
vice president, Kodak CD Imaging. "We believe the 80 mm and 120 mm formats
both will be widely used. As a result, we intend to offer Photo CD media
in both sizes."

Here at COMDEX, Panasonic is demonstrating one of the first notebook
computers to employ an 80 mm CD-ROM drive. Demonstrations of the new
Panasonic notebook computer, which weighs less than 6 pounds, and features
the prototype 80 mm Photo CD disc, are taking place throughout the week in
Panasonic booth number L682 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. 

About Photo CD Discs

The original, 120 mm Photo CD disc is the same size as today's album-length
audio CDs. New, 80 mm Photo CD discs will be the size of audio "CD
singles," which contain a few audio tracks rather than an entire album.

Both the 120 mm format and the 80 mm format are recognized as CD-ROM
standards by the International Standards Organization (ISO).

The smaller discs will be "backward compatible" with nearly all players and
CD-ROM drives that can read or write current Photo CD discs. The reason: A
small cavity built into 120 mm CD drives that is designed to hold 80 mm
discs while they play. (In the rare instance that a drive lacks this
cavity, the smaller discs can be played using an adapter ring.)

Any Photo CD information that can be written to a 120 mm disc also can be
written to an 80 mm disc, but in a smaller quantity. The 80 mm Photo CD
discs have one-third the data-carrying capacity of their 120 mm cousins.

In the case of the Kodak Photo CD Master disc, that means the smaller disc
will be able to hold images contained on one 35 mm roll of 36-exposure
film. Original Photo CD Master discs can carry four 24-exposure rolls, or
a total of about 100 images.
Like the larger Photo CD discs, 80 mm discs will be produced by
photofinishers and service bureaus using any of three Kodak Photo CD
Imaging Workstations (PIWs). Kodak plans to provide PIW owners with a
software upgrade to enable them to provide 80 mm disc authoring
capability.

For more information about Photo CD, customers may call the Kodak Customer
Assistance Center at 1-800-CD-KODAK.

Eastman Kodak Company, 343 State St, Rochester, NY 14650

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