Music album debuts on memory stick

Says Tim Bishop, owner of Prezence, "We see the release of the J album as just the start of delivering music to South African consumers in this innovative and very exciting format.

"We are able to load a great deal of exciting content on the memory stick, along with the album - in this case photographs, wallpapers, ringtones and an exclusive song version but going forward we can load up videos, tasters of new products and much more. It just makes the experience of an artist's creativity that much more fuller and fun."

Using Kingmax's Super Stick Series, one of the world's smallest memory stick (weighing under three grams), J's full album will be made available to music consumers, along with four ringtones, PC wallpapers, a gallery of J photographs and an exclusive acoustic version of 'Down Again'. All tracks on the memory stick are in MP3 format, and the 128mb USB memory stick can also be reused for storing data.

The product is retailed in a see-through tube that contains the memory stick and an album sleeve, as well as a Kingmax lanyard that is intended to turn the J-stick into a stylish accessory.

The idea of retailing new releases on a memory stick has been pioneered by the likes of Barenaked Lades in Canada, and more recently, UK group Keane, which released the single 'Nothing In My Way' in this format in October 2006.

'Down Again' is the first single off 'Closure', which is currently earning airplay, as well as chart positions, on both 5fm and 94.7 Highveld Stereo for J, a 24-year-old singer, songwriter and musician.