Digidesign to Receive Oscar for ProTools System; Academy Award is second Oscar in Avid family

TEWKSBURY, Mass., Jan 14, 2004 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) today announced that its audio division, Digidesign^®, will receive an Academy Award^® of Merit (Oscar^® statuette) from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The statuette, which will be presented at the Scientific and Technical Academy Awards on February 14, 2004, will recognize Digidesign for the design, development, and implementation of the Pro Tools^® digital audio workstation, which is renowned as the standard for creating and editing motion picture soundtracks.

"Winning an Oscar for Pro Tools is an incredible honor for us," said David Lebolt, Avid vice president and Digidesign general manager. "We've come this far thanks to the amazing dedication and hard work of our entire staff and third-party developers, and the incredibly valuable input we've received from the post community. It feels extremely gratifying to everyone on the Digidesign and Avid team to see the Academy recognize how Pro Tools has profoundly changed the creative process for audio postproduction, allowing increasingly innovative and inventive use of sound in motion pictures. This recognition further demonstrates how committed we are to making the best possible tools for enabling and inspiring the creative audio artist."

David Krall, Avid's president and chief executive officer, commented, "For two decades, Digidesign has pioneered the world of digital audio production, shaping the way professionals create soundtracks and music for feature films. The Oscar is the industry's most prestigious award, and we're extremely proud to see the Academy recognize Digidesign as the gold standard for sound in motion pictures. This award is especially meaningful to us, because Avid received its first Oscar statuette five years ago for the Film Composer^® system. Only a handful of companies have won two statuettes - and it feels great to be one of them."

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presents Scientific and Technical Awards to the creators of devices, methods, formulas, discoveries, or inventions of special and outstanding value to the arts and sciences of motion pictures. In the 76-year history of the Academy, only 42 Oscar statuettes have been awarded for scientific and technical achievements. The award presented to Digidesign is the fifth Oscar statuette to recognize innovations in sound technology.

About Digidesign

Digidesign, a division of Avid Technology, Inc. is the world's leading manufacturer of digital audio production systems, and the winner of the 2001 Technical Grammy^® Award. The company is the exclusive distributor of the Focusrite hardware and software product lines in North and Latin America. Digidesign provides the professional music, film, video, multimedia, and radio broadcast industries with tools for digital recording, MIDI sequencing, editing, signal processing, and surround mixing. Digidesign products are marketed in over forty countries worldwide through a distribution network of value-added dealers, distributors, and OEM relationships. For more information, visit www.digidesign.com.

About Avid Technology, Inc.

Avid Technology, Inc. is the world leader in digital nonlinear media creation, management and distribution solutions, enabling film, video, audio, animation, games, and broadcast news professionals to work more efficiently, productively, and creatively. For more information about the company's Oscar, Grammy^®, and Emmy^® award-winning products and services, please visit: www.avid.com.

^© 2004 Avid Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Product features, specifications, system requirements and availability are subject to change without notice. Avid, Film Composer, Digidesign and Pro Tools are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Avid received an Oscar statuette representing the 1998 Scientific and Technical Award for the concept, design and engineering of the Avid Film Composer system for motion picture editing. Academy Award and Oscar are trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Emmy is a registered trademark of ATAS/NATAS. Grammy is a trademark of The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, Inc. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE: Avid Technology, Inc.

Avid Technology, Inc.
Carter Holland, 978-640-3172
carter_holland@avid.com
or
Digidesign
Chandra Lynn, 650-731-6688
chandra_lynn@digidesign.com

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