London, 17 July 2007 - With Mufin MusicFinder MAGIX is the first to present a software packet that automatically finds and then plays music that matches the user's mood and taste. Mufin MusicFinder can search through collections that are usually multiple gigabytes in size found on PCs, MP3 players & mobile phones. The program automatically compiles a list of music similar to one or more songs. For every occasion - whether sporting, party music or music for the car, Mufin MusicFinder always finds the right music. Integrated AudioID technology identifies and suggests music tracks on a semantic basis according to the sound characteristics of the reference track. Conventional procedures are based on metadata or Community recommendations. For this reason, results from Mufin are especially reliable. What's more, they're returned in split seconds. The fundamental technology behind this was developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology under the auspices of the creator of the MP3 format Karlheinz Brandenburg and was purchased exclusively in 2005 by the MAGIX daughter company m2any. Mufin MusicFinder from MAGIX also provides the most important playback, audio CD backup copy and burning functionality as well as the transfer of playlists to all portable players. A free version of the program can be downloaded now from www.mufin.com. For additional features, there is an upgrade option that can be purchased for just EUR19.99.

Jürgen Jaron, CEO MAGIX AG: "Mufin MusicFinder from MAGIX will revolutionize the consumer music industry because users' PCs, music-playing phones and other players can now finally play exactly the music to match the mood and taste of the listener. We're delighted to once again bring together the leading technology of MAGIX with the expertise of the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT to make a product that has great chances of becoming a standard tool for everyone.

Professor Dr. Karlheinz Brandenburg, Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT: "Creating playlists for various output devices is quite a laborious. And when compiling music with other programs, tracks I don't really want to hear continue to crop up. This will be much easier in the future. By using our AudioID Technology in the Mufin MusicFinder only the music I really want to hear will be automatically recommended and played."

Insufficient usage of music collections - spoilt for choice Music collections on PCs, players and music-playing mobile phones are massive - according to this year's study by the German consumer research company GfK they total 16.6 billion tracks (previous year: 8.8 billion). However, the benefit from only 614 titles on average is low. The shuffle modes on standard playback programs often play a number of tracks you don't really want to hear, while compiling by hand or by genre/artist/album misses out on some favourites because they're location or name are simply unknown. The principles that apply here are that it's not a bad thing to be spoilt for choice and the user can't be impressed by songs they can't hear. The apparent unique selection made by Internet music players can also be a source of nasty surprises. These are often based either on collaborative recommendations à la "Those who liked this song also liked..." or they sometimes only have limited variety due to the editorial strain which compiling music brings about.

The technology behind Mufin MusicFinder - a game of numbers Mufin MusicFinder in contrast recognises the tracks in fractions of seconds using its integrated AudioID technology and compiles similarity relationships to other songs simply using the music track itself and the way it sounds. A study carried out by Philips Research Laboratories confirms that similarity counts as one of the most important criteria when searching through music. The more comparison options available, the more accurate the result: Over 8 billion comparisons between over 4 million music tracks have already been made for AudioID. All newly released tracks from every record label are similarly integrated and are linked with already existing tracks. Year-long research of the basics of music semantics by the Fraunhofer Institute as well as the expertise of MAGIX in the area of multimedia applications were seamlessly incorporated into the development of Mufin MusicFinder. This way, Mufin MusicFinder only plays those tracks that match one another.

Mufin MusicFinder and mobile players
Mufin MusicFinder, however, is much more than just a PC utility: The tracks in the compiled playlist can be transmitted straight from the program to portable MP3 players or mobile phones, and can, of course, be burned to CD, for example, for listening in your car. Furthermore, the lists created can also be played in other software players, for example, iTunes or MAGIX MP3 Maker 12.

MuFin and everyday music
The professional use of music in everyday and business life can be implemented very well with Mufin MusicFinder. Depending on the design and clientèle of a café, bar or business, MuFin always finds and plays the right music to precisely match customers and staff.

About MAGIX:
MAGIX AG, Berlin, is an internationally operating provider of software, online services and digital content for using multimedia products and services in personal communication. Furthermore, MAGIX also offers tailor-made multimedia packages as one-stop solutions to business partners such as online portals and hardware manufacturers. Since 1993 MAGIX has developed state-of-the-art technology for designing, editing and archiving digital photos, videos and music. In 2006, based on sales of products through retail distribution of photo, video and music software, MAGIX held a leading market position in Germany and various other European countries, and was one of the three leading market players in the USA.