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Product RFID Tags Now Play Jingles

A computer science student from Durlach in Germany has worked out a way to store a tune on the radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags now attached to many consumer goods. To put a musical jingle onto a typical tag's 1-kilobyte memory, Florian Wesch used the compressed music format employed by the Commodore 64 home computer (a popular model in the 1980's). When the tag is scanned at the checkout, it would send the tune to be played by the tag reader.

Greg Bear had the same idea several years ago, and implemented it a bit better. In his 2003 novel Darwin's Children, Greg Bear wrote about speaker chips implanted in books that would entice shoppers:

...Most of the books had speaker chips that could read out the entire story. The same chips replaced jacket copy with vocal come-ons. The shelves murmured softly in a wave...
(Read more about speaker chips from Darwin's Children)

Using Bear's idea, the jingle would play when the consumer was deciding on a purchase, rather than at the point of sale.

Read more at RFID tags store jingles. If you are interested in extreme (and intrusive) forms of advertising that are already in use, see projection commercials and interactive billboards use SMS messaging.

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 5/4/2005)

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Index of related articles:

What is RFID?
How RFID Works
How is RFID used inside a living body?
What can RFID be used for?
Is RFID Technology Secure and Private?
Are There Concerns About How RFID Will Be Used? (Update)
Next-Generation Uses of RFID?
What Are Zombie RFID Tags?
Problems With RFID
RFID Information Technology Articles
Advantages of RFID Versus Barcodes
RFID Glossary
Contactless Credit Card Advantages
Contactless Credit Card Disadvantages

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