Epson USA Press Release 13/09/08

THE EPSON STYLUS PHOTO R320 OFFERS THE FLEXIBILITY TO PRINT INCREDIBLE PHOTOS AND PRINT DIRECTLY ONTO THE SURFACE OF CDS AND DVDS WITHOUT HAVING TO USE A COMPUTER

New Direct Photo Printer Includes a Built-in Color Monitor for Added Convenience and Costs Less Than $200  

LONG BEACH, Calif., Sept. 13, 2004 - Epson America Inc. has replaced its popular, award-winning EPSON Stylus R300M ink jet printer with the new EPSON Stylus Photo R320.  This printer is ideal for digital camera owners who want a flexible and easy to use photo solution without having to spend a lot of money.  The EPSON Stylus Photo R320 offers convenient and innovative features such as PC-free printing, 13 supported memory card types, a built-in color monitor for viewing and selecting images before printing them and the ability to print long-lasting photos in a variety of popular borderless sizes.  The printer also features Epson?s unique ability to print directly onto the surface of ink jet printable CDs and DVDs. 

“The EPSON Stylus Photo R320 is one of our most versatile photo printers to date. It not only prints incredible looking photos with ease and gives customers choices as to the sizes and quantities they want to print without ever having to use a PC, but also prints directly onto CDs and DVDs,” said Lowell Wolf, product manager, consumer ink jet printers, Epson.  “Whether you want to print out a personalized CD or print out photos for preserving important memories, sharing photo memories with friends and family has never been so simple and fun.”

Printing Directly on Ink-Jet Printable CD-R and DVD-R Recordable Media
With the EPSON Stylus Photo R320, customers can print directly onto the surface of ink-jet printable CD-R and DVD-R media thus eliminating the expense, inconvenience, and risk of using adhesive labels.  Epson was the first and still is the only ink jet printer manufacturer in the U.S. to include this feature on its photo printers. 

Customers can easily design professional-looking CDs and DVDs with customized text, colorful backgrounds and images by using the included CD software.  Printing out the CDs is quick and simple with a front loading CD tray that comes standard with the printer.   

Convenient Photo Printing?With or Without a Computer
The EPSON Stylus Photo 320 is designed for digital camera owners, offering six-color Photo Inks and up to 5760 x 1440 optimized dpi for creating images with incredible detail, beautiful skin tones, sharper contrast and an ultra-wide color range.  Customers can print beautiful, frame-ready, BorderFree? images in all of the popular sizes, including 4? x 6?, 5? x 7?, 8? x 10?, letter, and panoramic size photos. 

This printer model makes it easy for anyone to crop, resize, and print photos directly from memory cards or picture CDs without having to use a computer. The EPSON Stylus Photo R320 is equipped with built-in memory card slots that support CompactFlash? Type I and II, MultiMediaCard, IBM Microdrive?, xD-Picture Card, Sony Memory Stick?, Memory Stick PRO, Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick Pro Duo, MagicGate? Memory Stick, SmartMedia?, xD-Picture Card, and Secure Digital? memory formats (adapters required for some types).  Customers can also save images from their memory cards directly onto a CD-R or a Zip? Disk without using a computer by utilizing the printer?s front access host USB port.  This port makes it simple to connect the printer to a CD-R drive, Zip drive, thumb drive or PictBridge-enabled digital camera. 

For added convenience, the printer has a user-friendly control panel, which provides customers with the flexibility to make selections such as paper type, paper size and number of copies without having to use a computer.  The panel gives users the ability to choose from nine paper types and seven different photo layouts plus manual adjustments, filters and frames.  The control panel also gives users the ability to save their favorite print settings with a simple ?one touch? button. 

Ink and Media for the EPSON Stylus Photo R320
The EPSON Stylus Photo R320 utilizes individual ink cartridges, which is an economical and practical solution.  With the combination of Epson?s exclusive ink technology and high-quality, value-priced papers, customers can reap the benefits of an affordable home printing solution. Furthermore, Epson?s fast and convenient quick-drying inks produce prints that are immediately dry to the touch and water-resistant on EPSON Premium Photo Papers.

PRINT Image Matching
The EPSON Stylus Photo R320 supports PRINT Image Matching (P.I.M.) technology to create the best possible prints automatically, without complicated color corrections.  Currently there are over 180 P.I.M.-enabled products from 24 manufacturers of digital cameras, printers and software.  Exif 2.2 (Exif Print) digital camera standard is also supported by these printer models.  More information on P.I.M. as well as a complete and current list of P.I.M.-compatible products is available at www.printimagematching.com.

Bluetooth Printing
An optional Bluetooth Photo Print Adapter is available for use with the EPSON Stylus Photo R320.  This adapter allows users to print directly from a variety of Bluetooth enabled devices including mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and Windows laptops and desktop PCs.  The adapter is currently available for an estimated street price of $69. 

Print Speeds and Connectivity
The EPSON Stylus Photo R320 has fast photo print speeds with a 4? x 6? photo printing in approximately 39 seconds.  The printer also handles text with ease and can produce a black text document at up to 15 ppm* (pages per minute).  The printers are both Macintosh and Windows compatible and offer USB 2.0 Hi-Speed connectivity when using a computer with the printer and a separate USB 1.1 host connection for use with CD-R drives, Zip drives and PictBridge-enabled digital cameras. 

Pricing, Availability, Warranty and Support
The EPSON Stylus Photo R320 is available now for an estimated street price of $199 and can be purchased through Epson authorized dealers, mail order, computer superstores, photo specialty stores and on the Epson retail Web site (www.epsonstore.com).  The printer carries a one-year warranty and is supported by the EPSON ConnectionSM,a customer support and technical assistance line.  For more information on Epson and its products, call 1-800-GO-EPSON or visit www.epson.com.

About Epson
Epson offers an extensive array of award-winning image capture and image output products for the consumer, business, photography and graphic arts markets. The company is also a leading supplier of value-added point-of-sale (POS) printers and transaction terminals for the retail market. Founded in 1975, Epson America, Inc. is the U.S. affiliate of Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, a global manufacturer and supplier of high-quality technology products that meet customer demands for increased functionality, compactness, systems integration and energy efficiency. Epson America, Inc. is headquartered in Long Beach, Calif.