He's Got 5.0!

Dulles, VA, November 26, 1999 - "You've Got Mail!" -- The man behind the three most famous words in cyberspace will be greeting AOL members a while longer. America Online, the world's leading interactive services company, announced today that it has extended its relationship with Elwood Edwards to make his friendly online greetings and voice prompts a key signature of the new AOL 5.0. Under the agreement, AOL will utilize Edwards' voice-over services for new features of AOL 5.0, including "You've Got Pictures," a service which enables members to send and share pictures online. Now when members have pictures waiting for them in their email box they are greeted by a "You've Got Pictures" message in Edwards' familiar tones when they sign on to AOL 5.0. Edwards first provided a recording for AOL in 1989, when the service was experimenting with tools to help personalize the online environment and make it more user-friendly. The same year, with the launch of AOL 1.0, AOL's approximate 50,000 members became the first online audience to be welcomed by the human voice. Today, AOL's recorded greetings are heard over 40 million times daily by members and include the hallmark "Welcome," "You've Got Mail," "File's Done" and "Goodbye" messages. "When you hear 'You've Got Mail,' you can't help but automatically associate the phrase with AOL and the Internet. You can hear the greetings everywhere - in commercials, television shows and even movies," said Jonathan Sacks, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the AOL service. "We look forward to our continued relationship with Elwood and witnessing this continued phenomenon and mass market appeal of the AOL online greetings." "Who could have foreseen something like this happening," said Elwood Edwards. "Years ago my wife worked at AOL and asked me to record the greetings for the company. Now, as I think about the millions of AOL members who consider me as the 'mailman' of cyberspace, I'm amazed. I'm pleased that I've had a small part in making the computer world smaller and more personable." Edwards has recently started his own business doing voice-overs for commercial and business broadcasts, radio and television. More information about Elwood Edwards and his voice-over services can be found at his Website, http://members.aol.com/voicepro.