"With CD-quality audio available over the Internet and market for palm size computers with audio capability poised to explode, the ability to offer audiobooks in downloadable electronic files is clearly the wave of the future. Along with the burgeoning retail market for audiobooks, a huge Internet market for spoken word audio is emerging. AudioUniverse.com, in addition to increasing our sales of audiobooks on cassettes, now positions us to be at the forefront of Internet e-commerce," said Peter H. Engel, President of NewStar Publishing and Internet Services. "We believe AudioUniverse.com will become by far the most interesting and valuable site on the Internet devoted to spoken word intellectual property. And we believe it will both dramatically increase the size of the entire audio market, and position NewStar to capitalize on the Internet's forthcoming technological advances," concluded Engel.

AudioUniverse.com capabilities currently include:

* An electronic store offering approximately 15,000 audio titles on cassette by such bestselling authors as Robert B. Parker, Tom Clancy, John Grisham, Sandra Brown, Jack Higgins, LaVyrle Spencer, and Fredrick Forsyth, and other notable authors, read by such celebrities as Burt Reynolds, Sharon Stone, Theodore Bikel, Linda Hamilton, Harlan Ellison, Patrick Macnee, Michael York, and other well-known personalities;

* A vast array of works in innumerable subject categories including biography, business, fiction, literature, self-help, spirituality, history, children's, and many others;

* Sound samples for more than 1,000 titles;

* An extraordinary audiobook discount structure that matches and often betters the discounts available from other retail or Internet outlets, plus special discounts on over 1,000 titles;

* Exciting free spoken word streamed programs, such as short stories, children's fables, business tips, health updates, etc.;

* An events calendar featuring programs, forums and interviews with best-selling authors and celebrity readers;

* The exclusive Listener's Advantage Program, a no cost value-added program with discounts on a variety of goods and services related to the listener's special interests (as indicated by the audios they purchase), and an on-line newsletter filled with insightful information and advance purchasing opportunities.

Howard Cohl, Executive Vice President of Publishing and Internet Services, added, "We've charted out a very aggressive plan for AudioUniverse.com, both short-term and long-term. Over the next several months we shall be launching some extraordinary satellite features which will enable us to expose more people to audiobooks than has ever before been possible."

NewStar is a diversified entertainment company engaged in the publication of audio and printed books and the production and distribution of television programming.

This release contains statements relating to future results of the Company (including certain projections and business trends) that are "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those projected as a result of certain risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to, changes in political and economic conditions, demand for and market acceptance of new and existing products, as well as other risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in the filings of the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

For More Information:

For AudioUniverse.com
Alan Wallace, CEO
InterActive Agency, Inc.
audiouniverse@iagency.com
(310) 664-6710 x123

For NewStar Media Inc.
Carl Hymans
G.S. Schwartz & Co. Inc.
carlh@schwartz.com
212-725-4500 x305

InterActive Agency, Inc.
http://www.iagency.com
2701 Ocean Park Boulevard, Suite 201
Santa Monica, CA 90405
(310) 664-6710 (310) 664-6711 Fax