FROM SANDIEGO UNION TRIBUNE JAN,30 ,2000

Local firm's stock the talk of the town | Internet chat sites help boost e.Digital 35,000%.

The stock has become near legendary on Internet chat sites, where investors tout other penny stocks as having the potential to become "the next EDIG." On Raging Bull, where [Richard Wood] discovered it, e.Digital has become the most discussed of all stocks, with some 180,000 messages posted.

There are real questions as to whether e.Digital is worth $2.7 billion, which was where the market valued the company at the stock's high point Monday. For one thing, a long list of larger companies, with far bigger resources than e.Digital, are also trying to establish themselves at the center of the downloadable music business.