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Windows Media Technologies Adopted in 11 New Devices, Extending
Microsoft's Leadership in Taking Digital Media Everywhere
January 06, 2001 11:30:00 AM ET
New Consumer Electronics Products From Leading Companies Enable
Consumers To
Nearly Triple Their Music Compared With MP3 by Using Windows Media Audio
Format
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Today at CES 2001, leading consumer
electronics companies announced support for Microsoft(R) Windows Media(TM)
Technologies in 11 new digital music products, bringing to more than 60 the
number of consumer electronics devices that support the Windows Media
Format. The new products, many of which are being launched at this year's
CES, range from portable audio players and CD players to devices that link
home stereo systems to digital music libraries and playlists stored on personal
computers. With their support of Windows Media, these devices offer music fans
industry-leading sound quality, nearly three times the music storage and playing
time of MP3, and seamless music transfer and management with Windows
Media Player 7. Content providers can encode their music in the Windows
Media Audio format, using the optional built-in digital rights management, and be
assured that consumers can listen to it at high quality on virtually any device.
(Photo: newscom.com )
All the devices announced today support playback of content encoded both in
Windows Media Audio 7 and in the recently released Windows Media Audio 8
beta format. The release of Windows Media Audio 8 beta in December 2000
marked a breakthrough for music fans. For the first time, near-CD-quality audio
can be delivered in files as small as 48 Kbps, just over one-third the 128 Kbps
requirement of MP3, and CD-quality sound can be delivered in files as small as
64 Kbps. This efficiency dramatically shortens the time it takes to download
music and greatly increases the amount of high-quality music that can be stored
on a PC or portable device compared with MP3.
"Windows Media is all about giving consumers easy access to their music
wherever they want to hear it, throughout the home or anywhere on the go," said
Dave Fester, general manager of marketing for the Digital Media Division at
Microsoft Corp MSFT. "This groundswell of adoption in such a wide range of new
devices will bring the benefits of Windows Media home to millions more people --
high-quality sound and the most playing time."
New Portable Audio Players -- Music on the Go
Companies announcing support for Windows Media technologies in their new
portable audio players include e.Digital Corp.; Frontier Labs; Intel Corp.; Rio, a
Sonicblue company; SongPro.com; and THOMSON multimedia.
E.Digital is scheduled to demonstrate two new portable audio device designs
with Windows Media support: the Merit MP2000 Digital Music Player and the
TREO Portable Digital Music Jukebox. The MP2000, which comes with or
without an FM radio tuner, is being marketed in Korea by Maycom Company
Ltd. The Treo stores 6.4 GB of music -- or almost 300 hours of Windows Media
Audio 8 -- at a near-CD-quality bit rate of 48 Kbps and is scheduled to be
available in the United States this year for an estimated retail price of under
$400 from Hy-Tek Manufacturing Co.
Frontier Labs today announced the NEX II, a next-generation personal digital
audio device that offers firmware upgradability and a range of memory
configurations, from 32 MB to more than 300 MB. NEX II is available at an
estimated retail price of between $109 and $319, depending on memory
configuration.
Intel this week unveiled the Intel Pocket Concert Audio Player, the latest
example in the company's efforts to extend the value of the home PC and the
Internet by creating a broad range of exciting new products. The portable digital
audio player is equipped with 128 MB of memory for storing multiple digital audio
formats, including Windows Media Audio, and provides up to four hours of music
programming. The device also includes an FM radio tuner and a Universal Serial
Bus (USB) connection port for linking to a PC. The Intel Pocket Concert Audio
Player will be available in stores in February for about $300.
Rio recently announced it has shipped the Rio 800, designed for business
travelers and those who want a high-end portable digital audio experience. The
latest in the family of Rio portable players, the Rio 800 includes a rechargeable
battery, optional FM tuner, voice recorder and 64 MB of built-in memory for an
estimated retail price of $279.
SongPro.com announced that the SongPro for GameBoy, a plug-in module that
turns pocket GameBoy entertainment systems into powerful multimedia and
digital music players, is scheduled to be available this winter for an estimated
retail price of $119 and will support Windows Media. SongPro also has
developed the SongPro Petite, a tiny portable music device with two slots for
multimedia cards that is scheduled to be available later this year for an
estimated retail price of $99.
THOMSON multimedia, maker of RCA entertainment products, demonstrated its
new Lyra 2 with support for Windows Media, which includes an FM digital tuner
and is scheduled to be available in stores this month. In his CES keynote
speech today, Bill Gates will demonstrate the use of removable Compact Flash
storage cards in the Lyra 2. The Lyra 2 will retail for an estimated price of $299.
Other New Windows Media-Capable Devices
Another way to take digital music on the go is with CD players that play back
both standard music CDs and CDs containing Windows Media Format or MP3
digital music files. With Windows Media format digital music files, a single CD
can hold more than 22 hours of CD-quality music, twice the playing time
possible with MP3. Rio announced the Rio Volt, a portable CD player that plays
Windows Media Audio and MP3. The Volt is shipping now and will be available
for an estimated retail price of $199.
In his keynote speech today, Gates will demonstrate the Rio Digital Audio
Receiver. The Rio Digital Audio Receiver uses phone lines to stream digital
music beyond the home computer to any room the receiver is located in --
without interrupting Internet access, PC usability or standard telephone service.
In addition, Nakamichi Corp. today announced the availability of the Nakamichi
SoundSpace 2, a portable and versatile stereo music system that includes an
AM/FM stereo radio that works around the globe, an alarm clock, a dictation
machine and a dockable Windows Media and MP3 player and recorder.
About Windows Media
Windows Media is the leading digital media platform, providing unmatched audio
and video quality to consumers, content providers, solution providers, software
developers and corporations. Windows Media offers the industry's only
integrated rights-management solution and the most scalable and reliable
streaming technology tested by independent labs. Windows Media Technologies
includes Windows Media Player for consumers, Windows Media Services for
servers, Windows Media Tools for content creation, and the Windows Media
Software Development Kit (SDK) for software developers. Windows Media
Player, available in 26 languages, is the fastest-growing media player. More
information about Windows Media can be found at
microsoft.com.
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