More Than 200 Devices Now Support Windows Media

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 9, 2003 — At the 2003 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) today Microsoft Corp. announced that more than 40 new devices supporting Windows Media®
are being unveiled by leading consumer electronics manufacturers. This brings the total number of devices that support Windows Media to more than 200. These devices include DVD players, CD players, car stereos and portable audio devices, all supporting the advantages of the breakthrough audio and video compression of Windows Media to provide the best-quality music together with the most music storage on CDs and devices. Thanks to the backward compatibility of the recently released Windows Media Audio (WMA) 9 technology, all the new and existing devices can play back audio created with this latest version of Microsoft’s high-quality audio compression technology and the new Windows Media Player 9 Series.

Among the new devices shown at CES is the first DVD player to support Windows Media Video, unveiled under the Polaroid Corp. label based on a reference design by Equator Technologies Inc. This new device shows how, for the first time, home movies and high-definition video can be played back on a standard red-laser DVD player using the breakthrough compression of Windows Media Video 9.

“Today’s announcement represents dramatic progress in bringing the benefits of Windows Media Audio and Video 9 Series right into the living room,”
said Dave Fester, general manager of the Windows Digital Media Division at Microsoft.
“At last year’s CES we unveiled the first support for WMA on the fastest-growing consumer electronic device in history: the DVD player. Today we see how Windows Media Video 9 can enable a whole new level of quality for DVD players, even making high-definition content playback possible.”

New DVD Players Supporting Windows Media

The following new DVD players support Windows Media, as announced at the 2003 International CES:

  • Apex Digital Inc. is introducing 11 new DVD models with WMA support including the AD-1120 sold at WalMart Stores Inc., as well as two new recordable players, a personal video recorder (ADR-1000) and a DVD +R, +RW (AD-3000), an interactive player (ADI-2800), a new five-disc changer model ADM-5000, a full-size and midsize progressive-scan component video model, and three new home theater systems.

  • Panasonic Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. unveiled seven new models of digital AV audiovisual products supporting Windows Media that will be the first consumer electronic devices to have built-in support of the new HighMAT (TM) technology. These include the Panasonic DVD-LX9 portable DVD player, DVD-S55 single-disc player, DVD-F65 five-disc changer, DVD-F85 five-disc changer, SC-HT900 DVD/CD home theater system, SC-DT310 DVD/CD music system and SC-DP1 DVD/CD music system.

  • Pioneer Corp. unveiled two new DVD players at 2003 CES supporting WMA playback: the Pioneer DV-563A and DV-463. Both support the playback of custom CDs using Windows Media Audio to enable over 22 hours of music playback on a single CD.

  • Polaroid unveiled the DVD-DVR 700, a breakthrough consumer device licensed from Aeon Digital and based on the new Equator reference design, offering the ability to play back both Windows Media Audio and Video from custom CD-R/RW disks as well as to access the Web directly to stream Windows Media Audio and Video.

  • JVC will be featuring the XV-N50 DVD player, which offers 45mm-height slim design and includes WMA playback and JPEG playback.

  • Toshiba unveiled five models of DVD players supporting WMA that will be available in 2003, including the SD-2900 (single tray), SD-3900 (progressive scan single tray), SD-V290 (DVD/VHS dual), SD-V390 (progressive scan DVD /VHS dual), and the SD-P2500 (progressive scan portable with 8.9-inch LCD).

  • Zenith will be demonstrating the Zenith DV7934NM DVD player, which features WMA support and DVD, CD, CD-R, CD-RW and VCD playback.

New Car Stereos Supporting Windows Media

The following new car stereos support Windows Media, as announced at the 2003 International CES:

  • Alpine Electronics of America Inc. will be demonstrating its first products supporting WMA with five new car stereo models, including the HDA-5460, CDA-9815, CDA-9813, CDA-9811 and CDA-9807.

  • Pioneer will feature seven car stereo models supporting WMA for CD-R playback at 2003 CES ranging in suggested retail price from $250 to $800: the Pioneer DEH-P5500MP, DEH-P7500MP, DEH-P8500MP and DEH-9400MP, and the Pioneer Premier DEH-P750MP, DEH-P850MP and DEH-P940MP.

  • Kenwood USA Corp. (Booth 13407) has three incredible mobile entertainment products at 2003 CES with support for WMA, including the Kenwood Excelon KDC-X969 (CD/MP3/WMA receiver) and KHD-CX910 (Kenwood Music Keg — 20GB digital music player), as well as the Kenwood KHD-C710 (Kenwood Music Keg — 10GB digital music player).

About Windows Media

Windows Media is the leading digital media platform, used by consumers, content providers, solution providers, software developers and corporations throughout the world. The Windows Media 9 Series platform includes Windows Media Player 9 Series; Windows Media Services 9 Series, the powerful streaming server feature in Windows®
.NET Server 2003 for distributing content; Windows Media Encoder 9 Series for content creation; Windows Media Audio and Video 9 Series for the best-quality audio and video; Windows Media Digital Rights Management to help protect content; and the Windows Media Software Development Kit for software developers to develop digital media products and services. Windows Media Player, available in 26 languages, is now the leading media player. More information about Windows Media can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmedia/ .

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.

Microsoft, Windows Media and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft®
Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/ on Microsoft’s corporate information pages. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may since have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at h http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/contactpr.asp.

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