SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 8, 2002 — Today at Macworld Conference & Expo, Microsoft Corp. announced the immediate availability of Microsoft®
Windows Media (TM) Player for Mac OS X. The new player has been Carbonized to run natively on Mac OS X and displays the operating system’s new Aqua interface.
Windows Media Player for Mac OS X allows Mac users to easily enjoy playback of high-quality Windows Media Audio and Video content. The new release supports the latest industry-leading Windows Media Audio 8 and Windows Media Video 8, as well as Windows Media Digital Rights Management, and is available in six languages worldwide.
“We designed the new Windows Media Player to be a great player for Mac OS X users,” said Dave Fester, general manager of the Windows Digital Media Division at Microsoft. “Mac OS X users can now open the door to a world of great Windows Media Audio and Video content.”
Windows Media Player for Mac OS X was built on Apple Computer Inc.’s new Carbon APIs to run natively in the OS X environment. The new player features the new Aqua interface, which provides a look consistent with many other new Mac applications. The player comes with two additional “skins,” including a miniplayer skin for audio playback.
Windows Media Player for Mac OS X supports playback of streamed and downloaded files using the latest Windows Media Audio and Video 8 codec technology. These codecs provide the highest-possible video quality at all bandwidths and CD-quality audio at 64 Kbps, enabling shorter download times and storage of twice as much music with Windows Media Audio than with MP3.
Windows Media Player for Mac OS X as well as for older Mac operating systems is available immediately for download at http://windowsmedia.com/download/ and http://www.microsoft.com/mac/. Windows Media Player for Mac OS X is also included with Microsoft Office v. X.
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 digital 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 and now 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.
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