MusicNet Announces Delivery of Entire Music Library In Windows Media 9 Series

NEW YORK and REDMOND, Wash., June 12, 2003 — MusicNet, a leading digital music company, today announced it is now offering its entire music library of audio tracks in Microsoft® Windows Media®
9 Series. The MusicNet service offers more than 350,000 songs from all five major labels and leading independents. This marks the first time a digital music service has provided such a comprehensive offering, including permanent downloads, CD burning, broad device support and multiple file formats.

With the availability of audio tracks in Windows Media 9 Series, MusicNet enables its distribution partners to deliver high-quality audio downloads as well as instant-on streaming experiences to music fans with Fast Streaming technology in Windows Media Services 9 Series, a feature of the recently released Microsoft Windows Server (TM) 2003. Fast Streaming can deliver virtual instant-on playback for users of Windows Media Player 9 Series when they are streaming music clips on broadband connections. In addition, MusicNet distribution partners can provide customers with extensive device flexibility with Windows Media on more than 50 supported portable music devices. Windows Media offers consumers the ability to enjoy twice as much music on their portable music device as they can with MP3, without sacrificing quality, meaning more music with more choice.

“This milestone marks the first time a digital music service has offered multiple file formats,”
said Alan McGlade, president and CEO of MusicNet.
“The addition of Windows Media 9 Series gives MusicNet a clear advantage in offering music fans high-quality audio tracks through our distribution partners. This announcement furthers MusicNet’s strategy to build a flexible suite of service offerings that are customized for each distributor.”

“This is a significant step in the evolution of digital music distribution, and MusicNet is an important player in this arena,”
said Dave Fester, general manager of the Windows Digital Media Division at Microsoft.
“MusicNet’s adoption of Windows Media 9 Series offers consumers near instantaneous playback of hundreds of thousands of tracks in the highest quality audio available, and the option for fans to enjoy their favorite artists’ songs on an array of portable devices.”

About MusicNet

MusicNet is a leading digital music company. The most widely distributed digital music service for streaming, downloading and burning music online, MusicNet offers the music of major and independent record labels — including Warner Music Group, BMG Entertainment, EMI Recorded Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Zomba, Ritmoteca, Brentwood Music and Sanctuary. As both a service and music content provider, MusicNet supports companies seeking to fully integrate digital music services into their online music offerings.

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 Server (TM) 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 Server 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 http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/contactpr.asp.

Related Posts