Plus! Digital Media Edition Now Available at Nearly 8,000 Stores Nationwide

REDMOND, Wash., March 10, 2003 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the immediate availability of the retail version of Plus! Digital Media Edition, the ultimate photo, music and movie enhancement pack for Windows®
XP. It is available today at nearly 8,000 stores nationwide, representing over 70 percent of major retailers where software is sold. Retailers include Amazon.com, Best Buy, Buy.com, Circuit City, CompUSA Inc., Costco, Fry’s Electronics, J & R Electronics, Micro Center, Office Depot, Sam’s Club, Staples, Target and Wal-Mart. In addition, the top three OEMs, Dell Computer Corp., Gateway Inc. and HP, announced their plans to offer Plus! Digital Media Edition to their customers. Microsoft also made available online today two new bonus add-ons for Plus! Digital Media Edition that let customers do more with their music and Creative Labs, SONICblue and Nike portable music devices.

“Plus! Digital Media Edition offers tremendous value for anyone who enjoys digital media with Windows XP,”
said Tony Weiss, executive vice president, GMM at CompUSA Inc.
“With the popularity of digital media exploding right now, we anticipate that Plus! Digital Media Edition will be a big hit with our customers.”

“The reviews are in, and Plus! Digital Media Edition has been well received by both consumers and the press as a ‘must have’ set of tools for your photos and music with Windows XP,”
said Dave Fester, general manager of the Windows Digital Media Division at Microsoft.
“Leading retailers have responded with preorders that are more than twice what we expected.”

New Online Bonus Available Today for Download

Microsoft today released a collection of new Plus! Dancers that include action heroes from Xbox (TM) and PC games and a new PowerToy that enables users to easily synch their personal music collection to their favorite Creative Labs, SONICblue and Nike portable music devices. Also today, users can enjoy the latest news content from USATODAY.com with Plus! Sync & Go. Consumers can download the following by visiting http://www.microsoft.com/windows/plus/dme_more/morehome.asp :

  • Consumers can download five new Plus! Dancers that include action heroes from Xbox and PC games and enjoy watching them show off their best kung fu and other action moves in time to the music that’s playing on their desktop. The new Plus! Dancers are these:

    • Arkantos from the popular PC game
      “Age of Mythology(TM)”

    • Exile from the Xbox game
      “Tao Feng(TM)”

    • Hawk from the Xbox game
      “Brute Force(TM)”

    • Jade Dragon from the Xbox game
      “Tao Feng(TM)”

    • Master Sho-Yu from the Xbox game
      “Kung Fu Chaos(TM)”

  • The Plus! Portable Audio Devices PowerToy enables consumers to easily drag and drop music to and from their portable devices. This new PowerToy can be used with many of the most popular portable music players including those from Creative Labs and SONICblue, two of the largest manufacturers of digital audio players. Models supported by this PowerToy include the following:

    • Creative NOMAD Jukebox 2, NOMAD Jukebox 3, NOMAD Jukebox Zen and NOMAD Jukebox Zen USB 2.0. Support for Creative NOMAD and NOMAD II models is scheduled to be available by Friday March 15.

    • Nike psaplay 64 and 128

    • SONICblue Rio 600, Rio 800, Rio 900, Rio S10, Rio S30S, Rio S35S, Rio S50 and Rio Riot

  • Plus! Sync & Go users will enjoy taking more great content with them on their Pocket PCs as USAToday.com joins leading news sources CBS MarketWatch, MSNBC.com and NPR as well as other great content providers Comedy Central, GolfSpan.com Inc., Indy Racing League, KenRadio.com and OverDrive Inc.

About Plus! Digital Media Edition

Plus! Digital Media Edition is the ultimate photo, music and movie enhancement pack for Microsoft®
Windows XP. It includes a broad range of new features and tools to provide new experiences for anyone who enjoys digital photography, digital music and home video, and taking content on the go. Plus! Digital Media Edition is available today online and in retail stores for an estimated retail price of $19.95 (U.S.).

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, Xbox, Tao Feng, Brute Force, Kung Fu Chaos and Age of Mythology 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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