Microsoft Announces Immediate Availability of Windows Media Player For Mac OS X
- New Player Optimized for Mac OS X, Giving Mac Users More Content to Play;
- Now Available for Download

SAN FRANCISCO - Jan. 8, 2002 - Today at Macworld Conference & Expo,
Microsoft Corp. announced the immediate availability of Microsoft Windows
Media 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