Today at 2000 International CES, Microsoft Corp. unveiled the Windows Media™ Player for Palm-size and Pocket PCs, giving consumers access to CD-quality music on Palm-size and Pocket PC devices. The Microsoft^® Windows Media Player for Palm-size PCs is scheduled to be available for download in February 2000 for Casio Cassiopeia E-100 and E-105, the Compaq Aero 1500 and 2100 Series, and the Hewlett-Packard Jornada 430SE Palm-size PC model owners. The Windows Media Player will support Windows Media and MP3 formats. Consumers selecting the Windows Media format will get two hours of CD-quality playback on a typical 64MB device and one hour of playback using MP3. Demonstrations of Windows Media Player on these and other Palm-size PCs will take place in Booth 626 at CES.

The Windows Media Player enhances existing Palm-size PCs by adding capability for playback of CD-quality music in Windows Media format from the consumer's digital music library, created with personal jukebox software or downloaded from the Internet. The Windows Media Player also includes support for Microsoft's digital rights management technology, which offers access to secure music from major record labels including Sony, EMI, BMG and Warner Music. Windows Media digital rights management allows music labels to protect their artists' rights and interests and, in turn, deliver a wider selection of Internet-based music to consumers.

"Casio is a pioneer in the support of Windows Media on Palm-size PCs," said Bob Smith, product manager, Mobile Information Products Division, Casio. "The availability of the Windows Media Player on our products gives our customers access to a nearly unlimited music selection and the cutting edge technology that is driving the exploding demand for hand-held computers."

"The Windows Media Player on Palm-size PCs will allow customers to tap into the world of digital music," said Dave Fester, director of marketing, Streaming Media Division, Microsoft. "We are pleased to see Casio, HP and Compaq continue to lead the way in providing high-quality digital music beyond the desktop."

The Windows Media Player for Palm-size PCs shares the unmatched support for Windows Media offered by consumer electronics devices including the Thomson-RCA LYRA, Creative Labs Inc.'s Nomad II, Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc.'s Rio devices, I-JAM Multimedia LLC's I-JAM player and the Sony VAIO Music Clip (MC-P10). The Windows MediaPlayer is also supported by leading chip manufacturers, bringing high-quality audio to Cirrus Logic Inc.'s Maverick line of Internet audio chips and Texas Instruments Inc.'s programmable digital signal processors, which power leading portable music devices.

Windows Media Available on the Pocket PC

Microsoft also announced today that the Windows Media Player would be a standard feature available on the next generation of the Palm-size PC, called the Pocket PC. Planned to be available in the first half of 2000, Pocket PCs are advanced personal digital assistant (PDA) devices based on a new generation of Windows^® software that will put the best of the PC into consumers' pockets, giving them the freedom to better manage their work and life while on the go.