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 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.
Source: Yahoo.com
