New Kenwood DPC-MP727 Portable CD Player First to Support Windows Media

Dec. 12 -- Today at Streaming Media West 2000, Microsoft president and CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled the new Kenwood DPC-MP727 portable CD player, the first CD player to support the Microsoft Windows Media Audio Format and thereby deliver more than 22 hours of CD-quality music on a single recorded CD. With this new portable CD player, consumers have an exciting way to take their digital music collections anywhere using Windows Media on recordable CDs. For the first time, music fans can listen to the same CD for nearly a full day and never hear the same song twice.
Consumers can use Windows Media Player to convert their CD collections into Windows Media Audio-formatted CD-quality digital music with file sizes half the size of MP3 files. Using a CD burner, they can then take more than 22 hours of Windows Media Audio-formatted CD-quality music and burn it onto a single CD for playback using the new innovative Kenwood portable CD player. With this combination of new technologies from Kenwood and Microsoft, consumers can take more of their digital music with them than ever before.

"Windows Media has been instrumental in helping Kenwood be the first to break down the traditional barriers for consumers to enjoying digital music," said Sadaharu Kato, director, Home Electronics Division, Kenwood Corp. "By using this industry-leading format with our new portable CD player, consumers can now have complete control of their music, more convenience and around 20 times the storage of a traditional music CD."

"Kenwood has unveiled a breakthrough music product today," said Dave Fester, general manager of the Windows Digital Media Division at Microsoft Corp. "Windows Media is transforming the way that fans experience digital media -- and now with Kenwood's portable CD player, they can take more of their favorite music with them wherever they happen to be."

New Kenwood DPC-MP727 CD Player Features and Availability
The Kenwood DPC-MP727 portable CD player will be available in the second quarter of 2001 beginning in Japan. It supports playback of the Windows Media Audio Format, including the new Windows Media Audio 8 Format launched today and MP3 files. This new player also includes a bass boost feature to offer deeper and richer music playback, and Kenwood's innovative Digital Anti Shock Circuit (DASC) technology, which automatically stores up to 160 seconds of music data to help prevent music interruptions caused by shocks to the player.

About Kenwood
As a leading manufacturer of home and car audio components, car navigation systems, mobile phones and communications systems, Kenwood is boundless in its exploration of the information technology era. With its newly developed digital products, Kenwood readily accommodates today's PC-oriented lifestyles to satisfy users around the world.

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 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 media player. More information about Windows Media can be found at 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.

Source: Microsoft Corp.