Microsoft Releases Windows Media Player Specifically for Mac OS X


Reprinted from a Microsoft press release:

NEW YORK – July 19, 2001 – Microsoft Corp. today announced Microsoft
Windows Media Player for Mac OS X and demonstrated a prerelease version
of the player at the Macworld Conference & Expo in New York. The new player
is being designed and “Carbonized” for OS X and will feature the new Aqua
interface. Windows Media Player for Mac OS X will be available as a free
download this fall, providing users of Mac with the best Windows Media
experience on the new OS X operating system.

The new media player is being developed to meet demand for Windows Media
content on the Mac OS X platform with an easy-to-use player for both audio
and video. It will support Windows Media Digital Rights Management (DRM) and
the latest industry-leading Windows Media audio and video technology. This
will enable users of Mac to enjoy audio and video content with Windows Media
and ensure that content providers can encode their content once to reach the
broadest possible audience.

Because Windows Media Player for Mac OS X is being built on Apple’s new
Carbon APIs, it will run natively in the OS X environment and will take
advantage of Mac OS X features like multiprocessing and the Aqua interface,
which provides a look consistent with other new Mac applications. The player
will come with two additional skins, including a miniplayer skin for simple
audio playback.

Windows Media Player for Mac OS X will support playback of streamed or
downloaded files using the latest Windows Media Audio and Video 8 codecs,
which provide the highest possible video quality at all bandwidths,
CD-quality audio at 64 Kbps and near-CD-quality sound at 48 Kbps. Because
Windows Media Audio is twice as efficient as MP3, music fans enjoy shorter
download times and can store twice as much music on their hard drives using
Windows Media Audio as they can using MP3.

Built-in support for digital rights management means users of Mac will be
able to download music and movies protected with Windows Media DRM for
purchase or promotion. Content from thousands of providers is featured at
WindowsMedia.com (http://WindowsMedia.com/).

Windows Media Player for Mac OS X will run on most popular Macintosh models,
including the Apple iMac, Cube and G4 as well as the iBook and PowerBook
laptops.

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