SigmaTel D-Major Audio Announces Support for Microsoft Windows Media in Portable Digital Audio Players

Business Wire, Feb 7, 2002

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 7, 2002

SigmaTel today announced that the SigmaTel(R) D-Major(tm) audio decoder solutions for portable digital audio players now support Microsoft Windows Media Audio (WMA).

SigmaTel, a provider of digital audio and wireless infrared integrated circuit (IC) solutions for the home and small business markets, chose Windows Media for its ability to provide high-quality audio in the smallest file sizes.

"Windows Media offers best quality audio in the smallest files sizes and this is important to our portable device users," says Alan Hansford, vice president of marketing for SigmaTel. "By providing Windows Media Audio support for D-Major audio decoder solutions, consumers can now enjoy more top-quality music on their portable devices."

Windows Media Audio offers double the audio compression of the MP3 format, making it possible to store two times as much CD-quality music on hard drives, portable music players and other consumer electronics devices. WMA lets consumers transfer more than 22 hours of music onto a single CD, and listen to music on more than 100 consumer devices that support WMA.

"SigmaTel is offering important innovations to its consumers in a rapidly growing portable digital audio player market," said Jonathan Usher, group manager, Windows Digital Media Division at Microsoft Corp. "We are delighted that SigmaTel sees the breakthrough quality of Windows Media as a key asset to enable the best in digital media for their customers."

About D-Major:

D-Major(tm) audio decoder solutions provide high quality audio playback for portable devices such as MP3-style players, PDAs and cell phones. These solutions contain market-leading benefits such as 35 hours of battery life, incredibly small form factors (18 cm/square), flexible software support for current and future digital audio formats, and security functionality that can evolve as future standards are defined. D-Major is a true single chip solution that maintains a flexible interface with other integrated circuits. With D-Major's high level of integration and quality, portable audio devices are attractive to a larger audience because of a lower system cost.

About SigmaTel:

SigmaTel, a provider of integrated circuit (IC) design, is converting the real world into a digital experience with its innovative mixed-signal solutions for the digital audio and wireless infrared markets. Since its inception, SigmaTel has built a strong reputation as an innovative developer of mixed-signal ICs, by being first to market with several highly integrated designs. The privately held company, based in Austin, Texas, is committed to providing customers with high performance products along with superior customer service. For more information, visit SigmaTel's Web site at www.sigmatel.com.

SigmaTel is a registered trademark and D-Major is a trademark of SigmaTel Inc. Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners