Microsoft shores up multimedia software

Windows Media Series 9 promises to lower bandwidth, storage requirements.

By Jason Meserve
Network World, 09/16/02

REDMOND, WASH. - Microsoft's much-ballyhooed Windows Media Series 9, formerly known as Corona, is finally available in beta form for those wanting to give it a test drive.

Although Microsoft has mainly targeted consumers with new player features such as 5.1-channel surround sound for home theaters and a 10,000-song subscription service called Pressplay, the new Windows Media 9 Series also should benefit corporate users by lowering bandwidth and storage requirements.

On the server side, the new Windows Media 9 Series software included in Windows. Net Server is said to double the number of streams that can be played back from one machine. Microsoft also says its improved audio and video codecs used to compress content for streaming over a network deliver a 20% improvement over the previous release, Windows Media 8. The improvement allows the same quality at 80K bit/sec that was previously achieved at 100K bit/sec. As with any compression technology, better encoding means smaller file sizes and lower storage requirements.

Another plus for corporate customers is the new Fast Streaming technology that eliminates the need for buffering content before it is played.

To take advantage of the instant-on stream, an end user must have the newest player client, and a broadband or better connection, and the content has to be streamed from a Windows .Net server. Dial-up users will still incur a buffering penalty.

"If the [Fast Streaming] does deliver what is shown in the Microsoft demonstrations, it will be a big breakthrough for the industry," says streaming analyst Christine Perey of Perey Research and Consulting.

"Overall though, the new release seems more incremental and will not turn the world on its side," she adds.

The new Windows Media 9 Series products, including the new player, encoder and software developers kit, are available for download here. A separate beta program is available for those wanting to download the latest Windows .Net Server release. General availability is scheduled by year-end.