Today at the 2002 International CES, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (Panasonic) and Microsoft Corp. announced plans to support Microsoft® Windows Media (TM) Technologies across a range of Panasonic-brand consumer devices. The two companies will reveal the first example of their cooperation in a keynote address by Bill Gates this evening, with the unveiling of the new Panasonic DVD player model DVD-RV32, the first of many Panasonic DVD players that will support Windows Media Audio (WMA). This is the first public demonstration of a DVD player supporting WMA; the DVD-RV32 is expected to be available to consumers in the United States in February. Panasonic also is supporting WMA in its e-wear (TM) SD Audio Player SV-SD80, and will be supporting Windows Media Technologies on its chips for DVD players and CD players beginning with WMA.
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