Sydney – 30 January 2007 – Microsoft Australia today announced a partnership with Sanity Music, Australia's largest music retailer, to deliver the first integrated online music subscription service in Australia.
"It's like having the best music store you've ever been to, with the most helpful staff you've ever met, right there on your home PC," said Jeff Putt, Director of the Windows Business Group, Microsoft Australia. "The new Sanity service will give you access to all the music you could want, more than a million tracks, 24x7, as well as information on bands and playlists."
The Sanity service will give Australian Windows Vista customers access to more than 1 million tracks to download via Windows Media Player 11 (WMP11) and will offer both subscription and purchase options when it goes live in April 2007.
Available directly from Windows Media Player 11, with no need to open a browser and bring up an external website, the new Sanity service aims to be faster and more searchable than existing online music stores.
"The Sanity service on Microsoft technology will make online music accessible for many people – it's a rich, vibrant and easy-to-use experience that reflects the excitement of our stores. The service will also give consumers freedom and choice because it lets you listen to vast amounts of music across many different personal music players – not just on the one brand." said Greg Milne, chief executive, Sanity Music.
"Importantly, through the subscription service, music lovers will have a great new way to discover and download music both cost-effectively AND legally. For the price of less than a couple of CDs, you'll be able to access up to 300 new tracks per month," Greg Milne said.
Any international 'PlaysForSure' and upcoming 'Windows Vista Certified' devices will work with the new Sanity service, including personal music players made by Toshiba, Samsung, Creative, iRiver and SanDisk. The service will be the first of its kind outside the United States for Windows Media Player 11.
"Sanity is the leading music retailer in Australia and the Sanity brand has meant 'music' to Australians for 15 years. We are truly excited to partner with them to bring this service to our customers," said Tracey Fellows, newly appointed managing director, Microsoft Australia. "Best of all, the Sanity service is a home grown offering that will feature not only the latest international music but many Australian artists and playlists that reflect Australian musical taste and culture. It will give Australians a world-class, personal music service right there in the home on their PCs ready for transfer to their portable music device,"
Denis Handlin Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sony BMG Australia said, "We welcome this initiative from Microsoft and Sanity. The Sanity service contains a huge music library across multiple genres and it represents a substantial step in advancing legal digital music services in Australia."
The service does, almost literally, give you the entire Sanity music catalogue on your Windows Vista PC and it also provides easy and fast transfer to portable devices so people can take their music with them wherever they go.
On the first visit to the Sanity service, WMP11 downloads a metadata catalogue (an offline version of the catalogue) to your PC. On subsequent visits, this catalogue automatically updates any changes that have occurred. So instead of querying the internet and waiting for a reply, with WMP11, you can conduct a fast and comprehensive local search of the copy of Sanity's catalogue that's already on your PC.
When connecting personal music players, the content of the player is displayed in WMP11 in Windows Vista in the same format as the local music library on the PC so navigating the service is simple and intuitive. Uploading tracks to your portable music devices is an easy and fast drag-and-drop process as well, thanks to the direct integration with WMP11.
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About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realise their full potential.
About Sanity
Sanity continues to be the largest retailer of recorded music in Australia. With over 230 Music Outlets, Sanity has been operating since 1992. With a large range of music, DVDs, accessories and digital services Sanity continues to deliver an experience that customers have come to love.
For further information, please contact:
Sanity
Greg Milne
Sanity
02 9774 8111
Greg.Milne@ brazin.com.au
Rina Ferris
Ferris Davies PRM
02 9555 5807
rina@ferrisdaviesprm.com.au
Microsoft
Cathy Jamieson
Microsoft Australia
Ph: 02 9870 2220 or 0412 177 738
Cathy.Jamieson@microsoft.com
Anne Flanagan
Howorth Communications
02 8281 3830 or 0405 082 603
howorth@howorth.com.au