Santa Clara, Calif., June 5, 2000 -- PortalPlayer Inc. today introduced the Tango™ digital media platform, a complete system solution for new consumer electronics products with digital audio downloading, recording and playback capability. The new platform, targeted at next generation designs of portable MP3-type player/recorder systems, hybrid systems combining CD and digital audio player/recorders, and hard-drive equipped digital audio jukeboxes, is the industry's first single-chip solution supporting direct recording of CD content in MP3 file formats.

The Tango digital media platform includes:

• PP5001 SuperIntegration™ system-on-a-chip controller;
• PP7001 Digital Media Manager application for Windows® 9x PCs; and
• all necessary firmware to implement mass-market products, including licensed applications and the Real-Time Operating System (RTOS).

PortalPlayer also provides a development kit and reference design (PP6001) to produce systems fully compliant with standards defined by the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI).

"Consumer electronics OEMs recognize that adding digital content recording and playback capability is a killer application, not just in new portable devices, but for the mass market audio products that make up a huge part of their business," said Gordon Campbell, chairman of the board of PortalPlayer, Inc. "Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for these manufacturers to produce great products."

Platform for Differentiation

The Tango digital media platform supports a broader range of licensed and ported applications and memory/media types than any other currently available solution. This includes an extensive suite of decoders, encoders, digital rights management technologies, encryption standards, audio effects, and both solid-state and disk-based storage.

With the Tango digital media platform, a consumer electronics OEM can focus its resources on brand-level product differentiation, while PortalPlayer provides a strong hardware and software base to build on. Since standards and technologies are very fluid, particularly related to security and digital rights management, the platform is designed to be upgradable via downloads of new firmware. This allows both feature enhancements and security system modifications, preventing the end user's purchase from quickly becoming outdated.

"We think that the enthusiasm surrounding MP3 and other digital compression formats in the personal computer and portable device markets validates the enormous market potential of digital content distribution," said John Mallard, president and CEO of PortalPlayer. "As OEMs build support for these digital formats into traditional audio products, such as car stereo and mini-component systems, and new types of hybrid devices, market volumes will quickly reach tens and hundreds of millions of new systems annually."

Highly Integrated System

Based on PortalPlayer's SuperIntegration™ Chip Architecture, the PP5001 Controller integrates an ARM7 TDMI host processor, a co-processor for hardware accelerated encoding, and comprehensive external interfaces to peripherals and storage. PortalPlayer customers can define the precise firmware implementation of the Tango platform to produce a tailored product with the codecs, security and memory configuration desired to meet specific end-product price and feature requirements.

The Tango platform is the first low-power, single-chip solution to support MP3 audio encoding for direct recording of CD content without a PC, making it ideal for personal stereos and other compact system designs. It also supports multiple decoding formats for playback, enabling manufacturers to produce single systems that can handle content in all popular and many emerging formats, and provides consumers with a much broader range of content compared to currently available devices. To date, PortalPlayer has announced support for MP3, Advanced Audio Codec (AAC), MicroSoft® Windows Media™ Audio, and QDesign decoder technology. Voice codecs with increased compression ratios for spoken word content, and additional codecs for recorded music, will be made available in the future through flash programmable upgrades and PC application plug-ins.

PortalPlayer also implements multiple levels of security and Digital Rights Management in the system firmware. The Tango platform is compliant with SDMI Portable Device Specification 1.0, Phase 1, including Verance Corporation's SDMI Phase 1 Watermarking System. Announced support for Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems includes the InterTrust MetaTrust Utility™, DOWNLOADSdirect by Mjuice, and Microsoft Windows Media Rights Manager.

Comprehensive Feature Set

OEMs also have the flexibility to design-in any current standard or new storage media format for consumer electronics systems. The PP5001 controller directly supports Compact Flash™, Sony Memory Stick™, SmartMedia™, MultiMediaCard™, and SD (Secure Digital™) Memory solid-state storage. Tango-based systems can support two banks of Flash memory, with up to 128 MB per bank, and two banks of SDRAM, with up to 128 MB per bank.

Other hardware features of the Tango platform include:

• ATA-33 IDE controller for direct interface to CD-ROM and computer disk drives;
• LCD graphics controller for single-scan, 16-gray scale displays;
• General purpose I/Os for navigation buttons and an external I/O matrix supporting dozens of additional buttons; and
• AC `97 2.1 compliant audio codec interface.

Additional features to optimize the system for portable devices include FM radio preset storage, and a remote control interface for transport, volume, and display of LCD data on a headphone cable.

Optimized PC Software

As part of its commitment to speed time-to-market for its consumer electronics customers, PortalPlayer provides a Digital Media Manager software suite as an integral part of the Tango platform. The PP7001 software is a complete Microsoft® Windows 9x compatible application that an OEM can customize with its own user interface, or "skin," to create a distinctive look and feel. Designed as a best of breed application, the PP7001 provides:

• "Virtual Content" management to seamlessly unify local and web content;
• Audio effects, including reverb and stereo enhancement; and
• Enhanced usability with portable devices and other attached storage media.

Product Deliverable, Pricing

The Tango platform includes the PP5001 SuperIntegration Chip, PP7001 PC media management application, and customer specific firmware suite. PortalPlayer works with its individual OEM customers to tailor the platform with a suite of third-party applications for security, digital rights management, storage interface capabilities and other features specific to the product implementation. This firmware "stack" is provided as a master disc image, with all applications to build and deliver the finished system.

In 1000 unit quantities, the Tango platform is priced at $40 per set. It is now sampling to qualified OEM customers, with volume production scheduled for Q3 2000. The accompanying PP6001 Development Kit and Reference Design is available now.

PortalPlayer, Inc.

PortalPlayer, Inc. supplies consumer electronics manufacturers with complete platform solutions for open and secure delivery and management of digital media via the Internet. The company develops and markets advanced systems for digital audio recording and playback, using MP3 and other popular digital compression technologies, tightly integrated with e-commerce and digital rights management.

Founded in June 1999, PortalPlayer is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, with major operations in Seattle, Washington, and Hyderabad, India. The company has received two rounds of venture funding from Chase Capital, Techfund Capital, FlatIron Partners, MP3.com, and individual investors. More information on PortalPlayer, Inc., and its products is available on the company's Web site, www.portalplayer.com.

# # #

™ -- PortalPlayer, the PortalPlayer logo, Tango and SuperIntegration are trademarks of PortalPlayer, Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.