press release

Santa Clara, Calif., January 5, 2001 -- PortalPlayer Inc., today announced that it has closed a $22 million, Series C financing round, led by Vulcan Ventures, Inc. Additional participants in the Series C round included CIBC World Markets Corp., Earthlink, Inc., FlatIron Partners, J.P. Morgan Partners, LSI Logic Corporation, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, and TechFund Capital.

The company will use the funding to accelerate its marketing and sales programs, and for continued development and expansion of its product and service offerings for both the consumer electronics and personal computer markets.

PortalPlayer's product platforms - which include the silicon chip, firmware suite with codec and digital rights management technology, and companion digital media manager application software - enable consumer electronics providers to quickly implement new types of battery- and line-powered music recording and playback systems.

"PortalPlayer has mapped out a route to widespread adoption of digital audio on platforms that users are comfortable with, while providing consumer electronics providers with the technology to support successful commercial distribution of content," said Garry Betty, chief executive officer of Earthlink, Inc. "Digital audio is clearly a `killer app' for consumers, and Earthlink's investment in PortalPlayer is a logical extension of our commitment to support the movement of the Internet to all types of electronic devices."

Founded in May 1999, PortalPlayer is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, with operations in Charlotte, North Carolina, Seattle, Washington, and Hyderabad, India. Investors in the company's two earlier financing rounds, which totaled $16 million, include Chase Capital (now J.P. Morgan Partners), 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.

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