AltaVista And Musicland Join Forces to Create Co-Branded Clicks-and-Bricks Internet Solution.

Business Editors & Technology Writers

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 13, 2000

Strategic Alliance Bridges AltaVista's Network and Musicland's

E-Commerce Sites and Store Presence to Offer

Enhanced Customer Shopping Experience

AltaVista Company, the Internet's premier media and commerce network, and majority owned by CMGI Inc. (Nasdaq:CMGI), and Musicland Stores Corporation (NYSE:MLG), the nation's leading specialty retailer of home-entertainment software products, today announced they will join forces in redefining the ever-changing E-commerce landscape by creating an innovative alliance between Musicland's online and "brick-and-mortar" stores and the 56 million users of the AltaVista Network. The relationship will leverage the resources and offerings of Musicland's national chain of 1,345 retail stores and four E-Commerce sites (operating under the names Sam Goody, Suncoast Motion Picture Company, Media Play and On Cue), with AltaVista's millions of unique users worldwide and its Web-wide shopping service available at http://shopping.altavista.com.

Under the terms of the agreement, Musicland will offer nearly one million products via AltaVista Shopping.com, and will be a premier provider on Shopping.com's music, movies, books and game software departments. Musicland customers also will have the opportunity to register for AltaVista's Free Internet Access service, which has more than two million registered users. Musicland will offer access to its customer base via its nearly one million member Replay loyalty program, in-store transactions, and online and offline promotions.

"For the first time, great `clicks-and-bricks' retailers like Musicland can gain a world-class Web presence that leverages both their store and E-Commerce site investments and enables them to retain their customers' loyalty," said Michael Rubin, vice president and general manager AltaVista E-Commerce. "Our alliance with Musicland can deliver tremendous off-line visibility for AltaVista, providing a great opportunity to reach additional users."

Musicland and AltaVista plan to continually evolve their efforts to encourage click-through traffic to both companies' web sites while promoting walk-through traffic to Musicland stores, achieving a true click-and-bricks alliance.

"Our alliance with AltaVista is an important element in Musicland's strategy to synergize `clicks-and bricks' and expand our business. AltaVista recognizes Musicland's unique ability to access 300 million store visitors to fuel AltaVista's expanding user base, and we are very pleased to be working with this Internet enterprise," said Gil Wachsman, vice chairman of Musicland. "We can offer our Sam Goody, Suncoast, Media Play and On Cue customers more value and convenience in their shopping experience. Simultaneously, we can increase visibility for our site and store brands via the 400 million customer impressions we expect to receive through AltaVista."

About the Musicland and AltaVista Alliance

A unique benefit of the alliance will allow AltaVista Shopping.com customers to search Musicland's vast selection of products and then check for in-store availability and reserve a product or purchase the item online. Additional features include:

-- Musicland's key E-Commerce site, SamGoody.com

(www.SamGoody.com), will be featured in premium banner

placement positions on the AltaVista home page, AltaVista

Shopping.com (www.shopping.com) home page and other positions

throughout the AltaVista network

-- Musicland's E-Commerce sites will receive premium placement in

the Hot Deals area of AltaVista Shopping.com's home page and

merchant results pages in the Music, Movies, Video Games, and

Books departments

-- A co-branded Live! start page and specially designed

Microportal for Musicland customers that incorporates original

editorial content in a dedicated section on the Live! start

page

-- Free Internet services for Musicland customers via Free

Access, including Free e-mail, Instant Messenger and a Family

Filter, distributed nationally through Musicland's 1,345

retail stores, four E-commerce sites and Replay loyalty

program

-- Musicland also will promote the AltaVista brand in a variety

of national store-related promotions

About AltaVista

AltaVista Company (www.altavista.com) is the premier media and commerce network offering Internet users up-to-the-minute news, live video, content, search and shopping resources. The company integrates unique technology, products and services to deliver relevant results faster for both individuals and businesses. AltaVista is building on its heritage of technology and innovative leadership, offering informative services including AltaVista Search, AltaVista Live!, AltaVista Shopping.com, and AltaVista Free Internet Access combined with the microportal. AltaVista is a majority-owned operating company of CMGI, Inc. (Nasdaq: CMGI), Andover, Mass. AltaVista is headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif.

About Musicland

Based in Minneapolis, Musicland Stores Corporation is the leading specialty retailer of home-entertainment software products in the United States. As of December 31, 1999, the company operated 1,345 retail stores in 49 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands under the names Sam Goody, Suncoast Motion Picture Company, Media Play and On Cue. In addition to its four store formats, Musicland also operates five commercial Web sites including: SamGoody.com (www.samgoody.com), Suncoast.com, MediaPlay.com, OnCue.com and Requestline.com. For additional information on Musicland Stores Corporation, visit the company's Web site at www.musicland.com.

AltaVista is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Shopping.com, Smart is Beautiful and AltaVista Free Access are trademarks of AltaVista Company or its affiliates. Product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Sam Goody, Suncoast Motion Picture Company, Media Play, On Cue, SamGoody.com, Suncoast.com, MediaPlay.com and OnCue.com are trademarks or registered trademarks of Musicland Stores Corporation.

This release contains forward-looking statements based on current expectations or beliefs, as well as a number of assumptions about future events, and these statements are subject to important factors and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements in this release address a variety of subjects including, for example, the expected benefits of the agreement between AltaVista and Musicland, the expanded capabilities of Shopping.com and the expected growth of AltaVista Shopping. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in these forward-looking statements: the products and technologies of AltaVista may not successfully interoperate with those of Musicland; AltaVista may experience difficulties integrating technologies, operations and personnel of recent acquisitions; AltaVista's growth depends upon continued and increased demand for and market acceptance of AltaVista's web sites; and increased competition and technological changes in the markets in which AltaVista competes. For a detailed discussion of these and other cautionary statements, please refer to CMGI's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including CMGI's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year. In addition, certain other important factors such as the impact of changing economic or business conditions, other risk factors inherent in the entertainment industry, store and online customer volume, and other factors discussed from time to time in reports filed by Musicland with the Securities and Exchange Commission, could cause results to differ materially from those anticipated by the forward-looking statements.