NSTL Testing Shows Listeners Prefer Microsoft's Windows Media Technologies 4.0 Over RealNetworks' G2 and MP3.

MANHASSET, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 13, 1999--

NSTL, Inc. a CMP Media company, today announced results of a consumer study comparing the audio quality of Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Windows Media Technologies 4.0 to RealNetworks (Nasdaq: RNWK) RealSystem G2 and MP3. The test results show For More Information: that the 81% of listeners of sample audio clips found that the clips compressed with Windows Media sounded more like the original music than did the clips compressed with RealSystem G2. Steve Rubel And 71% of the listeners found the Windows Media clips were closer to the original or 516-562-7434 indistinguishable from MP3 clips of twice the size. The size differential is due to the fact [e-mail] that the Windows Media test clips were encoded at a one half the data rate of the MP3 clips, resulting in files that are half the size and download in half the time. Barry Zusman CMP Media Inc.

"In this subjective test, consumers found the Windows Media clips sounded more like the Phone: [phone] "original" music clips than did RealNetworks' G2." said Thom DeRosa, NSTL's senior project Email: [e-mail] manager. "The download and play test yielded similar results with most users finding half size Windows Media files either closer to the original CD or indistinguishable from MP3."

Microsoft contracted NSTL to study the preferences of people using rock and classical sound clips. NSTL created a "blind" sample and asked each user which clip sounded most like the original music. NSTL tested preference of 77 people solicited from the general population.

Four multimedia systems were set up in an office-type environment. Each system was equipped with a Sound Blaster! Live audio card, and a Cambridge Soundworks, Inc. Microworks speaker system, including a sub-woofer. Audio players were installed with the default configuration and the volume was fixed at a reasonable level for the office environment. Test subjects listened to the original audio file and then listened to two comparison audio clips. They were then asked which of the two clips sounded more like the original. The original and the sample clips were played again if the test subject requested. The length of the audio clips was fixed at approximately ten seconds. The order in which the clips were played was varied to minimize bias in the listening order.

The sample audio clips were installed on the test system and streamed from the hard drive to avoid any issues associated with Internet traffic and to normalize the test process.

The original audio clips were pcm wave files at 44.1 khz, 16-bit stereo, resulting in approximately 1,379 kilo-bits per second (Kbps).

The MP3 audio clips were encoded using 128 Kbps CBR (constant bit rate) joint stereo encoder from MusicMatch Jukebox. The RealSystem G2 audio clips were encoded using RealNetworks 20 and 32 Kbps stereo music encoder. The Window Media clips were encoded using Microsoft's Windows Media Encoder 4.0 using the MSAudio codec at 20 and 32 Kbps stereo music settings for the G2 comparison and 64 Kbps for the MP3 comparison.

More information about the NSTL test results are available at http://www.NSTL.com. NSTL, Inc. 625 Ridge Pike

About NSTL

NSTL, Inc. (http://www.NSTL.com) is a division of CMP Media and is the world's leading independent information technology testing organization. Established in 1983, NSTL was the first organization dedicated to testing the functionality, usability, and performance of personal computer hardware and software. NSTL is committed to providing accurate, objective, independent IT testing and consulting services for hardware and software manufacturers, corporations, and government agencies. Headquartered in suburban Philadelphia, NSTL has labs in Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, the U.K., Argentina, and Canada.

CMP Media Inc. (Nasdaq: CMPX) is a leading high-tech media company that provides essential information and marketing services to the entire technology spectrum--the builders, sellers and users of technology worldwide. With its portfolio of newspapers, magazines, custom publishing, Internet products, research, consulting and conferences, CMP is uniquely positioned to offer marketers comprehensive, integrated solutions tailored to meet their individual needs. Online editions of the company's print publications, along with products and services created exclusively for the Internet, can be found on CMPnet at http://www.CMPnet.com. NSTL, the company's independent testing lab and consulting organization, serves government, corporate and technology vendor clients around the world.