Today the Digital Media Division at Microsoft will announce the immediate availability of Windows Media Player for Mac OS X, coinciding with Macworld Expo San Francisco. It’s been Carbonized to run natively on Mac OS X and displays the operating system’s new Aqua interface.
Windows Media Player for Mac OS X lets Mac users play back Windows Media Audio and Video content. It’s available in six languages worldwide.
Besides its Aqua interface, the player comes with two additional “skins,” including a miniplayer skin for audio playback. Windows Media Player for Mac OS X supports playback of streamed and downloaded files using the latest Windows Media Audio and Video 8 codecs, which provide video quality at all bandwidths and CD-quality audio at 64 Kbps, enabling shorter download times and storage of twice as much music with Windows Media Audio than with MP3, according to Dave Fester, Microsoft’s general manager of the Windows Digital Media Division.
Windows Media Player for Mac OS X (as well as for older Mac operating systems) will be available for download. It’s also included with Office X.