The Summer Upgrade has brought good things! OpenISP is in place, and with improvements to RealAudio and SSL, you can now take advantage of N2K's great sites. Not only that, but N2K intends to make its sites even more accessible to Club WebTV members.

Good news for our present and future customers without local access numbers: WebTV Networks now offers OpenISP so that you may use a local Internet Service Provider's access number to connect to the WebTV Network. With this new feature, you will be paying your local ISP whatever fees they may charge, plus a reduced fee of $9.95 for your WebTV Network service. This will be a great reduction in cost to those paying toll calls to connect to the WebTV Network.

When signing up with a local Internet Service Provider, make sure that they support PAP or PPP authentication. We do not support CHAP. It's also a good idea to shop around so you can get the best rates, number of POPs (access numbers) available to you, and availability of technical support. Start by looking in your phone book under Internet Service. You may also want to look at our OpenISP web site, or refer your local ISP to it.

When you sign up with your local ISP, they will give you a name, password and POP number. The name and password is for access to their POP. With your WebTV Network service, you will still receive six e-mail accounts, Surfwatch and Kid-Friendly software for kids, background music, Around Town, and everything else you've come to expect and enjoy from WebTV Networks.

If you have local access through WebTV Networks, then OpenISP will probably not be cost effective. Exceptions to this are customers who already have an ISP for computer access.

On July 8th, 1997 N2K Inc., the leading online music entertainment company, announced a partnership with WebTV Networks Inc. N2K will develop and maintain a special music retail web site exclusively for WebTV subscribers which will link to N2K's 165,000 title online superstore, Music Boulevard. WebTV Networks will feature Music Boulevard's content with links to special promotions and music programming expressly designed for the WebTV Network.

Based in New York City, N2K Inc. is the first music entertainment company to successfully merge online technology with original music and entertainment. N2K runs several award-winning, genre-specific music web sites, including: Rocktropolis, Jazz Central Station, and Classical Insites, which hosts the official Leonard Bernstein site. In addition N2K operates many major artist Web sites, including Stones World, the official Web site of the Rolling Stones, and the official web site for David Bowie. Each of N2K's music genre and artists sites are linked to Music Boulevard.

"This partnership with WebTV allows us to offer the WebTV Network user a complete music experience from sound clips and content to secure online transactions," said Larry Rosen, chairman and CEO of N2K, Inc. "It is exciting to be able to reach the influential and growing market segment that WebTV represents."

Note to club members: Remember, the sites above are all about rock and roll! Don't be surprised if they are a little racy!

For more information, see the entire press release on our corporate web site.