Katz Media Player 2000

The **Katz Media Player 2000** (**KMP 2000**) is a Pippin console that was marketed in Canada and Europe by Norwegian company Katz Media. On June 4, 1996, Katz Media became the second company to sign a license agreement with Apple Computer to distribute Pippin systems. Bandai produced the consoles for Katz Media as an OEM.

## Configurations

The KMP 2000 is very similar to Bandai's Pippin Atmark and @WORLD, but featured ROM revision 1.3, which allowed support for non-authenticated CD-ROMs and SCSI drives. The newer ROM also supported a faster 8x CD-ROM drive, which could be replaced with 16x or 24x versions. A 2MB memory module was included to upgrade the basic configuration to 8MB DRAM.

Developers units were equipped with an ADB-to-AppleJack adapter, a 50-pin SCSI port to attach external drives, and a developer dongle which allowed booting from a hard disk. Memory was further increased to 14MB or 22MB through an 8MB or 16MB module.

## Release

Alps Electric was selected to carry out final assembly, warehousing and shipping of consoles for the European market from its facility in Ireland. Katz Media showed the KMP 2000 to "hundreds of customers" in the 6 months leading up to March 17, 1997, when it began shipping in Europe. Accétéra handled distribution in the French mass retail market. Katz Media pledged to deliver a television-optimized browser for the console in the following month. Only about 4 to 5 titles were being developed for the console at the time, due to costs involved.

During Marché international des Inforoutes et du Multimédia in May 1997, Groupe Arborescence announced a partnership with Katz Media to develop and market the Arborescence Network Centric computer for the Canadian market. It was to have been based on the KMP 2000 with a custom Pippin Expansion Unit as part of a "Arborescence/Katz Media Pippin package" to be targeted towards Canadian consumers who did not have internet access. Though prototyped by Primetech Electronics, the expansion dock was not made publicly available.

In June 1997, Katz Media announced that the KMP 2000 had been selected by the Netface Consortium in Holland to provide access to the world's first internet shopping mall via users' televisions. However, only about 1,000 units are believed to have been sold by the time Katz Media's websites went down in 1999, after Apple had cancelled development on the platform. Remaining inventory was sold off to DayStar Digital.

## Gallery

Front of KMP 2000 and Pippin Expansion Unit.Back of KMP 2000 (no SCSI port) and Pippin Expansion Unit with visible ethernet port.Rear panel of a rare developer's KMP 2000 with SCSI port.A 2MB memory upgrade pre-installed in a KMP 2000
## References

1. ↑ Apple's Pippin: A Pip--or a Pipsqueak? by Peter Burrows, BusinessWeek. Archived 2013-06-04.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Katz Media Announces Product Strategy and Cooperation with Strategic Partners for Pippin Platform, Katz Media SARL. 1996-09-18. Archived 1997-07-13.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Press: Arborescence launches the first Canadian-content Network Centric computer, Katz Media. 1997-05-22. Archived 1997-07-13.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Combien coûtait une Pippin de développement chez Katz Media ? (French) by Pierre Dandumont, *Le Journal du Lapin*. 2019-08-04.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 *The Ultimate Guide to Classic Game Consoles* (p.64-66) by Kevin Baker, Google Books. 2013-05-23.
6. ↑ Katz Media Signs Worldwide Licensing Agreement for Apple's Pippin Technology, Katz Media SARL. Archived 1997-07-13.
7. ↑ Bandai and Katz Media announce cooperation to develop European Pippin Market, Katz Media SARL. Archived 1997-07-13.
8. ↑ Useful Notes / Pippin, TV Tropes. Accessed 2017-04-12.
9. ↑ Un lecteur CD plus rapide dans la Pippin (avec la ROM 1.3) (French) by Pierre Dandumont, *Le Journal du Lapin*. 2016-10-22.
10. ↑ Pippin Specifications, Katz Media SARL. Archived 1998-01-29.
11. ↑ Ging mir genauso.. Kannte es nur aus dem Netz. Aber drinnen war noch eine Bandai Erweiterung XD (German) by Senad 🐈 @Gamescom 10.2, Twitter. 2018-10-08.
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Katz Media Begins Shipping Pippins in Europe, Katz Media SARL. 1997-03-17. Archived 1997-07-17.
13. ↑ This is a Norwegian game console developed for Apple (Norwegian) by Martin Gramnæs, PressFire. 2015-03-11.
14. ↑ Arborescence Launches KMP 2000 with New Peripherals, The Arborescence Group. 1997-05-22. Archived 1998-01-29.
15. ↑ Arborescence introduce the first COMBO Pippin doc/base module! by Joe Kudrna, O'Grady's PowerPage: Pippin NewsPage. 1997-08-03. Archived 1998-02-07.
16. ↑ For the good of the company? Five Apple products Steve Jobs killed by Casey Johnston, Ars Technica. 2011-08-25.
17. ↑ Apple's Folly by Adam Volk, The Gameological Society. 2013-06.

## External links

* The PIPPIN from Katz Media (archived 1998-01-29)
* KMP2000 Pippin at Arborescence (archived 1998-01-29)
* Quand Katz Media voulait vendre la Pippin (French) at *Le Journal du Lapin* (2019-08-11)
* Katz Media Pippin at The Strange (and Rare) Videogame Pics Page
* Apple Pippin: Katz Media Player 2000 at Wikipedia