Sonic Foundry Announces the Support of Microsoft Windows Media Device Manager

Sonic Foundry, Inc. (Nasdaq: SOFO), a leading developer and marketer of media authoring tools for Windows[R], today announced that SIREN[TM] Jukebox, a digital jukebox system for PC users, will support the Microsoft Windows Media Device Manager for the transfer of digital music from PCs to other devices and storage media.

SIREN Jukebox is music management software that takes full advantage of the digital audio compression capabilities that Microsoft Windows Media offers. SIREN Jukebox integrates native Windows Media support and is featured on the Microsoft Windows Media Web site.

"We are excited to be working closely with Microsoft to bring SIREN Jukebox to the PC market. This move positions us to be key players in driving digital music into the mainstream," said Curtis Palmer, Chief Technology Officer of Sonic Foundry. "SIREN Jukebox is a powerful yet easy-to-use digital music solution that allows the consumer to record music in a highly compressed format for use with a wide variety of peripheral playback devices. By utilizing the recent technology advances offered with Windows Media, SIREN Jukebox provides superior audio quality and faster compression."

Windows Media delivers CD-quality audio at half the size of MP3 files for consumers. This means that users of portable devices can play twice as much music in the same memory space. "The Windows Media Device Manager is about Windows enabling new opportunities for hardware and software developers," said Dave Fester, Director of Marketing, Streaming Media Division, Microsoft Corp. "We're excited Sonic Foundry has developed SIREN Jukebox to support the Windows Media Device Manager and help create a new generation of secure digital media software applications for PC users."

The Windows Media Player is shipped as part of every copy of Windows 98 Second Edition, and is included in the upcoming Windows 2000 Professional. "Sonic Foundry delivers advanced software products for digital media users," said Jeff Conover, Vice President of Marketing for Sonic Foundry, "This close relationship with Microsoft is an indication of the market penetration the industry will see from us now and in the future."