Sonic Foundry Develops Proprietary Audio Codec

Sonic Foundry[R] Inc. (NASDAQ: SOFO), the leading developer and marketer of digital media and Internet software tools, services, and systems, today announced Perfect Clarity Audio[TM], its new proprietary audio compression codec.

This technology allows users to compress music in a format that will not sacrifice the fidelity of the original source audio recording. While most audio compression technologies such as MP3 and WMA are considered "lossy," Perfect Clarity Audio delivers audio output that is identical to the original source and supports both 16- and 24-bit audio. During the editing process, Perfect Clarity Audio files can be modified and recompressed without degradation that lossy codecs add to every generation. Test files have shown compression ratios of 2:1 and as high as 5:1 with no loss in audio quality.

Perfect Clarity Audio is currently included in Sonic Foundry's award-winning SIREN[TM] Jukebox 2.0 and will be incorporated into all future Sonic Foundry product releases. Sonic Foundry is offering a free download of the demonstration version, SIREN[TM] XPress, with the Perfect Clarity Audio encoder included at www.sonicfoundry.com.

Additionally, Sonic Foundry's Media Services[SM] Division will be taking advantage of Perfect Clarity Audio. Clients can reap the benefits of storing their enterprise-based audio files in one-half to one-fifth the previously required space, decreasing the high costs associated with storing raw audio files. The Company is also offering licensing opportunities for those clients who wish to take advantage of Perfect Clarity Audio for software and hardware applications and internally managed enterprise initiatives.

"This is a very exciting advancement in the audio industry," stated Curtis Palmer, co-founder and chief technical officer for Sonic Foundry. "We designed Perfect Clarity Audio so users can, in a compressed format, retain the identical audio quality of original audio content. As storage becomes cheaper and bandwidth becomes greater, lossless codecs will become the norm. Sonic Foundry is leading the way in the future of broadband. Users will experience a new realm of opportunity for their music playback, storage, and editing."