Sonic Foundry Launches Support of Windows Media Technologies 4.0

Los Angeles, CA — Sonic Foundry (AMEX: SFO) announced today at Internet World a number of broad-based strategy initiatives which expand the Company's presence in the streaming media marketplace, with full support for the beta release of Microsoft Windows Media Technologies 4.0. These include:

• A new beta version of the Windows Media On-Demand Producer, co-developed and co-branded by Sonic Foundry and Microsoft, offering easy audio and video capture and encoding;
• The free Beta release of Stream Anywhere[TM], Sonic Foundry's exclusive, full-featured upgrade to the Windows Media On-Demand Producer offering cross-platform support for Windows Media Technologies 4.0 and RealNetworks G2 streaming media platforms;
• An OEM version of the Windows Media On-Demand Producer, marketed by UBL.com (The Ultimate Band List), offering a complete Windows Media authoring and publishing solution for musicians;
• The launch of ACIDplanet.com[TM], a new Windows Media-based music listening room that allows users to preview and upload music created with the Sonic Foundry product family;
• Updates for Sound Forge[R] and ACID[TM] product families to support the Windows Media Technologies 4.0;
• The announcement of initial development work on project 'Boulder', a new software application designed to enable transfer of existing CD content utilizing the new Microsoft audio compression technology.

"Today's announcements represent a key strategic initiative for Sonic Foundry. Our product and service offering incorporates all aspects of Internet media production, including audio and video content creation, personal Web and Internet music publishing," notes Rimas Buinevicius, Chairman and CEO of Sonic Foundry. "The new Stream Anywhere authoring tool combined with our support for Microsoft's Windows Media Technologies 4.0 in all ACID and Sound Forge family products, demonstrates our continued support for this robust platform and the media delivery advantages of the Internet."

"Our customers require comprehensive, easy-to-use tools for encoding digital audio and video content," said Will Poole, Senior Director of Marketing and Business Development for the Streaming Media Division at Microsoft. "We are pleased with Sonic Foundry's commitment to develop media authoring tools, such as the Windows Media On-Demand Producer, to help these customers harness the audio quality and rights management capabilities of Windows Media Technologies 4.0."

Windows Media On-Demand Producer

Windows Media On-Demand Producer, co-developed by Microsoft and Sonic Foundry, simplifies the creation of streaming media content. Both experienced Web developers and novice streaming media authors can easily create streaming files, giving end-users instant media playback instead of requiring them to wait for files to download. Possible user applications include Web content development, personal Web pages, distance learning and training, and corporate presentations.

The Ultimate Band List

UBL.com, which features over 80,000 bands and reaches 2.4 million users monthly, is now offering a customized version of the Windows Media On-Demand Producer customized exclusively by Sonic Foundry and Microsoft. This new version allows artists to post samples of their own music and video content directly onto their UBL artist site.

"The Windows Media On-Demand Producer is allowing UBL a way to offer undiscovered artists a way to spotlight their music side-by-side in the UBL database with the biggest stars in the music world. We're excited about the prospects," said Steve Rennie, President of UBL.com.

Stream Anywhere

Released in a downloadable beta version as an exclusive, full-featured upgrade for users of the Microsoft Windows Media On-Demand Producer, Stream Anywhere supports the entire authoring process from capturing the video through publishing the Web page layout. Multiple streaming formats are supported for re-purposing media into Microsoft .ASF and RealNetworks G2 from popular formats .MP3, .AVI, .WAV, MPEG-1, and Quicktime. Powerful pre-processing and batch functions are incorporated into Stream Anywhere, along with an advanced user interface with video and audio tracks for synchronizing metadata events to the media timeline.

ACIDplanet.com

The newly launched ACIDplanet.com is a music Web community where users can preview and upload songs created with ACID and other Sonic Foundry tools. Musicians can now use the Internet as their stage by publishing their material using Sonic Foundry tools and Microsoft's new Windows Media audio codec for the pleasure and critique of fans all over the world. Featured sections include the ACID Lounge, where visitors will choose from material classified by genre, and The Studio, an area devoted to obtaining and using the tools necessary to create, edit, and deliver original music over the Web, using the Windows Media Rights Manager feature of Windows Media Technologies 4.0.

ACID and Sound Forge

Both ACID and Sound Forge have been updated to support the Windows Media Technologies 4.0. Sonic Foundry's ACID family of music production tools allows musicians and Web developers to create original royalty-free music in minutes. Sound Forge 4.5 has been established as the Web audio tool-of-choice for Web professionals involved with streaming media deployment on their sites. Sound Forge and the 'XPress' version, Sound Forge[R] XP 4.5, both feature an intuitive interface with clear, visual media displays and numerous audio effects and processes. Both versions of Sound Forge include .AVI multimedia file support to synchronize audio, video, graphics, and interactive metadata for on-demand streaming on the Internet and corporate Intranets.

Boulder

'Boulder' is the code name for a new software product from Sonic Foundry, currently under development, which allows the transfer of existing CD content to the new Microsoft audio compression technology. 'Boulder' is being designed to take advantage of the secure content features of the Windows Media Rights Manager, a component of the Windows Media Technologies 4.0.

Availability

Windows Media On-Demand Producer is distributed as part of Microsoft's Windows Media Tools and is available today from the Microsoft Web site at microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/.

Sonic Foundry's Stream Anywhere and updates for ACID PRO, ACID Music, ACID Style, Sound Forge 4.5, and Sound Forge XP 4.5 are available today in free beta or update versions directly from the Sonic Foundry Web site.

A free beta download of the UBL OEM version of the Windows Media On-Demand Producer for personal Web publishing applications is available at files.sonicfoundry.com/wmodp/ublodp4b72setup.exe, and visit the UBL Web site at ubl.com.

Users can link directly to the new ACIDplanet.com Web site by pointing their browser to acidplanet.com.