Sonic Foundry and SpotTaxi.com Form Alliance to Enhance Radio Broadcast Production and Distribution.

Business & High Tech Editors

MADISON, Wis.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 10, 2000

Sonic Foundry's Sound Forge 4.5 and Vegas Pro Preferred Audio Tools

Sonic Foundry(R), Inc., (AMEX:SFO) the leading developer and marketer of digital media and Internet software tools, services, and systems, today announced that it has formed an alliance with Central Media, Incorporated. (CMI), owner and operator of SpotTaxi.com, an innovative new Internet-based radio spot distribution technology. Through the new alliance, CMI and Sonic Foundry will work to simplify the preparation and distribution of radio advertisements and engage in the cross-promotion of each other's products to benefit mutual customers.

Sonic Foundry's award-winning audio editing tool, Sound Forge(R) 4.5, will be recommended as the preferred software program for trimming the heads and tails of broadcast spots for final preparation prior to distribution. Its Vegas(TM) Pro multitrack audio and recording editing tool will be suggested for radio station applications where enhanced spot production and multitrack editing is required. Sonic Foundry's software will be promoted on the SpotTaxi.com Web site, and Sonic Foundry will offer special pricing for SpotTaxi.com customers who order software through a direct purchase link to the Sonic Foundry site.

"Our strategic alliance will simplify the spot distribution process and will meet our customers' needs through compatibility and integration," says Peter Barnes, co-founder and president of CMI. "The diverse feature set of Sonic Foundry's high quality audio editing software is perfect for audio and broadcast production. In this business, being able to edit spots cleanly and quickly in the digital environment and get them to the station quickly, is essential. By working together, we will be able to help our customers prepare and distribute spots in an extremely efficient manner."

"Sonic Foundry is looking forward to providing SpotTaxi.com customers with our high-productivity and state-of-the-art technologies for producing compelling advertising content under demanding broadcast schedules," stated Jeff Conover, vice president of marketing for Sonic Foundry.

About Sound Forge

Sound Forge 4.5 is Sonic Foundry's award-winning digital audio editor. Its diverse feature set is used for audio and broadcast production, multimedia and Internet content development, remixing, and sound design. Sound Forge can be combined with most Windows-compatible sound cards to create, record, and edit audio files. It also has built-in video support and can save to a number of audio and video file formats, including WAV, WMA, RM, ASF, and MP3.

About Vegas Pro

Vegas Pro is Sonic Foundry's award-winning multi-track recorder that combines the best in audio production with tools for streaming Internet authoring. Vegas Pro allows for fast, non-destructive editing of multiple tracks, and synchronizing of video and audio with frame-by-frame precision. Files can be arranged with different sampling rates, bit depths, and file formats - even on a single track. Vegas Pro offers real-time playback as well as the ability to add timeline metadata such as URL captions and markers that automatically synchronize Web pages with media files. With support for many popular digital audio and video formats and hardware inputs and outputs, Vegas Pro seamlessly integrates into any digital studio without compromising creative process.

About SpotTaxi.com

SpotTaxi.com is a service of Central Media Incorporated. Based in Seattle, Washington, CMI is committed to offering breakthrough, Internet-based services to the radio, advertising and production industries. The company was founded in January 1999 and has received financing from private investors and The Ackerley Group, Inc. (NYSE:AK). CMI's Board of Directors includes Bill Ackerley, CEO for Horizon Broadcasting Group; Chris Ackerley, Co-President for The Ackerley Group; Denis Curley, Co-President and COO for The Ackerley Group; Russell Daggatt, Vice Chairman for Teledesic; and Ron Elgin, President and CEO for DDB Seattle. SpotTaxi.com is on track to replace current electronic and physical means of radio spot distribution with a faster, fully integrated and cost-efficient method, based on Internet technology.

About Sonic Foundry

Founded in 1991, Sonic Foundry is a leading developer and marketer of digital media and Internet software tools, services, and systems. Sonic Foundry's award-winning products and services are used worldwide for multimedia and Internet applications, music and audio post-production, broadcast production, and digital content creation. Built on the principle of 'Create, Edit, and Deliver', Sonic Foundry's products and services offer media consumers everywhere the ability to create and capture media, edit the content, and deliver the information via fixed media channels or electronic distribution.

Sonic Foundry Media Services(TM), a division of Sonic Foundry, Inc., offers premium solutions for delivering audio and video content online. The division provides the industry's most powerful combination of proprietary technologies that incorporates high-end encoding, webcasting, syndication systems, content and digital rights management, and consulting services.

Certain statements contained in this news release regarding matters that are not historical facts may be forward-looking statements. Because such forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to, uncertainties pertaining to continued market acceptance for the Company's products, the Company's ability to succeed in capturing significant revenues from media services, the effect of new competitors in the Company's markets, and other risk factors identified from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.