Sonic Foundry Begins Seven-City Tour to Demonstrate MediaSite Live and Vegas to Top Universities.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

MADISON, Wis.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 20, 2003

New Media Consortium Recognizes Company with Distinguished Partner

Status for Its Commitment to Multimedia Education in Academic

Institutions

Sonic Foundry(R) Inc. (Nasdaq:SOFO),

New media center directors from colleges and universities throughout the United States will participate in the meetings, which start Jan. 23 in San Jose and end Feb. 27 in New York City.

At each meeting, Sonic Foundry will provide hands-on demonstrations of MediaSite Live(TM), its rich media presentation system, as well as its soon-to-be released Vegas(R) 4.0 and Vegas(R)+DVD, real-time video and audio non-linear editing and DVD authoring solutions. The tour with the NMC is part of Sonic Foundry's continued commitment to providing higher education institutions with state-of-the-art multimedia technology, and is a key factor behind its "Distinguished Partner" status granted by the NMC earlier this month.

Founded in 1993, the NMC counts among its members more than 118 colleges and universities, as well as 15 innovative high-tech companies. Prospective members undergo a rigorous peer-review process and must demonstrate a strong commitment to using new media to transform teaching, learning and creative expression in higher education settings. The consortium provides a non-competitive forum for its academic members to learn about new technologies and how other institutions are using them. Member institutions also benefit by receiving discounted multimedia software, in-house training and advance notice of emerging products.

"As part of our Emerging Technology Initiative, we continue to look for tools and applications that focus on synchronous and asynchronous video streaming, and multimedia production software solutions," said Larry Johnson, president and CEO of NMC. "Sonic Foundry, a long-time supporter of the NMC and its newest Distinguished Partner, is a world-renowned leader in digital media solutions and we expect to see some exciting things develop from this extended relationship."

"This tour gives Sonic Foundry access to the people overseeing new media centers at some of the largest, most prestigious universities in the country," said Brad Reinke, senior vice president and general manager of software for Sonic Foundry. "We've had tremendous success outfitting more than 1,000 schools, colleges and universities with quality media creation and editing software that enriches the teaching and learning experience. Now we have the opportunity to introduce them to the powerful capabilities of our award-winning MediaSite Live, a Web presentation system which is perfectly suited for their online learning initiatives -- from distance education for students to online professional development for educators."

About Sonic Foundry(R), Inc.

Founded in 1991, Sonic Foundry (Nasdaq:SOFO) is a leading provider of desktop and enterprise digital media software solutions. Its complete offering of media tools, systems and services provides a single source for creating, managing, analyzing and enhancing media for government, business, education and entertainment.

Sonic Foundry is based in Madison, Wis., with offices in Santa Monica, Toronto and Pittsburgh. For more information about Sonic Foundry, visit the company's Web site at www.sonicfoundry.com.

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 Sonic Foundry's products, its ability to succeed in capturing significant revenues from media services and/or systems, the effect of new competitors in its market, integration of acquired business and other risk factors identified from time to time in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.