FROM THE “THIS SUCKS” DEPARTMENT: Sonic Foundry, maker of terrific audio software that I use a lot, is in financial trouble. Well, lots of companies are, these days, but they have terrific products in their Acid music software (I did the music for my wife’s documentary, largely using Acid Pro 4.0, and it rocks) and they’ve just released their new Vegas Video 4 video-editing software, which is rumored to be great, and to have an integrated DVD-authoring package that actually works, something not to be taken for granted. I’d hate to see them go under. How come so many companies with crappy products manage to stay in business?

By the way, if you’ve used Vegas 4, especially with the DVD-authoring feature, please drop me an email and let me know how it works.

And if you’re a turnaround expert — go save ’em! They’ve got consistently great products, an excellent reputation, and a lot of happy customers. That should be worth something, right?

UPDATE: A reader emails:

I read your post on Sonic Foundry. They are one of my customers, so I thought I’d give you a little hope. They have great ideas but horrible business skills. They have brought on people to help them with this. Sonic Foundry is stripping away its business units that lose money so that they can focus on their core business. It may also be noted that they are “plugged into” the local and state political structure. I suspect that they will get enough help so that they can restructure and come out stronger. The have a great product and a loyal customer base. They just need to focus.

Of course, they could botch it all up. It wouldn’t be the first time a great company was sunk by bad business decisions.

I hope they make it. They make great stuff.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Techblogger Jim Zellmer has some observations. And another reader points out that even if Sonic Foundry dies, the technology will probably live on. No doubt. But still, I’d like to see them survive.