Audio Books News

Don Katz has a vision for the kids of America: He wants to take the technology that brings the Jonas Brothers to their ears and use it to deliver the Brothers Grimm. Nearly a third of children ages 6 to 10 are regular users of digital audio players, according to market research firm the NPD Group. And thanks to entrepreneurs like Katz, they can now use them to listen to bedtime stories.

In March, the Audible.com founder launched AudibleKids.com, where children can download books directly onto their digital audio players.

"I hear lots of people talking, saying that when they put their kids to bed, they put them down with an audiobook," says Audio Publishers Association president Michele Cobb.

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Full-length audiobooks available to download direct to mobile phones for the first time

Andy McNab is backing the launch of GoSpoken, a new service that allows UK customers to preview, purchase and download audiobooks via their mobile phones for the first time.

The bestselling author is a partner of digital content company Spoken Entertainment, which teamed up with the Random House Group to launch the service at the London International Book Fair in London today.

Mobile phone users who have a data plan can now visit www.gospoken.com via their handsets to browse, purchase and download audiobooks without using a credit card, as payment is billed to the users' mobile phone account or through mobile PayPal.

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In a move that will double its revenues and increase its membership to more than one million, the audio book marketer Audio Book Club Inc. said yesterday that it would buy Columbia House Audiobook Club from the Columbia House Company, which is a joint venture of the Sony Corporation and Time Warner Inc.

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SHELTON, CT--(AudioBookCase.com. – April 6, 2008)

AudioBookCase Audiobook Publishers is pleased to announce that the Company has officially launched its new website and has made available its first release: “Into That Darkness Peering: Nightmarish Tales of the Macabre by Edgar Allan Poe – Volume One”, read by Wayne June.

Volume One, which includes the Poe classics “The Raven” The Black Cat” and “The Cask of Amontillado” is the first in a six volume series to be read by narrator Wayne June, whose narration of works by H.P. Lovecraft has garnered high praise from Lovecraft aficionados.

World-recognized leading Lovecraft expert S.T. Joshi, whose assessment of the productions as “splendid” credits June’s “deep, cavernous, almost sepulchral voice” as “…an ideal vehicle for Lovecraft's richly textured prose.”

In reviewing Volume One of AudioBookCase’s first Poe release, John Wright of “The Southern Literary Messenger” states: “Wayne June’s reading… is excellent and bodes well for what may follow. June’s voice is deep, reminding me much of Orson Welles’, and is a fitting complement for the works…”

AudioBookCase plans the release of subsequent volumes over the course of the coming year, culminating in a specially packaged limited edition of the entire series to appear in January 2009 to coincide with the Bicentennial of Poe’s birth.

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-- School Library Journal, 4/1/2008

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), announced its 2008 Selected DVDs & Videos and Selected Audiobooks for Young Adults list in January at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia, PA.

The video/DVD list recognizes productions for technical merit, content, and use with and interest to young adults ages 12 to 18. The audiobook titles have been selected for their appeal to a teen audience, the recording quality, and their enhancement of the audience’s appreciation of the written work on which they may be based.

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NEWARK, N.J. (AP) _ Downloads for children. Audible Inc. on Monday launched a Web site where families can choose from over 3,500 children's listenable books that can be purchased and downloaded.

Listeners can also use the site, www.audiblekids.com, to share recommendations.

The audio books can be downloaded directly from the Web site onto mobile devices.

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By BRAD STONE

Published: March 3, 2008 SAN FRANCISCO — Some of the largest book publishers in the world are stripping away the anticopying software on digital downloads of audio books.

The trend will allow consumers who download audio books to freely transfer these digital files between devices like their computers, iPods and cellphones — and conceivably share them with others. Dropping copying restrictions could also allow a variety of online retailers to start to sell audio book downloads.

The publishers hope this openness could spark renewed growth in the audio book business, which generated $923 million in sales last year, according to the Audio Publishers Association.

Random House was the first to announce it was backing away from D.R.M., or digital rights management software, the protective wrapping placed around digital files to make them difficult to copy. In a letter sent to its industry partners last month, Random House, the world’s largest publisher, announced it would offer all of its audio books as unprotected MP3 files beginning this month, unless retail partners or authors specified otherwise.

Penguin Group, the second-largest publisher in the United States behind Random House, now appears set to follow suit. Dick Heffernan, publisher of Penguin Audio, said the company would make all of its audio book titles available for download in the MP3 format on eMusic, the Web’s second-largest digital music service after iTunes.

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OverDrive, Inc. (www.overdrive.com), a leading distributor of digital books to public libraries, has unveiled drawings and details of a traveling community outreach exhibit entitled the Digital Bookmobile (www.digitalbookmobile.com).

Starting in August 2008, the Digital Bookmobile will host hands-on, interactive training events at public libraries in cities around the United States, including Boston, Cleveland, New York City, Phoenix, Seattle, and Washington, DC.

The Digital Bookmobile, developed inside a high-tech tractor-trailer, will present programs that promote the host library's download digital media catalog and 'virtual branch' website.

The vehicle is customized for each library event and equipped with broadband Internet-connected PCs, high definition monitors, premium sound systems, and a variety of portable media players. Hands-on learning stations demonstrate how to search the digital media catalog, use supported mobile devices, and download and enjoy eBooks, audiobooks, music, and video from the library.

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Mar 19, 2008 07:15 ET

CLEVELAND, OH--(Marketwire - March 19, 2008) - OverDrive® (www.overdrive.com), the leading digital book distributor to online retailers, libraries, and schools, announced today that it will expand its catalog of download audiobooks to include titles in MP3 format without DRM.

Borders, Inc. will be the first bookseller to offer OverDrive MP3 Audiobooks without DRM at http://audiobooks.borders.com and at Digital Centers inside select Borders store locations.

OverDrive MP3 Audiobooks will be compatible with nearly every MP3 player and mobile phone on the market including iPod, Zune, iPhone, and Creative Labs products. OverDrive MP3 Audiobooks will go on sale in May at Borders.com with thousands of best-selling titles from Random House Audio, Blackstone Audiobooks, Hachette Book Group, Books in Motion, plus dozens of other publishers.

The new catalog of MP3 titles for retail will be added to OverDrive's catalog of approximately 20,000 DRM-protected digital audiobooks and over 100,000 eBooks in popular formats.

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Princeton Junction, NJ – March 17, 2008 —

The Audio Publishers Association (APA) has announced five finalists for the prestigious Audiobook of the Year Award. The five titles that have been selected are:

The ground-breaking audio Bible Inspired By…The Bible Experience (Old Testament),

The murder mystery serial The Chopin Manuscript,

The series-concluding blockbuster Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,

The satirical spoof I Am America (And So Can You!) and

The intricate children’s mystery The Invention of Hugo Cabret.

Each title is also a finalist in at least one other Audies category. The Award will be presented at The Audies® gala awards ceremony on May 30 at The Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, CA.

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