Audible and Bookspan Announce Online Commerce Partnership
Audible Audiobook Download Service to Be Available To Millions of Members Of Book-Of-The-Month Club, Doubleday Book Club, Literary Guild, QPB, and Other Bookspan Properties
WAYNE, N.J., & NEW YORK--Sept. 8, 2005--Audible, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBL, www.audible.com), the leading provider of digitally delivered spoken audio, and Bookspan, the premier direct marketer of general interest and specialty book clubs, today announced the launch of a cobranded, state-of-the-art digital spoken audio download service.
Audible and Bookspan have established spoken audio boutiques at six of Bookspan`s leading book club Web sites: Doubleday Book Club(R), Literary Guild(R), Quality Paperback Book Club(R), Book-Of-The-Month Club(R), History Book Club(R), and Zooba.com(R). These boutiques are fully equipped Audible e-commerce environments which enable Bookspan`s millions of members to sample, download, and listen to Audible`s 70,000 hours of audiobooks, periodicals, and programming. Bookspan members will be able to enjoy full mobility, listening to their favorite digital spoken audio anywhere and anytime.
A prominent feature of Audible`s boutiques at the Bookspan Web sites will give shoppers the ability to sample a portion of an audiobook free of charge first, then purchase, download, and transfer audio for listening on any one of more than 160 AudibleReady(R) MP3 players, personal digital assistants or smart phones. Listeners are able to supplement their reading time by listening to audio versions of print works when they cannot otherwise read.
"Bookspan has defined the standard for the direct marketing of books. On a business plane, Bookspan has been one of the most sophisticated direct marketers in the world. Institutions such as Book-of-the-Month Club and The Literary Guild have served as personal curators for readers for several generations," said Donald Katz, Chairman and CEO, Audible, Inc. "We have found that almost every reader desires more time to read. The Audible listening experience is specifically designed to address this desire for literate listening. Beyond this, we believe the direct marketing expertise of Bookspan will be a key element in our distribution strategy and growth."
Markus Wilhelm, Chief Executive Officer, of Bookspan, said, "We are excited to offer our members the valuable service provided by Audible, and we are proud to be one of Audible`s growing roster of distribution partners offering Audible`s literary listening experience. This partnership allows Bookspan members another way to enjoy and experience the books Bookspan offers."
About BOOKSPAN
Bookspan is the premier direct marketer of general interest and specialty book clubs. With more than 8.5 million members, its book clubs include Book-of-the-Month Club, The Literary Guild, Quality Paperback Book Club, Doubleday Book Club, and more than 40 others. BOOKSPAN is a partnership between Doubleday Direct, Inc., owned by Bertelsmann AG and Book-of-the-Month Club Holdings LLC, owned by Time Warner Inc.
About Audible, Inc.
Audible(R) (www.audible.com(R)) is the Internet`s leading provider of premium spoken audio. Content from Audible is downloaded and played back on personal computers, CDs, or AudibleReady(R) computer-based mobile devices. Audible has 70,000 hours of audio programs from more than 250 content partners that include leading audiobook publishers, broadcasters and magazine and newspaper publishers. Audible.com is Amazon.com`s and the Apple iTunes Music Store`s pre-eminent provider of spoken products for downloading via the Web. Additionally, the Company is strategically aligned with Random House, Inc. in the first-ever imprint to produce spoken word content specifically suited for digital distribution, Random House Audible. Among the Company`s key business relationships are Apple Corp., Creative Labs, Hewlett-Packard Company, Microsoft Corporation, palmOne, Inc., PhatNoise Inc., Rio Audio, XM Satellite Radio, Texas Instruments Inc., and VoiceAge Corporation.
Audible, www.audible.com, AudibleListener, and AudibleReady are registered trademarks of Audible, Inc. and all are part of the family of Audible, Inc. trademarks.
Other product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.
This press release contains information about Audible, Inc. that is not historical fact and may be deemed to contain forward-looking statements about the company. Actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in any forward-looking statements as a result of certain risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, Audible`s limited operating history, history of losses, uncertain market for its services, and its inability to license or produce compelling audio content and other risks and uncertainties detailed in the company`s Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
CONTACT: Audible Inc.
David Joseph, 973-837-2824
djoseph@audible.com
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