The tie between spoken-books merchant Audible and iTunes has always been strong. Audible's catalog forms the backbone of iTunes' audio book offerings, and there's a history of Audible offering iTunes-exclusive content. So it came as a surprise to me when Amazon bought Audible for $300 million, announced today. I'd imagine that the deal includes provisions for Apple's existing contracts, but I'm curious as to how this will affect future negotiations. The Amazon/Audible deal is projected to close in the 2nd quarter of this year.
We've covered Amazon's entry into DRM-free music sales previously on TUAW.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-31-2008 @ 11:00AM
Scott said...
This concerns me, as a longtime Audible subscriber. They can't continue to be so close to iTunes and Apple, and at the same time be owned by Amazon.com, which is working hard to be Apple's main competitor in the online music business. Yes, Audible's got DRM, but it's a DRM that works flawlessly in iTunes and on iPods, just like the iTunes store. They've also got the broadest selection of audiobooks from a variety of publishers and other sources. If Amazon takes them in a non-DRM, MP3 direction, Audible could lose a lot of its content. Apple could also change their mind about licensing the iTunes DRM to them, which could kill their business, and possibly affect all the existing Audible material I've bought from them.
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1-31-2008 @ 12:17PM
Libb said...
If I'm not mistaken, it was actually the other way around - Apple licensed the Audible DRM to allow iPods to playback books purchased directly from Audible, not the other way around. However, Audible books bought through iTunes are wrapped in FairPlay, not Audible's format.
1-31-2008 @ 11:26AM
email2mitch said...
Why didn't Apple buy them?
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1-31-2008 @ 5:38PM
Techslacker said...
It would be interesting to find out if Amazon went looking for Audible or if Audible went looking for Amazon. There are two sides to every story.
1-31-2008 @ 11:30AM
Charles R Hamilton said...
"Why didn't Apple buy them?"
Audible is a bit of a turd, and it always has been. Being one of the first on the scene, it could have been so much more.
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1-31-2008 @ 11:39AM
Russell said...
I don't know much about the Audio Book industry, but it appears that Audible only sells audio books, doesn't actually produce them, or (presumably) own rights to them. So this doesn't really mean much in terms of iTunes I wouldn't think, except that Apple might have to "cut out the middle man" and go straight to the content owners.
More interestingly, I hope Amazon convinces whoever they need to convince that they should be allowed to sell audio books DRM free. Then I might actually buy them.
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1-31-2008 @ 12:42PM
quandmeme said...
No, their experience is a value to its users. I don't think an ITS subsite could replace it really. The subscription model as well as an a la carte option makes it a good way to get to the content, that yes, any provider could try to sell. I hope it maintains neutrality.
I'm pro competition, but closing audible to iTunes would be a cut throat move that would be bad for users.
1-31-2008 @ 1:14PM
Pytchfork said...
Apple won't go direct to the publishers in the Audiobook industry - it wouldn't be worthwhile given the number of publishers. They'll look to another aggregator or aggregator(s).
1-31-2008 @ 11:49AM
Dave said...
I'm not sure we have to worry too much. I assume Audible books are heard on iPods more than any other device. So Amazon would be crazy to drop iTunes.
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1-31-2008 @ 11:53AM
David said...
It clearly means that Apple is going to buy Amazon.
;-)
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1-31-2008 @ 12:12PM
Eric said...
Clearly
1-31-2008 @ 1:05PM
Mike said...
I'm optimistic. I send money each month to both Audible and Amazon anyway.
Despite doom and gloom predictions, Audible files are probably the one DRM'd media that has the greatest cross-platform support. Devices and applications from Apple, Microsoft, Creative, Garmin and many many others are supported. I have a couple old Creative MuVos that I use to loan audio books to friends. They only hold 256MB but easily holds a single book and I can hand it over to someone to get back when they're done listening to it.
I've got several hundred Audible books, much more than iTunes tracks I've bought. DRM has never been an issue since they play on everything I've got.
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1-31-2008 @ 1:30PM
Lauram said...
My only hope is that Amazon does something to improve Audible's website, which is the slowest, buggiest, most confusing site I use regularly. I wouldn't be using it at all if a friend hadn't comped me a free subscription. The subscription model is fairly complicated and unfriendly, and before that, every time I decided to check it out the difficulty in figuring out how it work combined with the problems with the site put me off. Even now that I'm a convert, they still drive me crazy by doing things like sending out notices of "two day only" sales and then not being able to get the web site to register the sale prices until the two days have passed.
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1-31-2008 @ 1:50PM
TjL said...
@Lauram That was my hope as well, for website improvements. Audible.com is built on JSP (javascript?) and it is huge and slow and difficult to use.
@Scott I don't think Amazon will push for "DRM free" at the expense of losing publishers. HOWEVER some book publishers, and some authors, most notably perhaps JK Rowling, are going to have to get their heads around the fact that DRM doesn't stop piracy.
My wife loved the Harry Potter books and I looked to get them on Audible.com. Not available. You can get them on CD, but not Audible. Audio books on CD are outrageously expensive. That's where Audible has really been great.
How dumb is it not to offer them on Audible? Surely Audible would love to have them. Ms Rowling is a notorious technology luddite, refusing to publish e-books for fear of piracy. It was a matter of hours before her books were scanned and available for free on the Internet.
I checked a BitTorrent site and found all of the Harry Potter books in MP3. (No, I didn't download them. Our local library has them all on CD, so we borrowed them from the library.)
Audible's DRM is the best I've ever used. They work across lots of platforms AND allow you to easily burn to CD, which is obviously DRM-free. Honestly I never notice that it was there, and in fact I heard someone not too long ago who claimed that he though it was DRM free because it played on so many devices he had never found himself unable to play it.
(iTunes is second to Audible, but Audible answers the main complaint about iTunes DRM which is that it isn't licensed to other players other than the iPod/iPhone.)
If the music industry had done DRM like Audible.com did, I suspect they would not have found themselves in such a bad position as they do now.
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1-31-2008 @ 3:03PM
BulkHedd said...
@TjL:
Apple worked out a special deal on the Harry Potter audiobooks and they are only available from the iTunes store. They're pretty expensive, too.
2-02-2008 @ 11:00AM
52 said...
I think as the standards evolve, agrregator models like audible become less viable. Amazon's move seems to be a way to get customers/content behind the Kindle quickly. Audible does periodicals and podcasts as well as books. Once the big publishers get comfortable with DRM and the dl model generally, they will do deals directly with Amazon and iTunes, no need for an aggregator. Some of the other "audiobook" sites are doing more interesting things than Audible, but didn't have access through iTunes due to Audible's exclusive deal. This will change quickly now.
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