Looking to prime the market for digital audiobooks, e-publishing vendor OverDrive has developed a new digital platform that it claims will make it easier to download and buy audiobooks, as well as to check them out from libraries.
Steve Potash, CEO of OverDrive, said that the platform, OverDrive AudioBooks, has been designed around Microsoft's Windows Media Player with testing help from a number of libraries. OverDrive has partnered with Brilliance Audio to initially provide 1,000 unabridged titles for sale and download. Authors available include P.J. O'Rourke, Nora Roberts, Tom Clancy, Amy Tan and Catherine Coulter.
The new platform will be available from such retailers as Fictionwise.com, WHSmith Online and eFollett.com. Libraries working with OverDrive include the Cleveland Public Library and Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center, which specializes in services for the visually impaired.
The new audiobooks can be burned onto a CD or transferred and played on more than 500 types of portable devices that support Windows Media, including pocket PCs and MP3 devices. The new platform includes the OverDrive Media Console, a free downloadable application that allows users to buy, download, organize and transfer OverDrive audiobook files on their home computers. Potash also noted that because of the size of unabridged audiobooks—some can run as long as 20 hours—OverDrive audiobooks are designed to be downloaded all at once or by single chapters.
"There's a huge existing audiobook market," explained Potash, noting the importance of the new application. "It's not like e-books, which are completely different from traditional books. There's no difference in how consumers use downloadable and traditional audiobooks."
