On July 25, Playaway, a division of Ohio-based Findaway World that manufactures preloaded audio book players, sold its millionth unit as part of an order placed by the military for shipment overseas to soldiers and their families. The Playaway device is a compact audio player that comes preloaded with one digital audio book and has a headphone jack and basic playback controls.
While the device is available through retail outlets, the company has focused most of its energy on the library market and, more recently, the military. Because the Playaway is a new format, potential users need to be educated on what it is and how it works. Essentially, the company says, the retail setting offers too many distractions, as well as confusion over pricing—consumers tend to compare the price of the Playaway to the price of the paper book, while the company usually matches the audio book price. According to Caroline Barni, Playaway's director of marketing and PR, “We look to our partners to help educate the end users on the new format. Retailing is one of the hardest venues for us. Libraries themselves are huge evangelists of our product. ”
Playaway is getting similar help from the military. The company began supplying its device to the military in April 2007, and the initiative was highly successful, resulting in the award, this past spring, of a multimillion-dollar contract from the Department of Defense for more than 150,000 Playaways.
Playaway received a sheaf of unclassified comments from soldiers about their product, such as this one, from a company commander in Iraq: “My unit recently received a box of Playaway audio books and I would like to extend my thanks. This is a great program and the soldiers are listening to the books, passing them along and, most important, having some interesting discussions concerning the content.” Barni said her product has been successful with soldiers because it “allows them to hear a soothing voice and have an educational opportunity, a huge moral booster.” Playaway has been providing devices loaded with language-learning programs, self-improvement books, spiritual titles and bestselling novels.
