Hot: "Paperback Digital" Audiobooks soon!

[Colin Dunstan]

The team that created Palm Digital Media and the PalmReader software has come together again to launch Paperback Digital, Inc.

Paperback Digital will publish "attractively priced" MP3-CD audiobook editions of best-selling and classic titles from the science-fiction, fantasy and horror genres. Most other audiobook suppliers still use traditional audio technology which limits an audio CD to only 74 minutes. With MP3, you can put up to 15 hours of recorded voice on a single CD. Prices will vary between $14.95 and $25.00.

Paperback Digital will open its online bookstore on September 7th, and some of the first available audiobook titles will include:

• The Galileo Affair by Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis
• Spirits In The Wires by Charles de Lint
• Cally's War by John Ringo and Julie Cochrane
• Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
• Reflex by Steven Gould
• Survival, Species Imperative 1 by Julie E. Czerneda

[Brian]

As an Audible.com "Basic Listener", I don't know if I'd really be interested in Paperback Digital audiobooks, but the competition is welcome. Will the titles being offered be exclusive to Paperback Digital, or will they be available elsewhere like Audible.com? Will they offer a membership/subscription service along the lines of Audible's "Basic Listener" and Premium Listener" packages?

Content like ebooks and audiobooks are best distributed via a download service IMO. It's almost instantaneous and is easily (often automatically) transferred to your portable device. Selling them on CD will add shipping costs and take a few days to get your content delivered, after which you'll have to manually copy the MP3 files to your device. The pricing mentioned doesn't make these inconveniences worth it as there isn't much if any savings at all over the competition.

I'm not knocking this new service, competition and options for consumers are a good thing. Hopefully this will lead to lower prices all around for audiobook fans.