Audiobook distribution – a better way
Commercial Audiobook distribution is flawed. At one time they were only available on cassette tape (remember those?), now it is CD plus some online distribution using DRM (Digital Rights Management) to prevent piracy. Each of these systems is flawed because they cross the boundaries between books and music.
Readers read books (I know, it’s obvious, but bear with me) and I believe the acceptance of audiobooks stumbles over the need to switch modes between dealing with a physical product to dealing with discs or abstract digital files. It is the same stumbling block podcasting has had: the technology gets in the way of the user experience.
One company has come up with a possible solution, one that I have been thinking for some time is a viable form of the audiobook product.
PlayawayDigital have taken the audiobook and packaged it in a no-fuss, independent physical product – just like a miniature book. Earbuds plug in to the side and there are the basic controls you would expect from an audio device on the back. No searching a device for the right chapters, no having that device messing up the order of those chapters, no synchronising, no disc swapping – no messing around whatsoever. Plus, the product retains the product’s branding (i.e. book cover).
The most significant aspect of this, I feel, will be a higher level of consumer acceptance. It is just like a book. It can sit on shelves, pop into a handbag, be loaned to others – and will ultimately appear on the shelves of charity shops.
I not only hope the publishing industry will take up this form of audiobook distribution, but also that there might be a way for independent audiobook creators to distribute their content in this way. That’s a little optimistic, I’ll admit, but providing none of the big publishing players nail PlayawayDigital down to tight agreements, or do not buy the company outright, we can still hope.
The publishing industry needs this form of audiobook product to truly break the market. I, for one, welcome it.
I think these will catch on. I know some people are working on health initiatives or hypnosis self help versions that are currently being marketed to high street chemists and travel shops
Hmmmm…
Good points: Easy for the less-tech-savvy to figure out. Good for the publishers is reduces the threat of piracy.
Bad points: By embracing the limitations of the current media, some of the benefits of technology are lost: e.g. I have around 30 podcasts on my iPod, I don’t want to carry around 30 of these things. Also, production costs are increased and you need a physical sales channel.
@Phil: How many audiobooks would you carry round at one time?
Podcasts are a different matter because most are ongoing, not a fixed number of episodes. Online digital distribution of audiobook material is still small compared to packaged CDs (I’ll try and dig up some figures). Tech still gets in the way for the non-tech, book-loving masses.
@Jason: Any chance you can get me some specific info on these products? I’m interested in tracking success (or otherwise) of this distribution method.
No, I agree with the main point here Neil, that for every iPhone-toting hipster there are probably 50 people who don’t want to wrangle with new technology.
Would prices be comparable to paperback books and cds?
I think the pricing would have to be comparable with existing audiobooks at the very least – though there’s no information on production costs or consumer pricing. Should be no reason why this could not cost much less than a standard CD audiobook particularly if it gets broad takeup.
I can’t see the logic there, Neil.
I can buy a blank CD for less that fifty cents. Even the most rudamentary MP3 players cost fifty to a hundred times that amount.
Even if I need 10 CDs per book, and the MP3 player has some ways to fall in price if it ever becomes as ubiquitous as the CD, I can’t see it getting “much less” than a CD.
As the production and distribution costs of the media trend toward zero, the impact on cost of changing media becomes insignificant. Whether you send it across the ether or buy it on a piece of cheap plastic or silicon, the other costs still remain.
It’s not about media costs – success is down to where the consumer wants to apply their hard cash for a product that means they no longer need additional devices or technical knowledge to consume.
Commercial audiobooks on CD retail at around, or in excess of, the hard-cover version of that book. If this device comes anywhere between that and the lower price point of the paperback version, it’s a winner. Unfortunately, whatever the production cost, there’s a good chance the publishing industry will want to squeeze out every last penny.
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Those are good looking units and seems they will definitely help with piracy issues on downloads. Something I may need to spend more time looking into. The only downside I can see from a consumer perspective is the bulkiness when carrying around multiple titles compared to adding titles to an mp3 player.