Contact Information: Contacts: David Burleigh OverDrive, Inc. 216-573-6886 x218
OverDrive to Distribute MP3 Audiobooks to Booksellers and Libraries
Download Audiobooks Compatible With iPod, Zune, and Thousands of MP3 Players
| Source: OverDrive, Inc.
CLEVELAND, OH--(Marketwire - March 19, 2008) - OverDrive® (www.overdrive.com), the leading
digital book distributor to online retailers, libraries, and schools,
announced today that it will expand its catalog of download audiobooks to
include titles in MP3 format without DRM. Borders, Inc. will be the first
bookseller to offer OverDrive MP3 Audiobooks without DRM at
http://audiobooks.borders.com and at Digital Centers inside select Borders
store locations. OverDrive MP3 Audiobooks will be compatible with nearly
every MP3 player and mobile phone on the market including iPod, Zune,
iPhone, and Creative Labs products.
OverDrive MP3 Audiobooks will go on sale in May at Borders.com with
thousands of best-selling titles from Random House Audio, Blackstone
Audiobooks, Hachette Book Group, Books in Motion, plus dozens of other
publishers. The new catalog of MP3 titles for retail will be added to
OverDrive's catalog of approximately 20,000 DRM-protected digital
audiobooks and over 100,000 eBooks in popular formats.
"OverDrive MP3 Audiobooks will dramatically increase the market for
download spoken word titles through our global retail network," said Erica
Lazzaro, OverDrive Senior Licensing Counsel. "Publishers, authors, and
customers will benefit from MP3 compatibility of audiobooks with millions
of mobile phones and MP3 players including the iPod."
OverDrive MP3 Audiobooks are engineered for ease-of-use, convenient
navigation, and simple transfer to portable players. Long unabridged
audiobooks are divided into parts for easy access by both dial-up and
broadband users, and simple point-and-click transfer to portable players
and burn to CD. OverDrive Media Console, a free software program installed
on more than 2 million PCs, is specifically designed for audiobooks and
includes advanced listening features including book marking and speed
control. OverDrive also plans to release OverDrive Media Console for Mac
in conjunction with the launch of OverDrive MP3 Audiobooks.
Following the Borders.com retail launch in May, a limited selection of
OverDrive MP3 Audiobooks will be added to OverDrive's extensive library
network. OverDrive MP3 Audiobooks for library lending will include
thousands of award-winning titles from Blackstone Audio, Books in Motion,
CSA Word, Audio Evolution, among others.
OverDrive powers download media catalogs at hundreds of online retailers
and libraries, including institutions in New York City, Singapore, London,
Boston, and Toronto. To locate a library in the OverDrive network and find
audio books, eBooks, music, and videos go to www.overdrive.com/search.