The Pennsylvania State University and Audible Team up to Make Audiobook Downloads Available to Students and Faculty On- and Off-Campus
Nj Audible/Penn State via BizWire
WAYNE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 29, 2004--
University Becomes First in the Nation to Offer Students and
Faculty a Service that Brings Literature and Learning
to Students' Ears
Audible, Inc. (OTCBB:ADBL), the leading provider of digitally
delivered spoken word audio, and The Pennsylvania State University
announced today they have teamed up to offer the audible.com(R)
Internet audio service at special pricing to Penn State students,
faculty, and staff through Penn State's Computer Store (a division of
Information Technology Services). This partnership, at no cost to Penn
State, will launch by Friday, May 7. It allows members of the Penn
State community to purchase individual Audible(R) audiobook and
subscription titles at a 20% discount and the opportunity to join the
AudibleListener(R) monthly membership service on a free trial basis.
Many of Audible's more than 20,000 titles are, or relate to, the
non-textbook reading materials assigned in most college-level liberal
arts and business curricula. With today's college students
enthusiastically seeking Internet-based study resources and tools,
audible.com brings print works to life, is easy to use, inexpensive,
and offers the freedom to burn one's own audio CDs or transfer digital
files to portable MP3 players, such as the Apple iPod or one of the
more than thirty MP3 players or personal digital assistants (PDAs)
compatible with Audible's service (www.audible.com/devices). Students,
faculty, and staff may also purchase AudibleReady(R) devices from Penn
State's Computer Store at two University Park, PA, locations or online
at http://computerstore.psu.edu/.
Discounted Audible audiobooks can be purchased by students who
would like to save time and money while expanding the options for
when, and how, they access reading material. Audible helps students
save time by enabling them to listen to course-related material while
on the bus, in the gym or on the go. Audible's more than 100
categories of literate listening include classic works of literature,
histories, language instruction programs and Audible's audio editions
of magazines such as Scientific American or Harvard Business Review
and others, as well as audiobooks by political and business leaders,
historic speeches, author and poet readings and other hard-to-find
audio.
"College students have been telling us for some time how helpful
the Audible service has been as they pursue their studies. Audible can
be used effectively by any student with Internet access, and by any
student who has -- or wants to have -- an MP3 player or PDA for
listening on the move. We think the demand for this type of content is
there, waiting for the right delivery service," said Matthew Fine,
senior vice president, Enterprise Development. "Penn State has already
demonstrated critical leadership in the area of partnering with online
media companies and is paving the way for universities around the
country to create a legitimate marketplace for online media
distribution."
"Penn State Information Technology Services (ITS) has an ongoing
mission to bring legally-obtainable digital content to our students,
faculty, and staff. We feel that Audible's content is relevant to many
in our community and is delivered in a flexible, portable format that
helps fit literature and information into busy lifestyles," added
Janda Hankinson, Director of ITS Entrepreneurial Services.
About Audible.com
Audible.com, recently named the best consumer Web service by
CNet.com, and one of the "Best of Today's Web" by PC World features
daily audio editions of The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times
-- available on a subscription basis in time for the morning drive to
work each day -- as well as Forbes, Harvard Business Review,
Scientific American and Fast Company. The site offers a powerful
collection of audiobook best sellers and classics by authors such as
Tom Clancy, Stephen King, John Grisham, Janet Evanovich, James
Patterson, the Dalai Lama, David McCullough, Stephen Hawking, William
Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson and Jane Austen. There are also speeches,
lectures, and on-demand radio programs including Marketplace, All
Things Considered, Car Talk, Fresh Air and This American Life, and
original shows such as RobinW...@audible.com. All of the programs
at audible.com are available for computer-based playback, burning to
audio CD, and on-the-go listening using numerous AudibleReady(R)
portable digital audio players offered by leading consumer electronics
and computer manufacturers.
About Audible, Inc.
Audible(R) (www.audible.com(R)) is the Internet's leading premium
spoken audio source. Content from Audible is downloaded and played
back on personal computers, CDs, or AudibleReady(R) computer-based
mobile devices. Audible has more than 40,000 hours of audio programs
from more than 135 content partners that include leading audiobook
publishers, broadcasters, entertainers, magazine and newspaper
publishers and business information providers. Audible.com is
Amazon.com's and the Apple iTunes Music Store's pre-eminent provider
of spoken word products for downloading or streaming via the Web.
Additionally, the Company is strategically aligned with Random House,
Inc. in the first-ever imprint to produce spoken word content
specifically suited for digital distribution, Random House Audible.
Among the Company's key business relationships are Apple Corp.,
Creative Labs, Gateway, Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company, Microsoft
Corporation, palmOne, Inc., PhatNoise Inc., RealNetworks, Inc., Rio
Audio, Roxio, Inc., Sony Electronics, Texas Instruments Inc., and
VoiceAge Corp.
About The Pennsylvania State University
Penn State is a multi-campus public land-grant university that
improves the lives of the people of Pennsylvania, the nation, and the
world through integrated, high-quality programs in teaching, research,
and service. Information Technology Services (ITS) is a service
organization within the University that supports the efforts of
students, faculty and staff with information technology tools,
services and infrastructure. ITS additionally provides cost-effective
information technology resources to foster continuous improvement in
Penn State's ability to fulfill its diverse mission. For more about
ITS, go to http://its.psu.edu/about.html. To learn more about the
Pennsylvania State University, see http://www.psu.edu/ur/about.html.
University press resources can be found at
http://www.psu.edu/ur/presspass/.
Audible, www.audible.com, Audible Otis, AudibleListener, and
AudibleReady are registered trademarks of Audible, Inc. and all are
part of the family of Audible, Inc. trademarks.
Other product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks
of their respective owners.
This press release contains information about Audible, Inc. that
is not historical fact and may be deemed to contain forward-looking
statements about the company. Actual results may differ materially
from those anticipated in any forward-looking statements as a result
of certain risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation,
Audible's limited operating history, history of losses, uncertain
market for its services, and its inability to license or produce
compelling audio content and other risks and uncertainties detailed in
the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings.