"eMusic, the world’s largest retailer of independent music and the second-largest music service after iTunes, announces today that it has added nine new publishers—Simon & Schuster Audio, BBC Audiobooks UK, Reagent Press, Hay House, L.A. Theatre Works, Tantor Media, Phoenix Books, Inc., Listen and Live, Brainsync and Audio Evolution–to its rapidly expanding audio books roster." – News release on the continuing success of eMusic’s DRMless approach.
Other delicious details: We’re not talking minor players here. Philip Roth, shown above, is among the authors whose audio books eMusic is handling.
The news release goes on: "Following the success of Random House’s landmark DRM-free audio book program testing with eMusic, more publishers are moving towards distributing their content in the universally compatible MP3 format. eMusic now offers thousands of audio book titles, including new content from major publishers Penguin, Random House, and Hachette."
"We look forward to testing the DRM-free waters with eMusic," the release quotes Chris Lynch, Executive Vice President & Publisher for Simon & Schuster Audio, "as we believe their customers will be strong audiobook consumers."
Hello, Jeff Bezos? NonDRMed ePub, please, for the Kindle—if not immediately, then in the very near future. You could sell non-ePub books for now and promise customers future versions of their books in a more trustworthy format, ideally minus "protection." eMusic is just doing what you’re already up to with your DRMless MP3 store. You have the leverage to turn publishers around on the DRM issue, both with audio books and e-books.
