The demographics of the audiobook industry dictate that player manufacturers should be paying attention to them: they are educated, affluent and inclined to spend lavishly on the “toys” they deem cool. The average audiobook listener earns 25 percent more than the non-listener. The audiobook fan is college educated and tends to hold professional or managerial positions—they are the shapers of public opinion. The audio fan spends a lot of time on the Internet and is very comfortable downloading the latest tunes—and the latest bestseller by Tom Clancy, John Grisham or Nora Roberts.

The audiobook industry grew up in the late 1980s, when car manufacturers started installing cassette players into every dashboard. Suddenly, people had a way to break up the monotony of drive-time. And, as those same people migrated to the suburbs and beyond—and commutes got progressively longer—audiobooks became a truly life-enduring force for many millions of consumers. As technology has progressed, audiobook formats have transitioned from cassette to CD to MP3-CD to WMA and MP3 downloads. Unfortunately, CE manufacturers have been focused on music rather than audiobooks, and as a result, playback on devices has been a frustrating experience for some audiobook consumers.

Spreading the Word

How do you drive more than 23 million audiobook fans to your brand? How do you build loyalty and word-of-mouth sales growth? By realizing that the needs of audiobook listeners are different than the needs of music listeners, and providing what they want.

Standards have been developed to define a seamless audiobook listening experience for consumers and are compatible with multiple digital audio formats such as downloadable file audio formats as well as other fixed media or solid state formats such as MP3-CD and flash memory. The standards require that publishers and CE manufacturers include “must have” features such as “autobookmarking” essential for listening to audiobooks. By utilizing these standards, audio publishers and hardware manufacturers can ensure that the audiobook listener experience—with both current and future playback devices—is easy and consistent.

The Audio Publishers Association (APA) and the Mobile Electronics Spoken Word Committee (R6 WG11) of CEA recently ratified open non-proprietary standards to set production guidelines for both the audiobook and CE industries. This past summer, the APA encouraged both industries to start using the standard. Audiobook publishers already are encoding thousands of titles with the “table of contents” files that will help smart players navigate through all those hours of listening.

Complying with the standards for audiobooks, CEA-2003-B and CEA-2004 is fairly easy. For most players, it’s simply a firmware issue, adding lines of code to the instruction set. By adding that functionality, it will allow you to use the Audiobook Compatible logo developed by CEA. That logo on your packaging, player and/or user manual will tell those 23 million consumers that you “get it” and that you want their business. That simple message will generate additional player sales and enhance your bottom line.

For information about ordering a copy of the standard or applying for the certification logo program, visit www.audiopub.org/standards.