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The news broke today that Amazon has bought Audible.com. I think this is pretty exciting as I do love both of these companies and am interested in seeing where this leads.

I hate going to brick and mortar stores. That’s one of the reasons why I love Amazon so much. It’s so much more convenient to shop from home and have it delivered to your house. You can even have your items at your door the next day via Amazon Prime (though, I don’t personally use the service at this moment). And what’s even better is that Amazon is pretty price-competative. You can find some great deals on there. I actually have a package in my closet sitting and waiting to be a birthday gift for someone later this year. It’s been in my closet since November. I got such an amazing deal on it that I had to buy it right then and there and just hold on to the package for the many months until I could deliver it. Very, very good deals. And they have practically everything. And once more, they recently opened a new Amazon mp3 Store which ofference nice competition for iTunes. Lots of really cheap and quality content there. I wrote a full review of the Amazon mp3 Store a few months back.

I use Audible.com all the time. In fact I subscribe to them and receive 2 audiobook credits every month. Audible really is responsible for taking my book-reading level from practically 0 to at least 24 full books per year. I know some people say that it doesn’t count since I’m not reading a physical book, but I’ve always learned more by hearing and/or seeing things rather than just sitting down and reading text. And I love that I can be out anywhere and be consuming a book while going about my normal business. Currently I’m reading CS Lewis’ “Miracles” and next on the list is George Orwell’s “1984.” If you want an Audible referral, just comment me here with an email address and I’ll send it right along.

So, I know Amazon is a great company and that Audible has been a great resource for books… I look forward to seeing what they can do together. It’s pretty clear that there may be some new happenings with the Amazon Kindle featuring better audiobook support in the near future.

The one thing I have to wonder about, though, is iTunes. For years Audible has supplied iTunes with its audiobooks for the iTunes Store. I assume that current contracts will continue, but what may happen in the future since iTunes and Amazon are direct competators in the digital music, and now audiobook, market? I suppose we shall have to wait and see.

Read the full press release here.

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