Amazon.com Launches Audible.com Content

It can't hurt to have Amazon.com on your side. Audio content site Audible.com (http://www.audible.com) said today that Amazon.com has introduced Audible content on its site.

Amazon.com will have more than 22,000 hours of spoken audio content available for immediate download.

"It is Amazon.com's never-ending quest to help customers find, discover and buy the best of anything," said Joe Galli, president and COO of Amazon.com. "Our alliance with audible.com will enable millions of people who enjoy audio content to connect with outstanding entertainment as well as high-quality news and information."

The spoken audio programming can be purchased online, then downloaded or streamed for playback on a PC or on any "AudibleReady" portable digital player.

Audible, it should be noted, sells all of its content—a rarity among content sites.

"Here is an opportunity to bring the greatest names and titles in the world of spoken audio entertainment and information to Amazon.com's discriminating audience," said Donald Katz, founder and chairman of Audible, Inc. "Beyond immediate access to Audible content via streaming or downloading, our new Amazon.com customers will have the flexibility to listen at their PCs or take the audio programs away to enjoy in the car or while exercising."

Audible.com has audiobooks (including bestselling authors such as Stephen King, John Grisham, Mary Higgins Clark), classics (by William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Emily Dickinson and Mark Twain) and a whole bunch of news and magazine titles from publications like The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, San Jose Mercury News, the Industry Standard, The Economist, Forbes and more.

It also recently started producing original programming with its RobinWilliams@audible.com, a weekly half-hour series starring (who else) Robin Williams.