Penguin Withdraws AudioBooks from eMusic
By Jane • Oct 22nd, 2007 • Category: Publishing News • •One step forward and two steps back can describe Penguin’s path toward digital media. Last month, eMusic launched a DRM free audiobook program. Penguin Audio was participating to the tune of 150 titles. This month, its withdrawn from the program due to “concerns about digital piracy.” Penguin doesn’t state that there has been piracy only concerns.
"At this moment we're not going to have our titles on eMusic or with anyone else who sells non-DRM until the landscape shakes out and we feel very comfortable and confident that our titles will not be pirated," said Dick Heffernan, publisher of Penguin Audio.
Random House publishing hasn’t found any pirated eMusic and has found the eMusic sales “really encouraging.”
According to the Times article, eMusic is selling more than 500 audiobooks per day which is double its forecasted sales.
The fact is that there will always be pirates and no amount of DRM is going to stop it. It might stall sales though.
Via NY Times.
Jane is a long time romance reader whose passion is, you guessed it, reading. Jane also does not like to talk about herself in the third person, but apparently this is the way that this biography thing works (although in a true biography, someone else would be writing this blurb). Anyway, currently Jane loves urban fantasy authors Patricia Briggs and Ilona Andrews. She's really excited about this year's crop of historicals including Joanna Bourne's The Spymaster's Lady and Sherry Thomas' Private Arrangements and the upcoming Loretta Chase Her Scandalous Ways.
She's looking for a good contemporary author. Email her with a recommendation!
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