Downloads for audio books are becoming increasingly popular. Over the first half of 2008 the turnover generated through audio books increased by 12% as compared to the first six months in 2007. In the period from January to June this year Germans download audio books to the value of 3.2 million Euros down onto their personal computers. The number of pieces downloaded increased by ten percent to 320,000. This was reported by BITKOM in the run-up to the book fair in Frankfurt which will open its doors on October 15th.
BITKOM based the above figures on studies carried out by the Association for research on consumption (GfK).
“The web made audio books more attractive to many people“, says BITKOM vice president Achim Berg. User may listen to files immediately after downloading them to their personal computers. Even the transfer to a portable MP3 player is possible.
At the same time prices for electronic books are becoming increasingly competitive: on average one audio book currently costs 10 Euros whereas two years ago the price was still 11.64 Euros. According to BITKOM, in future besides audio books there will be more and more newspapers and magazines but also contents for training and advice be available in the form of audio downloads from the internet. 