NEWARK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Audible, Inc., the world’s largest seller and producer of downloadable audiobooks and other spoken-word entertainment, today announced the release of ‘Clips,’ a functionality that allows listeners to save favorite short passages and excerpts from Audible audiobooks they’ve downloaded for later listening, and also enables the sharing of these passages using iOS and Windows, and will soon be enabled on Android. With ‘Clips,’ customers can start conversations with friends about the audiobooks they are listening to; listeners can also now go back to specific locations in an audiobook or dramatic moments in a specific performance that spoke to them.
“Audible customers are book lovers whose print books are likely to be full of their own annotations and underlines,” said Don Katz, founder and CEO of Audible. ‘Clips’ now gives them the ability to memorialize their own personal reactions to narrated text and performance within the Audible app.”
“Listeners also love talking about books, authors, and narrators they are passionate about, and ‘Clips’ makes it easier for our customers to start meaningful conversations with their friends and family directly from their audiobook whenever inspiration strikes!” added Katz. “We are also excited to launch this new, easy-to-use tool that authors and narrators can use to raise awareness of their audiobooks.”
Before ‘Clips,’ literary quotes could only be shared from ebooks or transcribed from print books. For the first time today, audiobook listeners will be able to share pieces of audio content with their social network. Clips can be shared across multiple destinations including Facebook, Twitter, SMS, e-mail, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and more.
To use ‘Clips,’ listeners simply tap on the clips icon within the app whenever they come across a particularly interesting or shareable moment while listening to their Audible audiobook. The tool then allows users to select up to 45 seconds of audio that can easily be edited, saved and shared. Friends can quickly listen to a quote or excerpt that inspired the sender without having to create an account or download an app. When listening to the clip, the recipient is also given the opportunity to share it and purchase the full audiobook. With a 30-day membership trial at Audible, new listeners can enjoy their first audiobook for free.
Audible invented and commercialized the first digital audio player in 1997, and has since been at the forefront of the explosively growing audiobook download segment. Audible continues that tradition of innovation today by becoming the first and only provider to offer the ability to save and share passages of audiobook content. In 2015, listeners around the world downloaded 1.6 billion hours of audio from Audible outlets; Audible members downloaded an average of more than 17 books over the course of the year. Two thirds of new Audible members are first-time audiobook buyers.
ABOUT AUDIBLE, INC.
Audible, Inc., an Amazon.com, Inc. subsidiary (NASDAQ:AMZN), is the leading provider of premium digital spoken audio information and entertainment on the Internet, offering customers a new way to enhance and enrich their lives every day. Audible was created to unleash the emotive music in language and the habituating power and utility of verbal expression. Audible content includes more than 250,000 audio programs from leading audiobook publishers, broadcasters, entertainers, magazine and newspaper publishers, and business information providers. Audible is also the preeminent provider of spoken-word audio products for Apple’s iTunes® Store.