Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp. are among several famous names
combining to invest $11 million in Audible
Inc. Audible specializes in the secure delivery of spoken audio over
the Internet.
Joining Intel and Microsoft in the investment were New York Life Insurance
Co., CSK Venture Capital and C. Blair Asset Management.
Audible offers a variety of audio for download at its Web site. Users can
store the titles on their PC for playback by an Audible-ready device or by
computer. The Web site carries select articles from The Wall Street
Journal and The New York Times as well as audio books from a
number of best-selling authors.
The Audible Mobile Player holds two hours of audio and the
recently-introduced MobilePlayer-Plus can store up to seven hours of
programming. The format is also supported by Diamond Multimedia’s Rio PMP
300 and will soon be supported by Windows CE-enabled palmtop computers.
“This financing and the industry leaders behind it further ratifies our
service as the leader in premium Internet-delivered audio,” said Andy
Huffmann, Audible’s president and chief executive officer.
“It also provides us with the working capital and strategic partnerships to
extend our leadership position far into the future.”