Physical Audio Books Are Now On The Market

Remember the old says when music was available on CD's and even cassettes? Remember when you actually had to go down to the music store to purchase the latest record release? Well, whilst things have certainly come a long way since then, the idea of a CD is still very much alive. In fact, it is alive to the point where audio book publishers have actually seized the opportunity to utilize the transfer medium for their own products.

Whilst this would apparently go against logic (cost efficiency), it appears to be working to some extent for the audio book industry. Whether it is the idea that people prefer to have a physical copy of the "book" with them, or whether it is just more convenient to buy such a product instead of downloading it (sometimes audio books can be hundreds of MB's), I guess we will never know the true reason. 

But more importantly than identifying the underlying reasons for physical format audio book success is the question of whether or not these levels of selling can be sustained. Ultimately, it all depends on whether or not the industry can push the product with enough oomph to keep the momentum going. 

Industry Insiders Believe In The Physical Format.

Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the CD versus internet distribution models is the opinion of the highest ranking executives at both music and audio book publishing houses. For many years, and to this very day, they have maintained two things:

1. Internet sales will increase, but CD sales will level off.
2. There will always be demand for physical format products.

To us industry watchers, the reason for this persistent confidence is not immediately clear. However, what is particularly transparent is that the statistics out there at the moment all point towards the two points above being 100% correct. It does seem that whilst internet sales continue to build steam and climb the sales ladders, CD sales are not falling all that quickly.

Only one thing is for certain in this strange battle of the formats. It is that the future of both the music industry and the audio book industry is open to discussion, and the formatting with which we receive music and dictated text could end up changing at any time.