SONICblue and Audible.com Make New Rio Players 'AudibleReady'
Business & Technology Editors
VANCOUVER, Wash. and WAYNE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 21, 2001--
Rio 600 and Rio 800 Now Play Audible's Industry-Leading Spoken Audio Content; Users Can Qualify for $70 Rebate with AudibleListener Membership
Rio(R), a division of SONICblue(TM) Incorporated (NASDAQ: SBLU), and Audible, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBL), today announced that Rio 600 and Rio 800 digital audio players can now store and play back audiobooks, audio editions of newspapers and magazines, and more from a library of thousands of hours available at www.audible.com(R). The new Rio 800 128MB model can store as much as 36 hours of Audible's spoken audio, while the Rio 800 and Rio 600 64MB models can store as much as 18 hours of the same content. All models of the Rio 600 and Rio 800 can become AudibleReady(TM) upon activation at audible.com.
A $70.00 rebate is currently being offered to Rio 600 and Rio 800 users who sign up for one year of the AudibleListener(TM) flat-rate monthly membership plan, which provides any two downloadable audiobooks from Audible's selection for $12.95 per month. Users can also select from a number of free downloadable audio titles that demonstrate the quality and breadth of audio available at audible.com. Additionally, users are able to download audio to their Rio 600 and Rio 800 players from audible.com on a per-title basis or through an automatic subscription service that will transfer audio into the players on a recurrent schedule.
"Audible's extensive library of spoken audio content is a great match for our users," said Mark Ireton, vice president of Audio Technology at Rio. "Anyone who owns, or is considering buying a Rio 600 or Rio 800 should explore this added realm of informational and entertainment content."
"Rio has once again raised the bar with the introduction of the AudibleReady Rio 800 and Rio 600 players," said Guy Story, senior vice president of Business Development at Audible, Inc. "We are pleased to deepen our ongoing relationship with SONICblue and build upon the successful promotional and co-marketing packages we created for the Rio 500."
About Audible.com:
Audible.com features daily selected audio content from The Wall Street Journal and daily digests of The New York Times, San Jose Mercury News, Los Angeles Times, and Slate-- all available on subscription basis in time for the morning drive to work each day-- as well as The Economist, The Industry Standard, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Scientific American and C-SPAN. The site also offers a powerful collection of audiobook best sellers and classics by authors such as Stephen King, John Grisham, Frank McCourt, Jon Krakauer, Scott Adams, Mary Higgins Clark, James Redfield, James Patterson, William Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson and Jane Austen. There are also speeches, lectures, language learning and on-demand radio programs including Marketplace, All Things Considered, Car Talk, Fresh Air and This American Life. The programs at audible.com are available for PC-based playback and on-the-go listening using the AudibleReady(TM) Rio 600 and Rio 800 portable digital audio players offered by the Rio division of SONICblue Incorporated.
About Rio (www.riohome.com):
Rio, a division of SONICblue, is a pioneer and acknowledged leader in digital audio. Focused on delivering a family of digital audio products designed for various lifestyles, Rio is dedicated to engineering superior portable, home and car digital audio products for consumers.
About SONICblue Incorporated (www.SONICblue.com) |
