Audiobooks are usually distributed on CDs, cassette tapes, or digital formats
(e.g., MP3 and Windows Media Audio).
The term "books on tape" is frequently used as a synonym for audiobooks, but cassette
tapes are no longer the dominant medium for audiobooks. In 2005, Cassette-tape sales
made up roughly 16% of the audiobook market, with CDs sales accounting for 74% of the
market, and downloadable audio books accounting for approximately 9%. In the United States,
the most recent sales survey (performed by the Audio Publishers' Association in the summer
of 2006 for the year 2005) estimated the industry to be worth 871 million US dollars.
Current industry estimates hover at around two billion US dollars per year.
Most new popular titles put out by the major publishers are available in audio book
format simultaneously with publication of the hardcover edition. There are approximately
25,000 current titles on cassette, CD, or downloadable format.
Unabridged audiobooks are word for word readings of a book, while abridged audio
books have text edited out by the abridger. Audiobooks also come as fully dramatized
versions of the printed book, sometimes calling upon a complete cast, music, and
sound effects. Each spring, the Audie Awards are given to the top nominees for
performance and production in several
genre categories.
There are quite a few radio programs serializing books, sometimes read by the author or
sometimes by an actor, most of them on the BBC.
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