Amazon buys audiobook vendor Audible
The tie between spoken-books merchant Audible and iTunes has always been strong. Audible's catalog forms the backbone of iTunes' audio book offerings, and there's a history of Audible offering iTunes-exclusive content. So it came as a surprise to me when Amazon bought Audible for $300 million, announced today. I'd imagine that the deal includes provisions for Apple's existing contracts, but I'm curious as to how this will affect future negotiations. The Amazon/Audible deal is projected to close in the 2nd quarter of this year.
We've covered Amazon's entry into DRM-free music sales previously on TUAW.
