AudibleReady Digisette Duo-Aria Hits Retail Channel for Immediate Availability

Business Wire, Jan 5, 2001

Business/Technology Editors

CES 2001

Booth No. 6838

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 5, 2001

Audible, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBL) and Digisette, L.L.C. today announced that the Digisette Duo-Aria digital audio player is currently shipping to selected outlets for retail sale. Audible(R) is the leading provider of Internet-delivered spoken audio (www.audible.com(TM)) for PC-based listening or mobile playback on AudibleReady(R) portable digital audio players.

Featuring breakthrough functionality and design that plays in virtually every standard cassette tape unit, the Digisette Duo-Aria plays back downloadable audiobooks and an enormous collection of other digital audio titles from audible.com, including audio digests of newspapers and magazines, as well as digital music. The handheld digital player can also be used as a stand-alone portable audio playback device. With the familiar shape and size of a standard audiocassette tape and 32 MB of internal memory, the Duo-Aria has the capability to store and play a minimum of 4 hours of Audible's downloadable premium spoken audio titles or approximately 30 minutes of MP3-quality music.

The player also has the capability of being upgraded to 96 MB of memory via removable MMC flash memory cards.

The Duo-Aria is able to play back the thousands of hours of digital spoken audio that are always available at audible.com. Using a desktop or laptop PC for the downloading and transfer of audio content to the Duo-Aria, users will be able to enjoy audio titles on-demand as individual selections or automatically via a variety of monthly subscriptions from audible.com. The Audible collection includes a high-quality collection of audiobooks, public radio programs, business news, information and entertainment programming, as well as AudibleOriginal(TM) series like RobinWilliams@audible.com(TM), comedy selections from Greg Proops and Steve Marmel, and the just launched In Bed With Susie Bright.

"We are proud to deliver to market the AudibleReady Digisette Duo-Aria," said Jeff deGracia, vice president of Marketing at Digisette, L.L.C. "We have worked in close collaboration with Audible to reach this exciting phase of the product launch, and look forward to furthering our important relationship."

"The Digisette Duo-Aria is a significant addition to the collection of AudibleReady portable digital audio devices and the first example of licensing from Audible's patent portfolio," added Guy Story, chief scientist at Audible, Inc. "With a generous rebate for our customers using the Duo-Aria and extensive experience in new product launches, we welcome the Duo-Aria to the market with hopes for great success."

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, as well as The Economist, The Industry Standard, Forbes and Harvard Business Review. 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 and on-demand public radio programs including Morning Edition(R), All Things Considered(R), Talk of the Nation(R), This American Life, Marketplace, Car Talk, Fresh Air and Science Friday.

Digisette Duo-Aria users who sign up for the FrequentListener(TM) membership program at audible.com will receive a $100 rebate from Audible, further lowering the cost of listening to Audible audio on the Duo-Aria.

About Audible, Inc.

Audible(R) (www.audible.com(TM)) is the Internet's largest, most diverse provider of premium spoken audio services for content download or playback on personal computers or AudibleReady(TM) mobile devices. Audible has more than 26,000 hours of audio programs and 160 content partners that include leading audiobook publishers, broadcasters, magazine and newspaper publishers and business information providers. Audible.com is Amazon.com's (www.amazon.com) exclusive provider of spoken word products for downloading or streaming via the Web. Additionally, the Company is strategically aligned with Random House, Inc., to pioneer the first-ever imprint to produce spoken word content specifically suited for digital distribution, Random House Audible. Among the Company's key business partners are Casio Inc., Compaq Computer Corporation, SONICblue Incorporated's Rio Audio Group, Microsoft Corporation, Royal Philips Electronics, RealNetworks, Inc., Texas Instruments and VoiceAge Corp.

About Digisette -- Progressive Products for a Changing World

Digisette, L.L.C. is a dynamic consumer electronics company that brings leading-edge technology products to the global market. Our commitment rests in providing high quality product innovations while remaining at the forefront of consumer needs.

True to this vision, Digisette is the first company to uniquely maximize the benefits of today's digital audio revolution with the Duo line of digital audio players. The Duo can be used as both a listening device and also be loaded in a standard cassette player, allowing consumers to enjoy their favorite digital audio wherever they go.