Audible.com and YES24 Launch Audio Download Service in Korea

Business Wire, Jan 6, 2004

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

WAYNE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 6, 2004

Audible, Inc. (OTC BB: ADBL)

Korea's Leading Online Bookseller and Audible Inc. Announce

Partnership to Bring Audible's 34,000 Hours

of Spoken Audio Programming To Korea

Audible, Inc. (OTC BB: ADBL), the leading provider of digitally delivered spoken word audio, and YES24, Inc., Korea's largest online book, music, video/DVD and software retailer, today announced the launch of YESAudible, an international marketing and distribution initiative. YES24 has 2.47 million registered users buying more than 25,000 books every day - more than Korea's largest conventional bookstore.

Today YES24 launched its YESAudible service, with links to YESAudible, the audio download portal, appearing on the www.yes24.com home page. Web surfers who click on these icons are taken to the YESAudible main Web page (www.yes24.com/yesaudible), where detailed links introduce, explain, and promote Audible's English-language spoken audio downloads and the YESAudible service.

YES24 has linked its extensive foreign book database to Audible's content library. Korean Web users searching YES24's foreign book section will quickly see if the book they want is available in downloadable audio from Audible. Customers searching for a book that is also in Audible's library of 6,000 titles will see two icons next to the book jacket - one linking to a special landing page at Audible.com and one linking to a 15 minute free streaming audio sample of the book, including a short introduction in Korean.

YES24 is launching a media campaign to promote the YESAudible service: targeted emails, banner ads, and newsletters to its foreign book customer base will introduce the YESAudible service and promote the benefits of Audible membership. YES24 is also developing co-marketing agreements with other highly trafficked Korean Web sites to extend the reach of the Audible service in Korea.

"We are pleased to introduce our customers to the Audible experience, enabling them to legally download and listen to over 34,000 hours of audiobooks and audio editions of leading English newspapers, magazines, radio programs, and original shows " said Mr. Chung Sang-Woo, co-CEO of YES24. "Our desire to partner with Audible Inc. reflects YES24's commitment to being Korea's leading Internet-based retailer of premium, value-added content and offering this innovative content in ways that are unencumbered by the economics of traditional retail stores."

"Joining forces with YES24 is an important step forward in extending the Audible brand in Asia. YES24's customers will now be able to listen to their favorite English content at their desktop or laptop computer, or enjoy full mobility by burning a CD-ROM or using an AudibleReady portable device such as Apple's iPod or Audible's Otis MP3 player," said Donald Katz, Chairman & CEO, Audible, Inc. "These mobile options will enable YES24's customers to listen to the English programs of their choice, in the car, on the bus or subway, at the gym, or wherever they desire."

"Korea has experienced explosive growth in its broadband Internet population, with high-speed lines now reaching significantly more than half of all homes with Internet access," stated Ken Balick, President, RockBridge Global Advisors, who is assisting with Audible's international expansion. "The combination of Audible's unsurpassed leadership in providing spoken audio programs that entertain and inform anywhere, anytime, and YES24's dominant position as Korea's leading online bookstore, represents an extraordinary opportunity to extend Audible's presence into the world's highest broadband penetration market," concluded Mr. Balick.

About Audible.com

Audible.com, recently named the best entertainment software in the Internet by CNet.com (June 2002), and one of the "Best of Today's Web" by PC World (August 2002) features daily audio editions of The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times -- available on a subscription basis in time for the morning drive to work each day--as well as Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Scientific American and Fast Company. The site offers a powerful collection of audiobook best sellers and classics by authors such as Tom Clancy, Stephen King, John Grisham, Mary Higgins Clark, James Patterson, the Dalai Lama, David McCullough, Stephen Hawking, William Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson and Jane Austen. There are also speeches, lectures, and on-demand radio programs including Marketplace, All Things Considered, Car Talk, Fresh Air and This American Life, and original shows such as RobinWilliams@audible.com. All of the programs at audible.com are available for computer-based playback, burning to audio CD, and on-the-go listening using numerous AudibleReady(TM) portable digital audio players offered by leading consumer electronics and computer manufacturers.

About YES24.com:

YES24.com is Korea's largest Internet bookstore, selling over 20,000 books per day. Founded in 1988, and growing over 150% annually, YES24 has 2.5 million registered users and is the nation's #1 online book seller based on market share, revenue, and traffic. In 2002 YES24 sold over $3.4 million of foreign books in the Korean market. Additionally, YES24 offers a wide range of multimedia products including music, movies, and games. Utilizing Korea's position as home to one of the world's most advanced broadband networks, YES24 has developed numerous innovative features to its online service, including video clips that introduce books and provide author interviews and its unique "Open Inside" service enabling customers to peruse up to 20 pages of a book before buying it.