eMusic Launches Audiobook Subscription Service

When Tamir Koch, CEO of TriPlay, bought eMusic last fall, he acknowledged that he was primarily interested in looking to marry eMusic’s song library with TriPlay’s cloud service. He knew that eMusic also owned a digital audiobook business, but he didn’t anticipate that developing a new downloadable audio service would be a priority. After looking into the business and the explosive growth that downloadable audio has experienced in the last few years, however, Koch decided that the market was ripe for a new entrant. As a result, in mid-July eMusic launched eStories, a audiobook subscription service.

In entering the downloadable audio business, Koch said he sees the Audible/Amazon combination not as an 800-pound gorilla but as a “two-ton gorilla.” To get the attention of the audiobook consumer, eStories has priced its lowest-price package at $11.99 for one audiobook per month that can be played on five devices. Its most popular package is the $21.99 monthly offer that gives customers two audiobooks per month that can be played on seven devices.