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This article presents a review of the current state of the quickly emerging digital audiobook market for libraries. The growing end-user groups exist for digital audiobook content and services include commuters and other travelers, exercise enthusiasts and people with print impairments. The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped has been the major supplier of recreational talking books for U.S. citizens with print impairments. Although several strong commercial digital audiobook services have been established in the North American market, it remains a rough time for the industry, with official an de facto standards and best practices still emerging in almost every facet of the business. One of the mainstream suppliers of digital audiobooks is Audible.com. It is designed to meet the needs of the individual reader. However, it welcomes business from libraries. Digital audiobooks come in a proprietary version of MP3 with an .AA file extension. Users can listen to content on certain compatible MP3 players. OverDrive launched its service in November 2004. As of May, its master collection contained more than 1,770 titles. Brilliance Audio was the company's first major supplier of digital audiobooks.

This article reports that netLibrary has teamed with Recorded Books LLC to create a new program for delivering audio books to libraries through the World Wide Web. Key elements of the program include an innovative pricing structure, unlimited access, the ability for patrons to download to a range of portable devices, and a technology solution that supports download via broadband or dial-up capabilities. Library users will be able to search for, preview, check out, and listen to audio books via the Internet and the netLibrary platform. They can focus their search on audio titles only or take advantage of search functionality that integrates audio titles with all electronic content their library may have in its netLibrary collection. Web-based collections of Recorded Books titles will be available for purchase through either Recorded Books or netLibrary and will be delivered via the netLibrary interface. Library patrons will be able to search for audio books just as they would for any type of electronic content in their library's netLibrary collection. In addition, libraries can view demonstrations of the program upon request, which will be formally lanced in December 2004.