The Playaway

The Playaway

Aug 03 2005

Findaway World, a privately held company based in Cleveland, OH., will launch the Playaway in October, a new product billed as the first "self-playing digital audio book." The Playaway is a ready-for-action digital audio player sized smaller than a deck of cards that comes preloaded with an audiobook, eliminating the need for consumers to download a title. It runs on one battery and is packaged with a pair of ear bud headphones. Each Playaway will have a cover that mirrors a traditional audiobook's packaging so it can be shelved in a retail environment. Findaway aims to target consumers who don't want to download a file and can't afford an iPod or a computer.

If that is the case their price point of USA $34.99 per Playaway seems a little steep (compared, for example, with Audible's membership package which includes 2 audio books per month for $22 or one book for $15 - with an MP3 player for $66 (or get one free by signing up for a one year membership).  Personally, I would have thought that if there is a market for this product it would be more likely to be people with high disposable incomes looking for the novelty of an audio book - for example airport business travelers.

To date, Findaway World has signed agreements with HarperAudio, Simon & Schuster Audio, Brilliance Audio, Time Warner AudioBooks and Penton Overseas as content providers and is in discussions with several others. It aims to offer 40 titles at launch including Winning by Jack Welch, The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis and 1776 by David McCullough. The Playaway can hold up to 20 hours of material and has features including digital bookmarking and the ability to control the speed of the narrator's voice.

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