India launces audio books into a new era

Reado, a website of one of India&rsquos biggest audio books company, Think Ink Media Inc, was launched Saturday at the World Book Fair 2012 with 100-plus leading book titles which have been converted into downloadable audio books.

An offshoot of Eagle Home Entertainment, Reado retails its audio books from over 200 stores across India which includes online retailing through Flipkart.com and leading books stores like Crossword, Landmark, Reliance Time Out, Om Book Shop, Media Mart and WHSmith.

Some of popular audio book titles available for download in the fiction segment includes ‘The Immortals of Meluha’ by Amish, ‘Losing My Virginity and Other Dumb Ideas’ by Madhuri Banerjee’ and ‘God Save the Dork’ by Sidin Vadukut. 

Reado’s CEO and co-founder, Sumit Suneja said: ‘We believe the future of reading is listening. Therefore, in addition to the audio books on CDs, we are providing convenient direct digital downloads. We are providing a retail platform for not just our in-house productions but also to other external productions, starting with audio books by international audio book giants Gildan Media and Brilliance Audio.’ 

One of the partners of Reado, Ankit Nagori, vice president (categories), Flipkart.com said: ‘Reado has certainly kick-started the audio books business here in India and the market has an immense potential to evolve.’

Content delivery from world-class narrators via a simple user interface would become the pillars for Reado’s success in time to come, he said. 

The audio books are available in various formats like directly mobile phone downloads, MP3 downloads, IPAD, Iphone, Android and other tablet devices, making listening easier.