The following is a price and availability comparison of the audio ebook format (from Audible.com) to the cassette and CD audio formats. For sake of time and sanity, the retail list prices for the CD and cassette formats were first searched for at Amazon.com. When a format was found not to be listed at Amazon.com, the publisher's website was then searched. Only prices of the same abridgment were used-- if the audio ebook was abridged, then only the prices of the abridged cassette and CD recordings were used, if available. A full title list with prices is available for download.

The three Rochester-area public libraries participating in the study purchased 178 audio ebook titles between March and September 2001. Of those titles, 130 were unique. 90 of the titles were unabridged (69%) and 40 of them were abridged (31%).

Price Ranges & Averages:

Total number of titles (herein "core titles") available in all 3 formats: 50 (38%)

11 (8%) audio ebook titles were neither available on cassette or CD. The audio ebook version for these titles was the only audio version currently available:

• The Awakening by Kate Chopin (1994)
• Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results by Stephen C. Lundin, Ph.D., Harry Paul, and John Christensen (2000)
• Jefferson and Monticello: The Biography of a Builder by Jack McLaughlin (1990)
• Far Appalachia: Following the New River North by Noah Adams (2001)
• Roads: Driving America's Great Highways by Larry McMurtry (2000)
• The Nudists on the Late Shift and Other True Tales of Silicon Valley by Po Bronson (1999)
• Yeats is Dead! by Roddy Doyle, Conor McPherson, Gene Kerrigan, et al. (2001)
• A Future Perfect: The Challenge and Hidden Promise of Globalization by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge (2001)
• Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas by Tom Robbins (1994)
• Carry Me Across the Water by Ethan Canin (2001)
• The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession by Susan Orlean (2001)

Unfortunately, we do not know how many times a title was desired in the audio ebook format, but it was not available.

45 (35%) audio ebook titles were not available currently on CD.

For 22 (17%) titles, the only CD version available was abridged, while an unabridged version was available as an audio ebook.

Overall: Audio ebooks are clearly the cheapest of the three formats. A significant collection development savings could be realized if the audio ebook were purchased instead of the cassette and/or CD formats. However, this pricing does not take into consideration the following costs and savings:

Costs:

• time to download titles from Audible's servers (increases with heavy Internet traffic)
• time to download titles onto MP3 players in response to patron requests
• purchase, maintenance and replacement costs of MP3 players
• costs of replacement batteries for MP3 players
• staff time needed to demonstrate to patrons how to use MP3 players

Savings:

• no replacement costs for lost, damaged or stolen cassettes and CDs
• no shelf space needed to house and display boxes of cassettes and CDs