304:(BoT), but that Recorded Books focused more on the quality of its sound recordings than BoT did. Six years later in a 1995 article, it was reported Recorded Books had produced 1,600 books. In 2004, it was reported that of Recorded Books' 800 new unabridged titles per year, 650 are released to libraries/schools/mail order/rental. Fifty of those 650 titles are made available for the retail sales market. Of the 800 new titles, 150 titles are sold only into the U.K. market. First quarter 2004 had more than $ 16 million in net sales. In January 2014, a press release said Recorded Books had over 13,500 audiobook titles. In January 2015, after the acquisition of Tantor Media, Recorded Books a catalog of more than 22,000 titles. In August 2015, after the acquisition by Shamrock Advisors, the company reported publishing 3,000 new books annually with catalog of 25,000 titles.
179:
According to
Claudia Howard of Recorded Books: "The business was, in those days, a primitive Netflix in that they were rental businesses. You'd call an 800 number with your credit card and rent your cassette book for thirty days through the mail. It came in a cardboard box with a row of cassettes. Eventually, they were on CDs. The last ten years has been the download—you stream them straight to your computer or download straight to your cellphone."
139:. Trentman was a salesman who spent a lot of his time driving and listening to the radio and he believed there was a market for better quality recorded books on cassette tape targeted to commuters. Unlike other audiobooks sold at the time, which were usually abridged to 2–4 hours long, Trentman envisioned unabridged productions of 20 or more tapes which could be rented mail-order, and that would be of high quality sound and professional narrators.
160:. Muller remembered "this traveling salesman who had a crazy idea about recording books onto cassettes and marketing them to commuters." Muller would remain one of Recorded Books' most prolific and popular narrators over the years. At first, the book titles were in the public domain, such as Jack London. However, after Recorded Books picked professional stage actor Alexander Spencer to narrate books, they began branching out into copyright works.
317:
127:, a publishing company with operations in countries globally. Recorded Books was formerly an independent audiobook company before being purchased and re-organized under RBMedia, where it is now an imprint. Recorded Books was founded in 1978 by Henry Trentman, one of the pioneers in the audiobook industry.
296:
According to a 2004 article, most of
Recorded Books' 330 employees were based in Maryland, with 15 staff in New York, 15 in the United Kingdom and a number of sales representatives around the United States. Studio director Claudia Howard who had been with the company since 1984 oversaw operations.
266:
In April 2017 the company reorganized. The new company name is RBMedia and its imprints include
Recorded Books, HighBridge Audio, Tantor Media, ChristianAudio, Gildan Media, W.F. Howes (UK), and Wavesound (Australia). It would sell or distribute titles directly to customers through audiobooks.com,
178:
It actually took about six years for
Recorded Books to catch on. At first, people thought that audiobooks were for the blind. ... Commercial audiobooks started to take off in the early eighties, when suburbanites discovered that they were an ideal way to mitigate the horrors of long car commutes.
190:
In the 1990s, it created an in-house sales department and a department to focus on schools and education. In 1997, Recorded Books began selling directly to the U.K. and by 1999 the company had launched W.F. Howes Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary in the U.K.
163:
For the first six years, Trentman worked at
Recorded Books part-time since the company did not generate enough revenue to justify his coming on full-time. Later, as the company grew during the 1980s, it opened a new recording facility in New York City near
228:. Since then, HighBridge produced approximately 45 titles a year in the forms of spoken word audio cassettes, CDs and downloadable audio books. The company was best known for publishing public-radio related titles, as well as
199:
Recorded Books was acquired by
Haights Cross Communications in December 1999, where Recorded Books operated as a division of that company. In 2002, Haights Cross acquired Audio Adventures, a brand established in the
232:
titles. HighBridge made use of two readers in its audio book production for works primarily involving two main characters. Other popular titles published by HighBridge included
593:
293:
Although
Recorded Books is not a public company, they have released some operations and sales figures over the years that provide a sense of the company's growth and size.
852:
469:"Recorded Books: Winning War With Rush-Hour Traffic : Commuting: Henry Trentman says his audio books are the 'world's greatest tranquilizer' for stressed-out drivers"
204:
market to tie in with 650 rental kiosks in truck stop centers
Recorded Books previously had. In January 2014, it was announced that Haights Cross sold Recorded Books to
285:
to exclusively manufacture, sell and distribute their physical media audiobook titles (CD & MP3) to consumers, retail, distribution and libraries in North
America.
806:
726:
779:
419:
982:
300:
In a 1989 newspaper article, it was reported that
Recorded Books had about 450 titles in its catalog, versus about 2,500 from its main competitor
700:
972:
565:"Hanging on His Every Word Giving voice: Audio books superstar Frank Muller vividly brings to life characters from Hamlet to Hannibal Lechter"
987:
564:
389:
450:
Recorded Books and Books on Tape, pioneers in this new sound recording format, recorded unabridged versions of books on cassette.
830:
977:
324:
670:
625:
536:
423:
252:
468:
234:
212:
184:
68:
831:"A new global powerhouse takes center-stage in spoken audio and digital media distribution technology"
390:"Blackstone Publishing to Manufacture, Sell, and Distribute Audiobook CDs Published by Recorded Books"
82:
224:
136:
301:
34:
499:
216:
874:
751:
78:
263:
Later in 2015, Wasserstein sold Recorded Books to Shamrock Advisors, a private equity firm.
853:"Recorded Books, Inc. and The Great Courses Create Public Library Distribution Partnership"
229:
8:
444:
Virgil L. P. Blake (1990). "Something New Has Been Added: Aural Literacy and Libraries".
240:
328:
701:"Wasserstein & Co. Acquires Recorded Books LLC from Haights Cross Communications"
675:
356:
349:
205:
355:
In 2014, Recorded Books announced that it will become the exclusive distributor of
282:
220:
541:
504:
268:
208:, an independent private equity and investment firm in New York and Los Angeles.
630:
621:
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25:
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165:
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144:
405:
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149:
246:
201:
365:
Zinio is a multi-platform distribution service for digital magazines.
120:
92:
420:"Publishers We Work With - Book Distribution | Ingram Content Group"
275:
124:
30:
950:
103:
924:"iNDIEFLIX - Stream great independent movies and series online"
348:
The Modern Scholar was a series of lectures that competed with
923:
259:
In January 2015, Recorded Books announced its acquisition of
956:
898:
219:
in the early 1980s to produce and distribute recordings of
211:
In May 2014, Recorded Books acquired HighBridge Audio from
183:
In the 1980s, the company established its headquarters in
899:"Digital magazine subscriptions. Over 6,000 publications"
594:"In the Studio with Recorded Books: Focus on Audio 2013"
359:
CD and DVD titles to U.S. and Canadian public libraries.
135:
Recorded Books was founded in 1978 by Henry Trentman in
875:"OverDrive Resource Center: RBdigital Transition FAQs"
274:
As of 2017, Recorded Books operates as an imprint of
497:
446:
Information Literacies for the Twenty-First Century
443:
281:In June 2020, Recorded Books announced a deal for
964:
668:
695:
693:
620:
562:
493:
491:
489:
362:RB Digital offers libraries access to ebooks.
142:The company's first recording was in 1979 as
466:
215:. HighBridge Audio was initially founded by
690:
616:
614:
591:
534:
773:
771:
664:
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983:Mass media companies established in 1978
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530:
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526:
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307:
267:through libraries and resellers such as
807:"Shamrock Advisors Buys Recorded Books"
777:
768:
645:
587:
585:
368:IndieFlix is a streaming movie service.
288:
965:
796:
727:"Recorded Books Buys HighBridge Audio"
455:
379:
973:Audiobook companies and organizations
921:
669:Shannon Maughan (September 6, 2004).
519:
498:Barbara Hertenstein (July 23, 1989).
953: — Recorded Books official site
749:
582:
537:"The Olivier Of Books On Audio Tape"
448:. G. K. Hall & Co. p. 205.
437:
311:
194:
156:, a local actor at Washington DC's
13:
855:(Press release). PRWeb. 2014-06-24
780:"Recorded Books Buys Tantor Media"
14:
999:
959: — W. F. Howes official site
944:
563:Michael Ollove (March 31, 1996).
872:
626:"The Pleasures of Being Read To"
467:John Hendren (August 29, 1995).
315:
988:1978 establishments in Maryland
915:
891:
866:
845:
823:
743:
719:
352:series by The Teaching Company.
556:
412:
1:
372:
750:Daly, Shaneda (2006-02-14).
592:Grace Bello (May 11, 2013).
535:John Blades (May 21, 1991).
253:Across the Nightingale Floor
7:
978:Companies based in Maryland
879:Overdrive's Resource Center
778:Milliot, Jim (2015-01-06).
473:Associated Press (LA Times)
10:
1004:
185:Prince Frederick, Maryland
130:
69:Prince Frederick, Maryland
98:
88:
83:Ingram Publisher Services
74:
64:
56:
48:
40:
24:
235:The Time Traveler's Wife
225:A Prairie Home Companion
137:Charlotte Hall, Maryland
671:"An Independent Spirit"
217:Minnesota Public Radio
951:www.recordedbooks.com
394:Blackstone Publishing
308:Services and products
206:Wasserstein & Co.
79:Blackstone Publishing
65:Headquarters location
811:PublishersWeekly.com
731:PublishersWeekly.com
500:"Listening To Books"
329:adding missing items
289:Sales and operations
241:Water for Elephants
21:
756:Sins of the Father
707:. January 31, 2014
327:; you can help by
221:Garrison Keillor's
213:Workman Publishing
19:
957:www.wfhowes.co.uk
928:www.indieflix.com
784:Publishers Weekly
676:Publishers Weekly
598:Publishers Weekly
396:. August 18, 2020
357:The Great Courses
350:The Great Courses
345:
344:
230:Oprah's Book Club
195:Mergers and deals
114:
113:
89:Publication types
57:Country of origin
16:Audiobook company
995:
938:
937:
935:
934:
919:
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895:
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833:. April 11, 2017
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624:(May 16, 2012).
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422:. Archived from
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283:Blackstone Audio
110:
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105:
99:Official website
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168:. According to
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945:External links
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752:"Book Reviews"
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631:The New Yorker
622:John Colapinto
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117:Recorded Books
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106:.recordedbooks
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52:Henry Trentman
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26:Parent company
20:Recorded Books
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837:September 26,
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569:Baltimore Sun
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426:on 2018-09-07
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400:September 18,
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323:This list is
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302:Books on Tape
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60:United States
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931:. Retrieved
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709:. Retrieved
705:Businesswire
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635:. Retrieved
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546:. Retrieved
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428:. Retrieved
424:the original
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404:– via
398:. Retrieved
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261:Tantor Media
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166:Times Square
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154:Frank Muller
152:narrated by
145:The Sea-Wolf
143:
141:
134:
116:
115:
75:Distribution
922:Indieflix.
711:February 1,
682:January 12,
637:January 12,
603:January 12,
574:January 12,
548:January 12,
511:January 12,
478:January 12,
406:Yahoo! News
158:Arena Stage
150:Jack London
123:imprint of
967:Categories
933:2023-07-29
908:2023-07-29
884:2023-07-29
859:2014-07-01
816:2016-04-11
789:2015-02-01
761:2022-07-07
736:2014-09-15
430:2017-11-12
373:References
336:March 2014
325:incomplete
247:Life of Pi
202:truck stop
93:Audiobooks
121:audiobook
174:(2012):
276:RBMedia
269:Audible
131:History
125:RBMedia
49:Founder
41:Founded
31:RBMedia
873:test.
119:is an
839:2017
713:2014
684:2014
639:2014
605:2014
576:2014
550:2014
513:2014
480:2014
402:2020
250:and
108:.com
44:1978
331:.
148:by
104:www
35:KKR
969::
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334:(
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.