It's less dusty when it's digital

After news that several major players are betting on digitizing the age-old book - from Sony and Amazon readers, to added functionality on Google's Book Search - more companies are following suit.

eMusic has added audio books to its offerings at a price of US$ 10 a book. The books are offered in 64 kbps MP3 files. According to Ars Technica, the move is "a direct challenge to Audible, one of the leaders in the field" that incidentally also convinced Apple to offer support for its DRM files.

Though eMusic dodges those issues by offering the always-welcome MP3 format, it may have a tougher time getting publishers to jump on board.