Amazon.com Inc. will buy digital audiobook provider Audible Inc. in a deal worth about $300 million that expands its push into digital content and ratchets up its rivalry with Apple Inc.
Audible, based in Newark, N.J., sells thousands of audiobooks from authors such as John Grishman and Stephen King that can be downloaded off the Internet and played on computers, iPods or MP3 devices. Audible supplies the audiobooks that are sold on Apple's online iTunes store.
The deal, expected to close in the second quarter, would provide more content for Amazon's recently launched music download store, which sells songs from major record labels without copy protections. The companies did not say how the transaction would affect Audible's relationship with Apple.
