• Audible: Don Katz

  • Nov 1 2021
  • Length: 1 hr and 16 mins
  • Podcast
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (42 ratings)

  • Summary

  • Before mp3 players came along in the mid 1990's, listening to audiobooks was a pain. The number of titles was tiny, narration was dull, and if you wanted to listen on the go, you had to juggle a bunch of clunky cassettes. Don Katz faced these frustrations every day while jogging. He was an accomplished writer who thought there was something special and intimate about hearing an author's words spoken aloud. He wondered: what if audiobooks could be purchased online and downloaded onto a dedicated player? At the time, the concept was so new that few people knew what he was talking about. But in 1997, with no direct experience in tech, Don and his partners launched the first digital player for audiobooks. Audible was slow to gain traction and took a beating during the dot-com bust; but its luck changed with the release of the iPod and a timely partnership with Apple. In 2008, Amazon purchased Audible for $300 million, and today Audible has the largest audiobook catalog in the world, with over 600,000 titles. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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What listeners say about Audible: Don Katz

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Don Katz please put your mind in the Martian Projects!

Hi Don Katz,

Loved your book about starting the Audible Company just as much as I have enjoyed listening to other stories; but it was spoken like an actor interview. Loved the creativity and ability to make a product from an idea; and add money to it! Great history of reporting and other stories, especially that you went on an eleven month trip along the Silk Road.
Your mind, especially any experiences along the really cold, dry, sand stormy areas of the Silk Road would be what I’m looking to dig up. You are the first person who can describe things that has been there.
Are there any civilizations that have existed since the Silk Road times? Any buildings? Does this area have a resemblance to Mars or the Moon, where water is sparse? Are there frequent sand storms? Do you think plastic inflatable housing would work to keep humans alive? Or would it be like the blow up play houses that get blown away; unfortunately with people in them sometimes?
I think your ability to put ideas to reality, add a patent, and make a profit are awesome! Please don’t give up; I’m glad you kept going even at a few cents a share during the tech bust!

Yours in Service,
Martian Greens

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Incredibly Inspiring! Great Podcast Interview!

This is an incredibly positive interview that is extremely inspirational for anyone who has ever contemplated doing something that is entrepreneurial. Thank you so much for this podcast interview. More people should hear this. It is extremely uplifting and insightful.

I was there with you - along for the same learning curve of technology where I was hauling around a huge cassette case in my car with numerous self help gurus that were first putting interviews and speeches on a cassette recording where I could listen to these while on the road heading to and from college. I had a whole collection of cassettes by Marianne Williamson, Louise Hay, Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, Dr. Wayne Dyer, etc... that I would take with me where ever I would go. There was never a 10 minutes drive across town where I wasn't listening to another speech or interview. I would also listen to these the 30 minutes that it took me to curl my hair and put on my makeup each morning. Yeah, it was clunky and inconvenient to haul all of these cassettes around, but it was the only way that I could continue to constantly learn something new, each and every day.

It has been a few years since I've been in this habit, but I am really enjoying coming back to audios through Audible.com. I'm in the process of writing my own book now. One of the key things that everyone has said to improve your writing - is to READ. I just went through cataract surgery because I've been online so much, researching and writing. I am still writing my book with research online, but I had to find another way to continue READING -- to get the information without creating additional stress on my eyes. This is how I found Audible.com.

Thank you for your dedication to find the technology breakthroughs that have been able to condense the bulk of cassette tapes into an app that I can easily use with my cell phone and computer. I'm loving this! What a great way to continue learning and growing!

As a writer - I am just now using your audio books as a way to narrate the book as I listen as I'm reading. I'm able to see how the author and editor created paragraph breaks, punctuations, dialogue, introduced characters, etc... The fact that you are able to pair this with Kindle.com - and have a break in price is really a great sales feature. I love the fact that audible.com offers thousands of FREE podcasts and books - where I can continue expanding my library.

Your interview is fabulous! I appreciate your entrepreneurial efforts even more knowing all of the steps that you took to make this technology happen! Thank you!

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Give us an option to mark not interested

I don’t understand why you can’t give your customers the option to tailor their shopping experience. There is so much leftist trash on this website that I don’t care to look at when I log on.
Amazon used to have a button next to items that said “I am not interested in this.” Can you PLEASE bring that back?

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4 people found this helpful