Simply Audiobooks is a privately-held e-commerce

Electronic commerce

Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce, eCommerce or e-comm, refers to the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. However, the term may refer to more than just buying and selling products online...

 company that offers audio books for rent, download and sale. Their primary product line is a subscription-based rent-by-mail model for books on CD, similar to Netflix

Netflix

Netflix, Inc., is an American provider of on-demand internet streaming media in the United States, Canada, and Latin America and flat rate DVD-by-mail in the United States. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California...

's DVD-by-mail model. Although a Canadian company, the majority of Simply Audiobooks's customers reside in the United States. Head office is located in Oakville, Ontario

Oakville, Ontario

Oakville is a town in Halton Region, on Lake Ontario in Southern Ontario, Canada, and is part of the Greater Toronto Area. As of the 2006 census the population was 165,613.-History:In 1793, Dundas Street was surveyed for a military road...

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History

2003: Simply Audiobooks Inc. launched with its core rental service - offering unlimited audio book rentals to both the United States and Canada with free direct-to-door delivery and no due dates or late fees.

2005: Simply Audiobooks launched audio books via download, through low-cost monthly subscriptions and a-la-carte purchases. These downloads are DRM-protected

Digital rights management

Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...

 WMA

Windows Media Audio

Windows Media Audio is an audio data compression technology developed by Microsoft. The name can be used to refer to its audio file format or its audio codecs. It is a proprietary technology that forms part of the Windows Media framework. WMA consists of four distinct codecs...

 files which can be downloaded to any Windows computer with Windows Media Player 10 or 11 and are compatible with most MP3 players.

2006: Simply Audiobooks launched the sale of audio books on CD and cassette online. They also purchased North America's largest audio book store in downtown Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Ontario, Canada, near the company's headquarters in Oakville, Ontario, Canada.

2008: Simply Audiobooks began offering DRM-free MP3 downloads which can be downloaded to any computer (MacOSX, Windows or Linux) and are compatible with any MP3 player, (iPod

IPod

iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...

, Zansa, Zen

ZEN (portable media player)

The ZEN is a portable media player designed and manufactured by Creative Technology. The flash memory-based player is the de facto successor of the ZEN Vision:M and was announced on August 29, 2007, to be available in capacities of 2, 4, 8, and 16 GB, as of September 14...

, Zune

Zune

Zune is a digital media brand owned by Microsoft which includes a line of portable media players, a digital media player software for Windows machines, a music subscription service known as a 'Zune Music Pass', music and video streaming for the Xbox 360 via the Zune Software, music, TV and movie...

) or Smartphone

Smartphone

A smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...

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Office locations

Simply Audiobooks' head office is located in Oakville ON, Canada. They also have two distribution facilities in Buffalo, New York

Buffalo, New York

Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...

 and Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

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External links

• www.simplyaudiobooks.com US Site
• www.simplyaudiobooks.ca Canadian Site