Seattle - Online retail giant Amazon.com (NASD: AMZN) announced on Thursday that it will acquire Audible.com, a distributor of audiobooks and other spoken word audio content, for $300 million. Founded in 1995, New Jersey-based Audible offers over 80,000 programs on its websites in the U.S. and U.K., and through alliances in Germany and France.

In addition to audiobooks, the company offers old-time radio shows and spoken-word versions of newspapers and magazines such as The New York Times and The New Yorker.

The company has sold its content through Amazon.com since 2000, and via Apple's iTunes Store since 2002.

Amazon also recently expanded its reach in the digital space with the introduction of its $399 Kindle portable eBook reader device.

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