Zune to Support Audible Audio Books?

Microsoft seems to be planning to roll out support for Audible audio books on its Zune portable media players by the end of the year.

Microsoftseems to be planning to support audio books from Audible.com on its Zune line of portable media players by the end of 2008. According to sources at both companies, Microsoft and Audible have worked out a deal that will enable Microsoft to support Audible’s audio book format. Neither company has offered any information on when Audible support might be available to Zune owners, save to note that it should be available by the end of 2008 (by which point, Microsoft will also no doubt have debuted new Zune models.

There’s also no word about whether Microsoft will offer Audible.com books for sale directly in the Zune Marketplace, or whether users will be able to purchase them through other venues (potentially including Amazon.com, which acquired Audible for $300 million earlier this year) or even Apple’s iTunes store. Apple’s iPod has long supported Audible’s audiobook format, contributing to the iPod’s popularity among audiobook listeners.

No details are yet available about how Zune’s might support Audible audiobooks: presumably bookmarking and chapter markers will be supported, but it seems unlikely Zune users would be allowed to share limited plays of Audible.com content with other Zune owners. In other works, audiobooks will likely remain a “non-social” activity.