Amazon Partners With National Archives

The National Archives is using CustomFlix DVD on Demand service to initially make its collection of Universal Newsreels, dating from 1920 to 1967, available on DVD. Newsreels feature worldwide events in politics, entertainment, fashion, sports and technology.  More public domain films from the National Archives motion picture holdings will become available in the near future.

"Our initiative with CustomFlix Labs will reap major benefits for the public-at-large and for the National Archives," said Allen Weinstein, archivist of the United States. "While the public can come to our College Park, MD research room to view films and even copy them at no charge, this new program will make our holdings much more accessible to millions of people who cannot travel to the Washington, D.C. area."

"CustomFlix Labs DVD on Demand will provide the National Archives with digital reference and preservation copies of the films that are sold on Amazon.com. This is an important contribution to our preservation program."

The DVDs from the CustomFlix Labs DVD on Demand program are produced only when a customer makes a purchase and can be delivered within 24 hours.

"The National Archives and Records Administration houses an amazing collection of motion picture titles that historically have been hard for the general public to access," said Dana LoPiccolo-Giles, co-founder and managing director of CustomFlix Labs.

 "Our DVD on Demand service will make these titles readily available for purchase on Amazon.com to be enjoyed by history buffs today, as well as for future generations to come."

"We are excited to work with CustomFlix Labs to provide Amazon.com customers with another opportunity to access quality ABC News content," said Bernard Gershon, senior vice president and general manager, ABC News Digital Media.

"Through CustomFlix Labs, ABC News will offer exclusive interviews, historical moments and classic documentaries on Amazon.com, some of which will be available for the first time."

ABC News viewers can purchase and collect ABC News Classics and ABC News Specials along with historic events such as Presidential Farewells and State of the Union addresses.

"ABC News owns an amazing archive of content capturing pivotal moments of our era, but the high cost of traditional DVD manufacturing and distribution has kept many of these gems locked away," said Dana LoPiccolo-Giles, co-founder and managing director of CustomFlix Labs.

"Our DVD on Demand solution is the perfect way to unlock this content and make it broadly available to news buffs everywhere."

“Programs like this one from Amazon lower barriers to entry for independent artists and provide audiences with increased access to high-quality, high-definition content,” said Christian Vesper, senior vice president of programming, acquisitions and scheduling for Sundance Channel.

While it’s a great deal for indie filmmakers, the offering is not totally altruistic. Amazon will sell copies of the movies on its site, while Microsoft further promotes the HD DVD format, a Toshiba-produced format the company has used for its Xbox 360 consoles.

Sony’s Blu-Ray technology has been gaining ground, and the two formats are set for a war reminiscent of Betamax vs. VHS.

The Sundance Channel is getting a cut of the action too, and will be reviewing the HD features for potential broadcast on the network.

Amazon says the acquisition will expand the number of books produced in the audio format giving customers a broader selection of audiobooks.

Amazon subsidiary CustomFlix now supports both standard CD and MP3-CD audiobook formats through its Disc on Demand service.

"Brilliance Audio has been delighting customers for more than two decades with their world-class audiobook capabilities," said Greg Greeley, vice president of books at Amazon.com.

"With this acquisition we can make it more efficient for authors and book publishers of all sizes to expand the number of titles produced in increasingly popular audio formats, offering customers a much broader selection."

Audiobook production has been limited to best selling titles mainly because of the expense of recording, producing and bringing the books to market.

"Amazon’s commitment to growing the audiobook category is a big plus for audiobook customers," added Eileen Hutton, Brilliance vice president and former president of the Audio Publishers Association (APA).

"We look forward to working with even more authors and publishing partners in the future."

"Storytelling is an art and our audiobooks strive to capture the nuance and complexity of our author’s stories and bring the characters and images to life in a way that fully engages the listener,” said Michael Snodgrass, founder and president of Brilliance Audio.

“Our singular focus on audiobooks and our commitment to provide the very highest-quality products in the industry will not change.”

Brilliance Audio will continue to operate independently under the leadership of Michael Snodgrass and its operations will remain in Grand Haven, Michigan.

In other news Amazon recently announced that it would launch an MP3 only digital music store later this year.

Every download will be available without digital rights management (DRM), which will allow them to be played on all devices and platforms