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Online retailer Amazon.com has purchased Brilliance Audio, the largest independent publisher of audiobooks in the U.S.

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