Audiobooks on cassette or CD are typically more expensive than hardbacks because of the added expense of recording and the lack of the economy of scale in high "print" runs that are available in the publishing of printed books.

 

Preloaded digital formats are similar in price to their CD counterparts. The audio content is preloaded on a small and simple player, which removes the need for a separate piece of technology such as a CD player or an MP3 player.