Message #79 From:
NewsBot Date: December 6, 2006 07:49:00 AM
WIZD News Wizzard Software Announces 2.1 Million Podcast Downloads from Switchpod.com for November
PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Switchpod.com, a leading podcast
hosting network recently acquired by Wizzard
Software (OTCBB:WIZD), today announced that the Switchpod Network’s
podcast downloads surged in November to over 2.1 million. These audio
and video podcasts were downloaded by consumers through iTunes and other
podcast media aggregators. This represents 75% growth over October’s
download figures and in breaking the two million download monthly
milestone, makes the Switchpod Network’s
expanding reach a very compelling platform for brand advertisers.
“An influx of prestigious new clients have
chosen Switchpod for their podcasting solutions, including the Harvard
Extension School, which helped us to once again surpass our projected
download figures,” said Chris Spencer, CEO of
Wizzard Software. “We believe that as
additional popular podcasts and audiobooks are added to the Switchpod
Network, podcast download figures will continually meet or exceed our
expectations.”
Wizzard Software also announced today that the second installment of
audiobooks has been added to the Switchpod Network and are available for
free podcast download at http://www.switchpod.com.
The expanding collection consists of classic literature, including our
first installment, Plato’s The
Republic,which
has quickly risen to the #1 ranking in popularity in the K-12
Educational category on iTunes. Each audiobook is expertly narrated by
vocal talent professionals from Voice Factory International, providing
entertaining narrations for thousands of hours of timeless literary
works.
Appropriately timed for the holiday season, Charles Dickens’A Christmas Carol,
the classic Christmas tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, is now being broadcast
by the Switchpod Network and is ranked #7 in the iTunes K-12 category.
Also recently added, the New Testament of The
King James Version of the Holy Bible. Widely popular because of
its lovely prose translation, it has been conveniently broken down by
book for easy individual downloading.
Additional audiobooks available from the Switchpod Network include Aesop’s
Fables, a delightful compilation of well-known folktales, each
providing a simple moral at the end of each story. Tales include “The
Dog and the Shadow” and “The
Man and the Serpent”. Another revolutionary
literary work, Sir Thomas More’s Utopia,
has also been added to the collection and HG Wells’War of the Worlds,
which is ranked #9 in the K-12 category, has continued to be very
popular with listeners.
Month over month, podcast usage continues to grow. New data from an
August 2006 Pew Internet & American Life Project poll reports that 12%
of Internet users have downloaded a podcast. That is nearly double the
amount of Internet users who reported podcast downloading in a survey
Pew conducted just a few months earlier.
Also during this holiday season, the purchase of mp3 players in the
United States, capable of playing podcasts, is expected to once again
increase. An October 2006 study performed by The Consumer Reports
National Research Center estimates that 19% of American consumers are
planning to buy mp3 players as gifts this holiday season. The Consumer
Electronics Association estimates that 33 million mp3 players will be
sold by year's end, nearly doubling the 2005 sales predictions of 18.2
million units, released last year by Jupiter Research.
About Wizzard Software
Founded in 1996, Wizzard Software has become a leader in the speech
technology application development market. Wizzard architects solutions
to business problems using its expertise in consulting, speech
development tools and building speech based applications for the Desktop
and Internet. Wizzard has achieved global recognition because of its
expertise with voice communication whether it is via computer or
telephone. Wizzard's successes have led to expanding speech technology
opportunities in both the government and commercial sectors including
several healthcare industry products and services. For more information,
visit www.wizzardsoftware.com.
Legal Notice
Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: "Forward-looking
Statements" as defined in the Private Securities litigation Reform Act
of 1995 may be included in this news release. These statements relate to
future events or our future financial performance. These statements are
only predictions and may differ materially from actual future results or
events. We disclaim any intention or obligation to revise any
forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information,
future developments or otherwise. There are important risk factors that
could cause actual results to differ from those contained in
forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to risks
associated with changes in general economic and business conditions,
actions of our competitors, the extent to which we are able to develop
new services and markets for our services, the time and expense involved
in such development activities, the level of demand and market
acceptance of our services, changes in our business strategies and acts
of terror against the United States.
