As Thomas Nelson launches the full edition of its The Word of Promise Audio Bible, Zondervan is giving a fresh face to its own award-winning audio Bible.

Inspired By ... The Bible Experience has been repackaged with an emphasis on the 400 people who lend their voices to the dramatized edition. The cover also features an 800 number that shoppers can dial to hear excerpts.

"We've integrated more of the celebrity names and photographs into the package redesign and given the project more of an overall entertainment look than a traditional Bible look," said Brian Scharp, Zondervan's vice president of Bible marketing.

Since The Bible Experience debuted in 2006 with the New Testament recording, more than a million copies of it and the full Bible, first released in 2007, have been sold in CD, MP3 and download formats. Two-thirds of all sales have been "through the hard work and commitment of our specialty Christian retailers," Scharp said.

He added that the decision to repackage the audio Bible had been made in 2008, and was not connected to the new Nelson product. "Our research showed that one of the key consumer drivers for interest in this audio Bible was the celebrity status of the world-class talent involved in the production," he said.

Though Zondervan has announced that it is to retire its Today's New International Version (TNIV) product line after a revised New International Version (NIV) is produced in 2010, the outgoing TNIV translation that drew criticism for its treatment of some gender references could continue in audio as it is the version used for The Bible Experience.

"The decision hasn't been made," said Jason Vines, Zondervan's vice president of public relations and communications, of The Bible Experience's future. "We don't know what the NIV will look like. How do you go back and re-do (the recording)? One of the stars had died since the project released. It's a wait-and-see. We can't make any decisions yet."

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