Amazon Makes Kindle Shut Up
Rather than argue with the Authors Guild over the text-to-speech feature of its new Kindle 2 e-book reader, Amazon (AMZN) is modifying the device’s software to make it optional. Authors and publishers will now be able to decide if they want the function enabled or not for titles for which they own the rights. Amazon announced the move in a statement released late Friday afternoon, in which it also said it believes the Kindle’s text-to-speech function to be legal.
"Kindle 2’s experimental text-to-speech feature is legal: no copy is made, no derivative work is created, and no performance is being given. Furthermore, we ourselves are a major participant in the professionally narrated audiobooks business through our subsidiaries Audible and Brilliance. We believe text-to-speech will introduce new customers to the convenience of listening to books and thereby grow the professionally narrated audiobooks business. Nevertheless, we strongly believe many rightsholders will be more comfortable with the text-to-speech feature if they are in the driver’s seat.
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