Amazon caves to pressure on Kindle 2 text-to-speech feature, will let authors decide

Mar 01 2009

Online retailer Amazon.com has decided to let authors decide if they want the text-to-speech feature to be a part of their ebooks on Amazon’s new Kindle 2. This comes after the Authors Guild raised a ruckus and even threatened legal action, arguing that the text-to-speech feature infringed on the rights of audiobooks.

According to this article from Yahoo!, Amazon is already working on the changes:

Amazon said it is making modifications to allow those holding rights to written works to decide on a title-by-title basis whether to allow Kindle 2 devices to read passages aloud using text recognition software.

This comes after whining from the Authors Guild:

The Authors Guild maintained that while it considers the quality of the Kindle 2’s audio feature "serviceable" it feared that Amazon was "undermining" its members’ exploits in a billion-dollar audiobook market.

I personally don’t think Amazon should have caved so easily to this pressure. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still a big critic of Amazon’s draconian DRM tactics when it comes to the Kindle, but here I think we’re looking at a much different issue.

When this story first broke, I maintained in this post that people who read ebooks (like on the Kindle) and people who listen to audiobooks, belong to two different demographics. I searched the tubes high and low looking for statistics to back up my claim, but have been unable to find anything. Thus, I’m making this assertion based on anecdotal evidence.

It has been my observation that consumers of audiobooks are usually older folk, who like to listen to novels rather than read them while doing other activities. Ebook consumers, on the other hand, are eager to read digital content on devices such as the Kindle and probably cringe at the thought of listening to a novel in a monotone, computer-generated voice that the Kindle offers.

Yes, there may be exceptions to my above observations, and I’m sure there’s going to be some overlap of those two demographics.

The other reason I think that the Authors Guild has a hollow argument is that audiobooks are professionally recorded productions, with professional readers that have a pleasing voice. Some audiobooks even feature background music to help enhance the mood of the narrative.

If I want to listen to an audiobook, and I have a choice between a monotone, computer generated voice, or a high quality production with a professional reader, I’ll chose the latter any day of the week – even if I do own a Kindle 2!

Do I have a point with my two arguments? Or am I just blowing smoke? Leave a comment below and let me know if you agree or disagree with me, and why. I’m always eager to read different points of view!

One Response

Usually I’m all about the artists on stuff like this, but boooo to the Authors’ Guild. Another example of people who don’t understand technology shoving their views down everybody else’s throats.

Susan 3/2/2009 3:06 pm