Kindle 2 not reading aloud anymore if Publisher forbids it

Feb 28 2009, 5:00am CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Amazon raised some controversy amongst publishers with the new experimental text-to-speech feature found in Kindle 2. Publishers see their audio book sales dwindle with this feature and even said Amazon does not have the rights to let Kindle read books aloud.
Now Amazon caved in and announced that publishers can choose to enable or disable the Kindle 2 text-to-speech feature on their eBook titles for Kindle.Amazon also makes clear in the statement that the Kindle 2 text-to-speech feature is legal as no copy is made, no derivative work is created, and no performance is being given.
Additionally Amazon owns itself audio book companies with Audible and Brilliance. Amazon sees the reading feature of Kindle that would grow the professionally narrated audiobooks business.

The new Amazon Kindle 2 feature most likely requires a firmware update.
Via this Amazon press-release. Kindle 2 ships since last week for $359 on Amazon.com.

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Luigi Lugmayr
Luigi is the founding chief Editor of I4U News and brings over 15 years experience in the technology field to the ever evolving and exciting world of gadgets. He started I4U News back in 2000 and evolved it into vibrant technology magazine.
Luigi can be contacted directly at ml@i4u.com. Luigi posts regularly on LuigiMe.com about his experience running I4U.