Kindle 2 Reads Books Aloud, Perturbs Authors Guild

I don't know about you guys, but I have a problem with the new kindle being able to read books aloud. As an author with an Audio book publishing contract that paid an advance and royalties, this is like the original napster to me. Just because technology can make something possible, does not give someone the right to do it. This thing with the Kindle 2 is that was never put forth as a possibility when authors/publishers published books in Kindle format. I have hundreds of audio CD versions of my books sold through my publisher Recorded books at over $60 per set, now a device can allow a $7 file to be read aloud by a machine with no extra autor benefit. Right now audio rights are a seperate item that an author can sell. What's your opinion on this issue.

http://www.switched.com/2009/02/13/kindle-2-reads-books-aloud-perturbs-authors-guild/?icid=200100397x1218971564x1201228801

As soon as it gets around that this is discrimination against the blind, it should blow over with only a minor black eye for the guild.

Or not...

Or they could say the blind can buy the audio version if one exists. God, but life has gotten complicated.

I don't think the guild will be without backing from publishers on this as many of them put out the audio versions also. I just applied for guild membership after I read that story.

It's like John Scalzi says: who cares? Except for the vision impaired, who really wants a book read to them in a bland computer voice? Audio books are more than simple readings and do you get what you pay for. People who want an audio book, will buy one.

The author's guild is a bunch a ding bats and like others have said, it will soon pass.

If you are correct, Turkel, most of the leading writers in the country are ding bats. Do you have the qualifications to place yourself above them?

If they are siding with the author's guild, they're missing the point. The kindle2 reads in a monotone voice, totally unappealling and the fact they are making this an issue really shows they're clueless. No one who enjoys a good audio book experience will buy a kindle2 just for that feature. The author's guild is better off spending it's energy elsehwre.

cturkel wrote:

If they are siding with the author's guild, they're missing the point. The kindle2 reads in a monotone voice, totally unappealling and the fact they are making this an issue really shows they're clueless. No one who enjoys a good audio book experience will buy a kindle2 just for that feature. The author's guild is better off spending it's energy elsehwre.

This is where I start to have problems with responses that use a broad brush and name calling. I have been involved in technology all of my adult life. I once sold IBM mainframe computers in the 1980s and sold commercial refrigerator sized storage drives that held 2.5 gigabytes of data, I now have an USB flash drive that I carry in my pocket that holds 8 gigabytes of data. Data storage is cheap and small. It won't take long to improve the voice performance of a reading device. Record a male and female voice database with varying inflection and you can get there. Any journey begins with the first step.

The other point is that guild type organizations have long represented groups composed of independent craftsmen, contractors and businesses. The function of these organizations is to confront issues that have the potential to harm the industries and the livelihood of their membership. A guild can give collective weight to what otherwise would be voices in the wilderness. If amazon had stated, this device will someday be able to read aloud the text of your kindle book, then everyone would have been aware. All an author has to sell is his work/intellectual property rights. When those rights are called into question by technology, then there needs to be a debate to address how it can be handled so that everyone benefits. Since the new Kindle makes the eBook a more versatle product then maybe the author should get a larger percentage, after all, the Kindle is just hardware without content to run on it.

Well I am not name calling, I just think the author's guild is missing the point of the Kindle2. The Kindle is enabling the accelerated adoption of ebooks. The author's guild should be pushing it, instead of worrying about a few lost pennies per sale they may or may not entitled to. There are legal issues, sure, but they (the author's guild) are missing the bigger picture and that regard, they're a nimwits.

I have been down this road before with the personal computer. There was a time when every PC manufacturer had a different version of PC DOS and Windows that would only run on their hardware. In the long run the software won and Microsoft made a generic version of DOS and windows that ran on any PC that would support it. Amazon is trying to win everyone over to a proprietary system that they control and only runs on a $300 plus device. Remember VHS/Beta, Blu Ray and HD-DVD and so on.

In the end, the open standards will win, i e PDF based ebooks. If protecting a reason to write books, making money, is considered being a nitwit, the line is forming around the corner. Advancement and the content creator getting paid are not mutually exclusive.

Quote :

If protecting a reason to write books, making money, is considered being a nitwit

That's not what I was talking about.

But I agree: pdf eBooks would be a nice standard.

Author Guild's follow-up on Kindle reading aloud.

http://www.authorsguild.org/advocacy/articles/e-book-rights-alert-amazons-kindle-2.html

Good Article,DT. Addressed a concern that I had.

I am sorry but I must agree with ct though not in the way he puts it. The fact that it can read the book aloud doesn't mean that it is an attack against the writers. It is just a gimmick to sell more Kindle reads. Also the benifit for those that are partially sighted or blind is a good thing. After all not all those that are impaired visually can afford to buy audio books, especially at the inflated price of $60. Yes you have to pay a voice actor and that is a reason for the higher price but still should those with visual problems really be made to struggle with higher cost than the rest of us. Unfortunately the world is seldom fair yet when something comes along that can help make it a little closer to that then should we not embrace it rather than support the old ways.

Still cannot buy a Kindle in Canada. I find that really oddball.

Hmm, Canucks have more sense than I'd been told.

thehairymob wrote:

I am sorry but I must agree with ct though not in the way he puts it. The fact that it can read the book aloud doesn't mean that it is an attack against the writers. It is just a gimmick to sell more Kindle reads. Also the benifit for those that are partially sighted or blind is a good thing. After all not all those that are impaired visually can afford to buy audio books, especially at the inflated price of $60. Yes you have to pay a voice actor and that is a reason for the higher price but still should those with visual problems really be made to struggle with higher cost than the rest of us. Unfortunately the world is seldom fair yet when something comes along that can help make it a little closer to that then should we not embrace it rather than support the old ways.

I think the issue is how you are viewing a book. As an author I view a book as a product that contains rights that can be sold/licenced. I will probably miss some rights but some of those are:

• Print
  
• Electronic(ebook)
  
• audio(cd/downloadable, tape, preloaded digital player)
  
• foriegn
  
• performance(tv/movie, etc)
  

Each of these rights can be sold to a publisher/publishers. That is where the issue with the Kindle 2 reading aloud comes in. The Kindle 2 may have a rudimentary speech capabiity, but what about kindle 5. Why buy an audio book if the kindle will read any downloadable book aloud, strike out one right. Suppose a language tanslation feature is added, strike out another right.

As for audio book costs, there is a service called NetLibrary that makes audio books free for download for library card holders for anyone that has a library card through a library that subscribes to NetLibrary.

I think looking at this from an author rights point of view is the key. A for the blind or sight impared, the Kindle 2 is total based up being able to log onto amazon, browse through the amazon sight and the visually select the book you want to download. It is not designed to work with sight impared individuals. Technology is great, but as it advances it is wise to keep an eye on how it affects other areas.

That is strange, Pam. Is there a stated reason for that action??

They probably forgot to print "Le Kindle" on it with bilingual instructions.

Yes dt we have to think about our rights but in this changing world we may have to look on them differently ourselves. I would be happy to get my books onto Kindle but have little knowledge of how to go about this. I have also heard that it is not open to those outside of the USA. As it is I only make 10p per book sale because I wished to keep the cost to the reader down so have no problem with the greater revenue that selling books in e-format. Audio books to me seem overly expensive so anything that can bring down costs are good with me. Writing isn't just about profit but more to do with people enjoying the work that I have created, at least for me.

The only way to get one and be allowed to download the books right now is to have a US credit card with a US billing address. Apparently it is an issue with having to roll out the technolgoy and work out all kinds of wireless download capability and international copywrite issues. I cannot figure out why exactly it's still an issue after all this time. They figured it out for the Wii! Anyway, I am just as happy still reading things that have a cover for now.

It took 2 years before the Sony Mobipocket made it up here.

I was going to suggest that Billy look into mobipocket.

Or, look... just convert it to a pdf file and see about selling it as a download. Easist, simplest way to produce your own eBook.

I already sell my books through Lulu in PDF format but setting my website to sell them... ...Yes the fear of the unknown... ...off putting for someone with such limited knowledge in that field.

And there's no point in "competing with yourself", since lulu's deal on downloads is outstanding.



Never miiiiiiiiind

Thanks Lin for the suggestion though