Comments on: Kindle DRM makes fan nervous

By: Al

Al — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:51:05 +0000

Or if you are using a Macintosh, you can use the text to speech feature to have anything you can display read to you.

By: Jack Tingle

Jack Tingle — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:52:40 +0000

@GregM./PJ Williams
As far as I know, the only other electronic reader that has TTS is the MS Reader app. There, TTS only works on non-DRM titles, since the DRM keeps the TTS from “seeing” the text.

Regards,
Jack Tingle

By: HeavyG

HeavyG — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:09:40 +0000

“And there’s no specific disclosure when you go to buy an item in the Kindle store. It obviously should be listed in each item’s “Product Details” section.”

I can’t say whether Amazon is listing the TTS status of every Kindle title where TTS is not enabled but they are in fact (and have been doing so since the whole TTS controversy erupted) listing the TTS status for some titles.

It is not in the “Product Details” section but rather it has been listed right at the top of the page under the title and pricing info.

For an example see the Kindle book listing for “Born Fighting” by James Webb. It clearly mentions:

Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

Seems to me they are already doing the right thing in alerting buyers to the TTS status.

By: P.J. Williams

P.J. Williams — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:55:06 +0000

I too would like to have this limitation listed; however, remember that it is the PUBLISHER not Amazon who is placing this restriction.

Another question (to the above comment): do the Sony e-readers even have the ‘text-to-speech’ feature?

By: Aaron Pressman

Aaron Pressman — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:44:25 +0000

Huge numbers of titles from big publishing houses have had “text-to-speech” turned off. For further details, see http://www.keionline.org/blogs/2009/06/12/kindle2-soundproof-free-books/

As far as I know, no other ereader has Kindle’s “text-to-speech” feature so it wouldn’t be an issue for Sony or other companies.

By: Greg M.

Greg M. — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:20:00 +0000

I’d like to know some titles with these restrictions. Also, if the title is available for other devices, like the Sony, if the restrictions are the same or only apply to the Kindle.

By: Al

Al — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:29:40 +0000

There is a simple solution to this. Buy the book if it does not list the restriction. Then if it IS restricted, return it for a refund within the 7 day guarantee period. All it takes is one phone call to Amazon support. The publisher has the right to restrict the book and we have the right to reject that restricted book.