If you're an author, or if you are just curious, you might want to go over to Dear Author and take a look and Jane's FAQ. Here's an excerpt: At the suggestion of Peter Brantley of the Internet Archive, I offer up this Frequently Asked Questions for Authors regarding the Text To Speech (TTS) functionality that is the subject of debate. This may be an evolving document as more people provide input so that it adeqately addresses the issues. Please feel free to offer suggestions and/or revisions in the comments section. *** Q: I’ve heard that there is some debate over Kindle’s Text...

In a new column he has penned for the Guardian, Cory Doctorow suggests that the Authors Guild has “lost the plot” in their fight against the Kindle’s text-to-speech function. After laying out why that function is not an infringement, or even if it is Amazon is the wrong one to complain about, Doctorow explains that the legality of read-aloud is irrelevant and what authors should be worrying about is Amazon’s ability to turn off features in the Kindle (that is, changing their mind and allowing publishers to choose to disable read-aloud for their books) after it has been...

According to Brad Stone in the New York Times “Bits” blog, Amazon has announced that it will leave up to the publisher the decision of whether a book can be read aloud by the Kindle’s speech synthesizer. In their statement, they continue to insist that the feature is completely legal—”Nevertheless, we strongly believe many rights-holders will be more comfortable with the text-to-speech feature if they are in the driver’s seat.” (This reminds me of the flap caused by Adobe back in 2000 when the company released a PDF of Alice in Wonderland through Glassbook whose description included the...

This is just so neat. According to Cool Hunting it lists for about $700. Text-to Speech Peripheral Device The Plustek BookReader features highly accurate OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and auto document orientation. This combination guarantees correct output for TTS (Text to Speech). You only need to press one button, and the Plustek Book Reader will convert printed text into high quality speech with a lifelike voice. Plustek's BookReader integrates high-speed scanning, natural voice synthesis (for read back) and highly accurate text-to-speech and optical character recognition (OCR) functionality, all in one device. Additional features, especially designed for the...

The release of the Amazon Kindle 2 has caused a bit of consternation with respect to the text to speech function. The Authors Guild immediately expressed dissatisfaction with the feature, claiming TTS is part of an author's audio rights. They demanded that Amazon disable the feature. Amazon claims TTS is part of the author's e-book rights and refuses. Marilyn Byerly, writer and book doctor for established authors and a NY Times bestseller states in her Adventures in Writing blog: "The major legal problem with TTS is that it has never been clearly defined through a lawsuit or some other legal means....