Amazon Mutes Kindle Text-to-Speech Feature

Amazon is apparently backing off a bit on the text-to-speech feature on the Kindle.  It announced today that it will let publishers decide whether or not they want the new Kindle device to read their books out loud.

This text-to-speech ability lets Kindle owners have their books read to them in a male or female digitized voice. The president of the Author’s Guild, Roy Blount Jr., recently submitted an essay to the New York Times editorial section outlining guild’s objections to the feature, which he says undermines the market for professional audio books that are sold separately.

Amazon maintains that their Kindle feature is legal and that it would greatly increase the market for audio books.

But it said “we strongly believe many rights holders will be more comfortable with the text-to-speech feature if they are in the driver’s seat.”

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