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Re-activateA beta version of the software that will allow publishers and authors the option to block the text-to-speech feature of Amazon's e-book readers will be launched this summer, according to an Amazon spokesman I talked with at the launch of the new Kindle DX this week.
In my review of the Kindle 2 notes, the text-to-speech feature, which now allows the Kindle read any content aloud, is a useful extra. It's also imperfect in its pronunciation – a point the New York Times highlighted today, noting the device's flubbing of the president's name.
But the speech feature also invited controversy after it was unveiled, leading first to an authors group saying the feature would rob copyright holders of audiobook revenue, and then to Amazon amending the feature to allow rights-holders to block the capability on their titles, if they wish.
Laura Porco, the Director of Kindle Books with Amazon, declined to estimate the number of Kindle books that might be affected once the opt-out software is activated. But she said she expected text-to-speech capability to be preserved on "the vast majority of titles." —Paul Reynolds
[Photo: Sudarshan Vijayaraghavan]
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