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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Modred189Feb 28th 2009 9:47AM
I must be alone in seeing this as a good compromise. I have a feeling the writer's guild came to Amazon and gave them two options;
A: Disable text 2 speech altogether
B: Deal with higher e-book prices for their customers and higher cost (lower profits) for amazon
SO making the text to speech optional, and with no higher fees for amazon, everyone wins. Amazon gets to continue marketing the technology and using it as an advertising point, and the authors/publishers get to retain control of their material.
nikescarFeb 28th 2009 10:31AM
I think what both Fred and James are forgetting is that Amazon is the Wal-Mart of the book world. They can dictate how authors/publishers sell their books. If they don't like it's the book makers that will be loosing out not Amazon. I usually disagree with retailers having this kind of power over the products we buy but in this case Amazon is in the right.
Modred189Feb 28th 2009 11:15AM
But that argument, while understandable and even agreeable, has no bearing in law. Just because a store is big doesn't mean it gets extra abilities or rights. The authors own the rights to the book which they then transfer/license/sell to the publisher, who then sells a usage license to amazon and/or the end user. As such, they can dictate how their product is used, just like software.
Personally, I don't see the difference between a recording of someone reading a book (audiobook) and a text to speech function. The only difference is the device (man vs machine) used to convert the text to audio.
It's the same reason why I cannot take a move, turn it into a book and sell it as my own. Also, if you ever watch NFL football, at the end it has this legal blurb about not offering reviews, transcription etc without the express written consent of the NFL. Same thing. The creator owns the rights to work, no matter what format it is in.