Will lawyers kill the Kindle?

The Kindle now talks - 
and that's a good thing.

Amazon’s Kindle, for those unfamiliar with it, is a remarkable eBook reading device. Unlike laptop computers, it uses a kind of display called e-ink or e-paper that is a true reflective display. Though it only display gray scale (16 shades), it looks and works just like a printed page. And because of it’s unique technology and lack of backlight, it only draws power while the contents are changing – so you can use the Kindle for days between charges. With capacity for up to 1500 books, and the size and thickness of a magazine, the Kindle has become popular with avid readers – particularly those who travel and can’t lug books around (and can thus justify the $359 price tag).

So where do the lawyers come in?

The newest version of the Kindle includes text-to-speech technology – the ability to read the book to you in a male or female choice. This has annoyed the Author’s Guild who suggest that this may be a copyright violation.

They’re wrong, but their announcement is exactly the kind of thing that might attract lawyers for a frivolous and costly lawsuit, in the process possibly denying customers a really cool feature, and ironically, authors a new source of revenue.

Why the author’s guild is doing this is unstated but obvious – they are afraid it will cut into sales of audio books. And they are right – while text-to-speech is nowhere as good as an audio book presentation, it can address certain situations where people might purchase an audio-book. For example: you could have your Kindle read to you while driving, or listen to it in a darkened airplane cabin during a long flight. It can also be of huge benefit to the visually impaired.

What is puzzling is the claim of the author’s guild that they are trying to protect authors. Any author will tell you that the amount of revenue they get from a book is a very small portion of the price. In fact, the text-to-speech feature is as likely to increase author revenues. Why? Because now authors will be able to enjoy “audio” revenue on books that do not have audio versions. In fact, it seems the stand of the Author’s Guild only serves to protect audio book publishers – whose products are very profitable.

I hope Amazon.com will stand by their decision to include Text-to-speech features in the new Kindle. Shame on the Author’s Guild for taking a stand that is not in the interests of the vast majority of authors.