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(Mis)Uses of Technology

by Mike Masnick

Tue, Aug 24th 2010 5:03pm




Filed Under:
copyright, ebooks, ipad, text to speech

Companies:
amazon, apple, authors guild


Why Hasn't The Authors Guild Freaked Out About iPad Ebook Text-to-Speech?

from the inquiring-minds-want-to-know dept

Back in March, we pointed out how odd it was that the Authors Guild hadn't freaked out about the text-to-speech capabilities of the iPad, which would allow for ebooks to be read aloud. Of course, this was the same feature on the Kindle which caused the Authors Guild to freak out (with absolutely no legal basis), leading Amazon to make that feature optional.

It appears others are noticing this strange silence on the part of the Authors Guild. David Pogue, over at the NY Times wonders if the Authors Guild just wasn't paying attention:
This is exactly the feature that debuted in the Amazon Kindle and was then removed when publishers screamed bloody murder. But somehow, so far, Apple has gotten away with it, maybe because nobody's even realized this feature is in there.

14 Comments | Leave a Comment

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  1.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Aug 24th, 2010 @ 5:12pm

    Pretty much every computer or smartphone has text to speech built in...

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  
    icon
    Pierre Wolff (profile), Aug 24th, 2010 @ 5:26pm

    given the ratio of eBooks sold for the iPad vs. the Kindle, i'm not surprised no one noticed ;)

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  
    icon
    Sam K (profile), Aug 24th, 2010 @ 5:39pm

    There is a strong cross correlation between being a professional creative and being an Apple fanboi. I would not be surprised at all if "Steve jobs can no no wrong" was a strong contributing factor in their acceptance of the iPad's text-to-speech features.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  
    icon
    Sam_K (profile), Aug 24th, 2010 @ 5:45pm

    Re:

    Dang it! I meant to type "Steve Jobs can do no wrong"

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  
    identicon
    hans, Aug 24th, 2010 @ 6:24pm

    Not sure it was "removed"

    I'm pretty sure the text-to-speech was not removed, but merely made into a publisher controlled feature. (That way the blind can hate the publishers instead of Amazon!)

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  6.  
    icon
    Cynyr (profile), Aug 24th, 2010 @ 6:24pm

    Re: Re:

    "Steve jobs can no no wrong" is about right some times... like how my 2 year old would say it.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  7.  
    icon
    Chris Eastvedt (profile), Aug 24th, 2010 @ 7:49pm

    The Author's Guild got a bunch of flack from the visually impaired community the first time around. They probably got tired of being called douchebags and decided to let this one go.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  8.  
    icon
    drm made me into a pirate (profile), Aug 25th, 2010 @ 1:36am

    hardcore itardation

    itardation is spreading into hollywood

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  9.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Aug 25th, 2010 @ 2:30am

    Somewhere in his evil layer Steve Jobs laughs.

    "Muwhahahahaha!"

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  10.  
    icon
    Sean T Henry (profile), Aug 25th, 2010 @ 5:59am

    Answer

    The reason why they did not fight it is, they are to busy preparing to fight electronic braille.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  11.  
    identicon
    Pixelation, Aug 25th, 2010 @ 7:29am

    Waiting to sue Apple

    They have decided to put it off until the lawsuit becomes really lucrative. They want a big bite.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  12.  
    icon
    Hephaestus (profile), Aug 25th, 2010 @ 8:15am

    Re:

    "The Author's Guild got a bunch of flack from the visually impaired community the first time around."

    Funny thing that ... telling blind people they are shit out of luck and can't text to speech because the authors guild wants to SEE more profits.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  13.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Aug 25th, 2010 @ 8:17am

    Because they know Jobs has enough money to fight God in a court of law and win. If they take the fight to Jobs and lose, it would set precendence to all ebook manufacturers to put in text-to-speech software.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  14.  
    icon
    Hephaestus (profile), Aug 25th, 2010 @ 8:18am

    Re: Not sure it was "removed"

    Reminds me of an old joke .....

    Why do the heads of the Authors Guild smell?

    So blind people can hate them also.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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