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Originally Posted by ProDigit
What's wrong with the device's ability to read text aloud?
Did I miss something?
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Apparently Author's were bestowed "Audio Rights". I naively thought they only had Copyright related to the approved audio performance of their work but they were obviously granted "Audio Rights" because publishers have been writing it into legal contracts.
My understanding is when you purchase an electronic book you have purchased the rights for the hardware/software to render the text into a presentation layer that light waves can bounce off of and be captured by your eyes. You didn't purchase the rights for the hardware/software to render the text into a presentation layer where audio waves bounce into your ears. This must be in the fine print of the contract when you click on the "Buy" button because I don't remember reading it.
I'm not sure if the "Audio Right" is related to the frequency of the wave forms involved or if it's because they're being captured by ear drums instead of retinas. Probably a combination of both. Regardless these differences are apparently worth tons of money and there will be endless court battles.
It was not just myself that was confused about all this. Amazon apparently didn't know this when they added text to speech functionality to the Kindle.