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catsittingstill · 04-09-2009, 12:04 AM

@Jeffrey--

Thanks for putting up the Author's Guild's press release. Until I read this, and spoke to an author about audio rights last weekend, I didn't really understand what was at stake with the TTS thing.

For an author it can make the difference between being able to put chicken and broccoli on the table, versus living on ramen. Now I understand better why some of them feel so strongly about this. The audio book rights are worth serious money to them.

I think the idea in the press release that TTS should be available for the blind, and that print-disabled people should be able to get Kindles that override TTS restrictions is a good one. If you made those Kindles without e-Ink screens (what good does the screen do a blind person anyway?) and got the TTS to work with the menus and put braille on the keys, you could pretty much guarantee that their use would be restricted to print-disabled people, and they wouldn't be used by sighted people to sneak around the TTS restrictions.

I mean, I like having my book read itself to me while I'm driving, but I wouldn't want it to *only* be read-aloud; I'd rather read for myself when I can, as it's so much quicker.

04-09-2009, 12:04 AM	#14
catsittingstill Guru Posts: 643 Karma: 551634 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Kindle 1.0.8, iPod Touch, Kindle Keyboard	@Jeffrey-- Thanks for putting up the Author's Guild's press release. Until I read this, and spoke to an author about audio rights last weekend, I didn't really understand what was at stake with the TTS thing. For an author it can make the difference between being able to put chicken and broccoli on the table, versus living on ramen. Now I understand better why some of them feel so strongly about this. The audio book rights are worth serious money to them. I think the idea in the press release that TTS should be available for the blind, and that print-disabled people should be able to get Kindles that override TTS restrictions is a good one. If you made those Kindles without e-Ink screens (what good does the screen do a blind person anyway?) and got the TTS to work with the menus and put braille on the keys, you could pretty much guarantee that their use would be restricted to print-disabled people, and they wouldn't be used by sighted people to sneak around the TTS restrictions. I mean, I like having my book read itself to me while I'm driving, but I wouldn't want it to only be read-aloud; I'd rather read for myself when I can, as it's so much quicker.