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Originally Posted by Shaggy
It's not a question of copyright. The Authors/Publishers and Amazon are arguing over the licensing rights to sell the book. Distributors (Amazon, etc) negotiate licenses to sell printed books and audio books separately. This is a contract dispute between the Authors/Publishers and Distributors over whether TTS counts as a sale of a printed book or as a sale of an audio book (which typically has higher licensing costs). It has nothing to do with copyrights or the consumer.
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That's an excellent point Shaggy. Yet I don't know if I would be willing to concede the point that it doesn't have anything to do with copyrights or the consumer. I would still think that when Amazon first provided the TTS feature that their position was that it was NOT an audio book and that the TTS feature didn't transform it into an audio book. However, I still think your point is excellent and that my initial argument was a bit simplistic.
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Originally Posted by =X=
I don't agree with this here, I believe Amazon did not fight this simply because it has nothing to gain.
Put your self in Amazon's shoe. Here is a feature that most consumers don't know exist. And at the moment a good amount don't really care for it. Even if amazon was 100% sure it would win why would it enter a legal battle and pay thousands/millions when there is no consumer demand for it?
Now fast forward time and say Bean creates it's own reader that has built in TTS. And the average consumer starts to buy their books over Amazon because they can not only read their books but also listen to them. Then Amazon might revisit it's policy.
=X=
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I actually agree with you (I think). I believe Amazon included the TTS feature because they believed consumers would find it useful and the feature would thus help them sell more Kindles and eBooks. I believe Amazon also felt that at the time they released the Kindle 2 they were not violating any copyright (or other contract) laws/obligations. However, when the Authors/Publishers started to complain, Amazon had to make a choice between the consumer's desire and the Authors/Publishers. They decided to support the Authors/Publishers for the reasons you provided (thus I agree with you). I was just trying to point out that it doesn't really matter if the consumers or Authors/Publishers are right in terms of copyright because Amazon has the right to decide to back their suppliers and to disable TTS.
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Originally Posted by GeoffC
We could do without the personal attacks ....
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I truly didn't intend to personally attack anyone. I was attempting to provide a little light-hearted ribbing and with absolutely no malice intended. If I offended anyone, especially Jon, I sincerely appologize.