Firmware Update Kindle 2.0.3 officially disables TTS

demoric · 08-02-2009, 11:14 AM

Now that I have 2 Kindle 2's in my household I have been able to test the often held suspicion that the 2.0.3 firmware added text to speach disabling to the system.

My wife prefers to have all of her electronics un-modified, I myself just love to tinker. My firmware is 2.0.2 with various mods installed, my wife's was a plain K2 that started with firmware 2.0.0 as it was from the factory, but was updated to 2.0.3.

To test the theory out I purchased a couple of books that Amazon has listed as text to speach disabled. They were in fact disabled on the Kindle with 2.0.3, but the older firmware had no such restrictions.

My advice to new Kindle owners is to manually update to 2.0.2 and then install the screen saver modification or font mod, and keep it at that version. Firmware 2.0.3 seems to do nothing but remove TTS, disable USB networking in debug mode, and I don't notice any difference in the contrast between units so that aspect is still up for debate.

wallcraft · 08-02-2009, 11:34 AM

Or continue to update the firmware and disable the TTS flag in individual AZW ebooks using (say) mobi2mobi from MobiPerl. Note that practically everyone, including Amazon, agrees that TTS is perfectly legal in the US.

daffy4u · 08-02-2009, 12:39 PM

I have 2.0.3 and TTS still works for me. I just tried it again with "The Stand" which is labeled as TTS disabled (and a book that Amazon removed and replaced on my Kindle). It still works for me. Maybe some books work and other don't regardless of the TTS Not Enabled label.

demoric · 08-02-2009, 01:29 PM

@Daffy: See if Darkfever works for you in TTS if you would, its a free ebook. I'm just curious.

@wallcraft: Thanks for mentioning mobiperl, I forgot to mention that option. As for myself I'm awaiting a firmware update that does something useful besides just add in restrictions. Although for my wife the mobiperl is a good way to allow her to get full use of her ebooks. She reads and listens to novels while at work depending on how much attention is needed.

daffy4u · 08-02-2009, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by demoric

@Daffy: See if Darkfever works for you in TTS if you would, its a free ebook. I'm just curious.

With Darkfeaver, I don't have the option to turn on TTS though I do with The Stand. Interesting.

daffy4u · 08-02-2009, 08:36 PM

Good news. I finally got around to trying out the new Mobi2Mobi GUI and can tell you the 2.0.3 update is no barrier for TTS (not even Darkfever could withstand a couple of clicks

).

demoric · 08-02-2009, 11:58 PM

Thanks for verifying that Daffy that's good news. (one of these days I'm gonna have to see about making a python GUI to work with non-Windows systems.)

daffy4u · 08-03-2009, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by demoric

Thanks for verifying that Daffy that's good news. (one of these days I'm gonna have to see about making a python GUI to work with non-Windows systems.)

I'm sure there is a command line way to do it but someone else will have to point the way.

fugazied · 08-03-2009, 09:38 PM

I'm pretty sure the publishers tell Amazon to jump and Amazon says "How high?"

I think it's ludicrous that publishers think TTS is a threat to Audiobooks or Movies or other adaptions of the original book. Maybe in 5 years when the voice doesn't sound like a robot, but as for now I'd rather listen to an audiobook read by Matt Damon or Morgan Freeman (which I usually buy from audible).

daffy4u · 08-03-2009, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fugazied

I'm pretty sure the publishers tell Amazon to jump and Amazon says "How high?"

I think it's ludicrous that publishers think TTS is a threat to Audiobooks or Movies or other adaptions of the original book. Maybe in 5 years when the voice doesn't sound like a robot, but as for now I'd rather listen to an audiobook read by Matt Damon or Morgan Freeman (which I usually buy from audible).

As I recall it was the Authors Guild who put the pressure on both the Publishers and Amazon.

elmoglick · 08-04-2009, 01:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daffy4u

I have 2.0.3 and TTS still works for me. I just tried it again with "The Stand" which is labeled as TTS disabled (and a book that Amazon removed and replaced on my Kindle). It still works for me. Maybe some books work and other don't regardless of the TTS Not Enabled label.

Did you originally purchase the Stand before they announced the TTS restrictions? If so, your downloads of that book will continue to be TTS-enabled.

El

daffy4u · 08-04-2009, 01:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elmoglick

Did you originally purchase the Stand before they announced the TTS restrictions? If so, your downloads of that book will continue to be TTS-enabled.

El

I did but the copy I have now is the corrected one. Amazon sent an email asking me to delete the copy I had and download the newly corrected one, so I assume, it would have TTS disabled.

demoric · 08-07-2009, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daffy4u

I did but the copy I have now is the corrected one. Amazon sent an email asking me to delete the copy I had and download the newly corrected one, so I assume, it would have TTS disabled.

I assume this was after the refund and forced deletion of Nineteen Eighty-Four on many users kindles. It's nice to see that they are doing things in a friendlier manner, instead of just treating your purchases as just data, and not something that a person owns.

daffy4u · 08-07-2009, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by demoric

I assume this was after the refund and forced deletion of Nineteen Eighty-Four on many users kindles. It's nice to see that they are doing things in a friendlier manner, instead of just treating your purchases as just data, and not something that a person owns.

Nope, it was prior (July 6, 2009). That's why I was confused by the whole 1984 thing. I was contacted and asked to remove the book. In this case though, they just wanted to replace it with a corrected copy, not remove it forever. There was no refund.

Connallmac · 08-07-2009, 06:37 PM

I had complained to Amazon back in March that The Stand crashed my Kindle 2. I had read 90% of it, and then it caused the Kindle to lock up and not be able to display any other files. I confused the heck out of tech support who thought it was an issue with the Kindle, but I pointed out to them that it was fine once I deleted The Stand from it. I didn't hear back from them for about two weeks, and when I finally did they called at about 10:20pm Eastern time, which got me out of bed. They gave me the option of a refund or just waiting for the publisher to fix the file. I chose to wait, as I have long been a fan of The Stand, but if ever there was a novel that cried out to be an ebook, that is it!

08-02-2009, 11:14 AM	#1
demoric Kindle 2 User Posts: 98 Karma: 496 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: S.E. Kansas Device: Kindle 2	Kindle 2.0.3 officially disables TTS Now that I have 2 Kindle 2's in my household I have been able to test the often held suspicion that the 2.0.3 firmware added text to speach disabling to the system. My wife prefers to have all of her electronics un-modified, I myself just love to tinker. My firmware is 2.0.2 with various mods installed, my wife's was a plain K2 that started with firmware 2.0.0 as it was from the factory, but was updated to 2.0.3. To test the theory out I purchased a couple of books that Amazon has listed as text to speach disabled. They were in fact disabled on the Kindle with 2.0.3, but the older firmware had no such restrictions. My advice to new Kindle owners is to manually update to 2.0.2 and then install the screen saver modification or font mod, and keep it at that version. Firmware 2.0.3 seems to do nothing but remove TTS, disable USB networking in debug mode, and I don't notice any difference in the contrast between units so that aspect is still up for debate.

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08-02-2009, 11:34 AM	#2
wallcraft reader Posts: 6,975 Karma: 5183568 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Mississippi, USA Device: Kindle 3, Kobo Glo HD	Or continue to update the firmware and disable the TTS flag in individual AZW ebooks using (say) mobi2mobi from MobiPerl. Note that practically everyone, including Amazon, agrees that TTS is perfectly legal in the US.

08-02-2009, 12:39 PM	#3
daffy4u I'm Super Kindle-icious Posts: 6,734 Karma: 2434103 Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Long Drive, Calinadia Candafornia Device: KDXG, KT, Oasis	I have 2.0.3 and TTS still works for me. I just tried it again with "The Stand" which is labeled as TTS disabled (and a book that Amazon removed and replaced on my Kindle). It still works for me. Maybe some books work and other don't regardless of the TTS Not Enabled label.

08-02-2009, 01:29 PM	#4
demoric Kindle 2 User Posts: 98 Karma: 496 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: S.E. Kansas Device: Kindle 2	@Daffy: See if Darkfever works for you in TTS if you would, its a free ebook. I'm just curious. @wallcraft: Thanks for mentioning mobiperl, I forgot to mention that option. As for myself I'm awaiting a firmware update that does something useful besides just add in restrictions. Although for my wife the mobiperl is a good way to allow her to get full use of her ebooks. She reads and listens to novels while at work depending on how much attention is needed.

08-02-2009, 08:36 PM	#6
daffy4u I'm Super Kindle-icious Posts: 6,734 Karma: 2434103 Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Long Drive, Calinadia Candafornia Device: KDXG, KT, Oasis	Good news. I finally got around to trying out the new Mobi2Mobi GUI and can tell you the 2.0.3 update is no barrier for TTS (not even Darkfever could withstand a couple of clicks ).

08-02-2009, 11:58 PM	#7
demoric Kindle 2 User Posts: 98 Karma: 496 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: S.E. Kansas Device: Kindle 2	Thanks for verifying that Daffy that's good news. (one of these days I'm gonna have to see about making a python GUI to work with non-Windows systems.)

08-03-2009, 09:38 PM	#9
fugazied Wizard Posts: 1,305 Karma: 1958 Join Date: Jan 2009 Device: iPod Touch	I'm pretty sure the publishers tell Amazon to jump and Amazon says "How high?" I think it's ludicrous that publishers think TTS is a threat to Audiobooks or Movies or other adaptions of the original book. Maybe in 5 years when the voice doesn't sound like a robot, but as for now I'd rather listen to an audiobook read by Matt Damon or Morgan Freeman (which I usually buy from audible).

08-07-2009, 06:37 PM	#15
Connallmac Transplanted NYer Posts: 455 Karma: 520286 Join Date: May 2009 Location: Eastern IN Device: Kindle Fire HD 8.9", Kindle Fire HD 7", Kindle Touch	I had complained to Amazon back in March that The Stand crashed my Kindle 2. I had read 90% of it, and then it caused the Kindle to lock up and not be able to display any other files. I confused the heck out of tech support who thought it was an issue with the Kindle, but I pointed out to them that it was fine once I deleted The Stand from it. I didn't hear back from them for about two weeks, and when I finally did they called at about 10:20pm Eastern time, which got me out of bed. They gave me the option of a refund or just waiting for the publisher to fix the file. I chose to wait, as I have long been a fan of The Stand, but if ever there was a novel that cried out to be an ebook, that is it!