Kindle: Text-to-speech disabling has arrived

[zadriel]

Okay guys, lets brainstorm some ways to re-enable TTS on these books. Anyone with less than public suggestions please send the strip DRM or other suggestions to me via PM. I am really wanting to fix this cause this is the ONLY reason I bought the Kindle was to have this feature and the fast downloads. Your help appreciated! I will consider posting the info on an out of US server too to help others.

[wallcraft]

[Post deleted by moderator]

Sorry, folks, but this type of post is only going to get us all into hot water. We would appreciate it if if you'd confine this type of discussion to PM.

Thanks,

Moderator

[elmoglick]

[Post deleted by moderator]

Please see the previous post.

Thanks,

Moderator

[sirbruce]

Wow, so all this handwringing over TTS is (practically speaking) much ado about nothing...

Is Amazon going to send a cease-and-desist about mobi2mobi now?

[Gideon]

Personally, I'm just going to boycott the authors who went along with this.

This is really just spitting in the face of special needs folks... I spent a bit of time blind this year, oddly enough as I awaited my Kindle 2 - really wished I had it then. Neil Gaiman really explained it well. This should be challenged under ADA.

[wallcraft]

I have added the TTS flag (type number 404) to MOBI: EXTH Header in the wiki.

There are tools that modify, or delete, an EXTH record without effecting the encryption of a DRM ridden MOBI/AZW (Search Forums: EXTH).

[tompe]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

I have added the TTS flag (type number 404) to MOBI: EXTH Header in the wiki.

There are tools that modify an EXTH record without effecting the encryption of a DRM ridden MOBI/AZW (Search Forums: EXTH).

The documentation is not compleat. So what is the possible values of the flag?

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by Gideon

I spent a bit of time blind this year, oddly enough as I awaited my Kindle 2 - really wished I had it then.

Gideon, since you had the experience I'm hoping you can answer a question that has bothered me in the TTS debate: When blind, how did you access the TTS function or the book on the Kindle? I'm asking because nowhere to my knowledge has there been a mention of a special access button or that the Kindle function buttons/keypad offer Braille.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by tompe

The documentation is not compleat. So what is the possible values of the flag?

I'm not sure, when I ran mobi2mobi the value came back as a smiley character.

This is a new flag, and in general the ebooks that allow TTS don't even have an EXTH record 404. So a missing 404 means TTS is allowed. There may also be a value for the 404 record that allows TTS, but someone with a Kindle 2 would have to experiment (or find an AZW ebook which allows TTS but with a 404 flag).

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by rhadin

Gideon, since you had the experience I'm hoping you can answer a question that has bothered me in the TTS debate: When blind, how did you access the TTS function or the book on the Kindle? I'm asking because nowhere to my knowledge has there been a mention of a special access button or that the Kindle function buttons/keypad offer Braille.

I'd like to hear the answer to that, too. Blind people actually come up with some fairly ingenious ways of doing things (out of necessity, of course). It wouldn't surprise me at all if there was some way to do it.

The person I know who would be interested in the Kindle is legally blind, but does have some measure of vision (20/400, I think...). He would be able to use the Kindle's interface by using a CCTV to look at the screen when he needed to.

[zadriel]

Would appreciate a "how to" reset the TTS flag on all kindle books. Please PM it to me and I'll try to figure out where to host it that it won't have trouble. Although I don't think Amazon will go after this one, as they are only doing it to make the publishers happy and think we should have access.

Again, if you have a tutorial shoot it to me PM and I'll find a safe place to host it for all who want it.

[JSWolf]

Has anyone stripped the DRM from a TTS disabled AZW and then tried it to find out if the TTS works?

[Gideon]

You learn to figure out where things are, what sequence to put into things, etc.

I spent only a few days truly "blind" but spend a few weeks with almost no vision at all. Many legally blind people are like that - they can see very little, but they'd be able to turn on the audio on the Kindle. I was able to operate my iphone a bit and do other things when I was only 'mostly blind.'

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by fugazied

Well it's not Amazon's fault so much as it is the fault of the specific publisher.
Publishers are still terrified of the internet/ebooks and how it affects their copyright it seems.

It is true that Amazon doesn't make the decision about TTS, but that is not to say they are neutral about it: they own Audible, and they also sell audiobooks (CDs) on Amazon. So depending on whether it has any effect on their overall sales, they may encourage publishers in one way or the other.

What I hope we don't see is TTS getting turned off when there is no audiobook available or planned.

Recorded performances are certainly intellectual property worthy of protection by copyright law. However saying that TTS infringes upon their rights is dubious, and I hope someone is taking this to court to challenge it. If someone recorded the TTS and tried to sell or distribute this performance without permission, it would clearly violate the law, but otherwise parents reading stories to their children at bedtime need to be sued or thrown in jail also. Or at least that is how I hope the courts will eventually rule.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by Gideon

You learn to figure out where things are, what sequence to put into things, etc.

I spent only a few days truly "blind" but spend a few weeks with almost no vision at all. Many legally blind people are like that - they can see very little, but they'd be able to turn on the audio on the Kindle. I was able to operate my iphone a bit and do other things when I was only 'mostly blind.'

Thanks for the response, Gideon. It seems to me that what is really warranted is a dual-action brought against both the publishers/authors and against Amazon -- the publishers/authors for turning off TTS and Amazon for not designing the Kindle so that a completely blind person could easily make use of the TTS.