Kindle Loses Its Voice

• Report this Comment On March 02, 2009, at 2:15 PM, gslusher wrote:

  What makes this truly silly is that there have been automatic text readers for decades. Ray Kurzweil, one of my "almost-classmates" at MIT (he graduated a year after I did), invented a reader for the blind in *1975*. It used a scanner and had a built-in computer. Today, the job is done by software. In 2006, Kurzweil and the National Federation of the Blind introduced the Kurzweil–National Federation of the Blind Reader, which is essentially a PDA with a camera that can read almost anything the camera sees--including printed books. Why aren't the authors going after Kurzweil and the National Federation of the Blind?

• Report this Comment On March 02, 2009, at 2:52 PM, TMFBent wrote:

  "Why aren't the authors going after Kurzweil and the National Federation of the Blind?"

  2 suggested reasons:

  1) no deep pockets like Amazon's

  2) (the real one) picking on blind people would be REALLY bad PR.

  but I'm with you, this is just plain silly.

• Report this Comment On March 02, 2009, at 6:46 PM, msmarsa wrote:

  I have had my Kindle 1 less than a year and have purchased over 300 books. I just purchased a Kindle 2 and passed 1st one to Hubby so that number should double this year. 6 months ago each of us bought an Ipod to listen to Audible Books and we have purchased over 100 in that short time. Plus we still buy "Real" books for ourselves, our children, granchildren, and our friends.

  I will no longer EVER purchase a book by an author than refuses to allow the Text to Speech function.

  I only use that function when I am brushing teeth, putting on makeup or something that doesn't take long. For long term listening I buy the Audible version with a narrator that doesn't sound mechanical. But even if my favorite authors don't honor the function - they will never seen another dime of my money.

  What I don't understand is I could hook up anyones Ipod to my computer giving out virtually 100's of books, either burn, loan or sell books on CD's, and with real books you can loan and sell the books and the author gets nothing. With Kindle it is just for me as you can't pass along the ebook. No selling, no loaning, no copying of any kind. And the Authors want to punish me for getting through their book a little faster so I can purchase another book even sooner than planned. Fine. It won't be their book!

• Report this Comment On March 02, 2009, at 8:16 PM, invaluewetrust wrote:

  Well said msmarsma! I will join you in your boycott! Damn, those publishers are stupid.

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