Authors Guild and Amazon Disagree Over Kindle's Text-to-Speech Software
By Lynn Andriani -- Publishers Weekly, 2/12/2009

The Authors Guild is warning its members that Kindle 2’s Text-to-Speech function is an unauthorized use of audio rights and may be “undermining” publishers' audio markets. The organization today sent an alert to members and posted the alert on its website. But Amazon spokesperson Andrew Herdener said Text-to-Speech is legal.

The alert says that Kindle 2’s Text-to-Speech function, which reads an e-book aloud, “presents a significant challenge to the publishing industry.” It advises members that haven’t already granted e-book rights to backlist or other titles to hold off. “If you have a new book contract and are negotiating your e-book rights, make sure Amazon’s use of those rights is part of the dialog,” It also says that publishers could prohibit Amazon from adding audio functionality to their e-books without authorization, and that Amazon could comply by adding a software tag that would prohibit Kindle from creating an audio version of a book unless Amazon has acquired the appropriate rights.

Full story at PW.