Wild Goose Cafe
Carmel Valley, CA

Okay, let me see if I can get this straight. Roy Blount, Jr., current president of the Author's Guild, is lambasting Amazon's Kindle 2 release because it converts the text of a book into computer-speak.

Says, Mr. Blount:
"The Kindle 2 is a portable, wireless, paperback-size device onto which people can download a virtual library of digitalized titles. Amazon sells these downloads, and where the books are under copyright, it pays royalties to the authors and publishers.

Serves readers, pays writers: so far, so good. But there’s another thing about Kindle 2 — its heavily marketed text-to-speech function. Kindle 2 can read books aloud. And Kindle 2 is not paying anyone for audio rights."

He wants to stop Amazon in its tracks before, God-forbid, the entire audiobook market is destroyed by some high-tech gadget. There are certainly writers who believe he's nuts and wasting his time. Audiobooks are read by ACTORs who are actual HUMANs, and therefore add something to the bookreading experience. A computer voice just doesn't get there.

Neil Gaiman, John Scalzi, Cory Doctorow, and Wil Wheaton have posted comments about the issue, which I've just read. They seem to be on the right side of the fence on this one.

I doubt Amazon has any worries. Just another day at the office for a company that sells zillions of books and audiobooks. Any time a new tech-toy emerges there are those who go bonzo over the prospect of losing something, either real or perceived. For Mr. Blount, Jr., he needs to find another issue on which to spend time and money.