| TECH EDGE
By John M. Williams
I believe that everyone has a right to read in formats that address their learning process. I also respect an author’s right to be paid when his or her works are published in an audio book format.
The audio technology for books on the market provides millions of people, just in the United States, with access to books, magazines, newspapers and other content that enriches their lives and provides them with job opportunities.
The Kindle 2, available exclusively from Amazon.com, is a small handheld e-book reader with a text-to-speech function that provides information to individuals with print disabilities and to individuals without print challenge. A robotic voice reads the content. Users can download books, magazines, newspapers and other content for a fee.
The robotic reader has sparked a controversy between the Author’s Guild of America and Amazon.com. The Guild objects to Amazon adding the speech function that it says converts e-books into audio books. The Guild claims the text-to-speech function violates copyright law. Such conversion the Guild says deprives authors of their royalties. Because of this controversy, Amazon gave writers the ability to disable the speech function for individual titles.
In fact, Guild President Roy Blount Jr. wrote an opinion column in the New York Times denouncing the function. He pointed out that audio books amounted to 25% of a writer’s profits, and a text-to-speech feature would enable people to get audio content without paying for it.
Amazon replied, “Kindle 2’s experimental text-to-speech feature is legal: no copy is made, no derivative work is created and no performance is being given. Nevertheless, we strongly believe many rights holders will be more comfortable with the text-to-speech feature if they are in the driver’s seat.”
“The Kindle 2 can be the greatest communication access tool ever invented for blind people,” says 36-year-old Melissa Davis. “Being blind used to be a serious impediment for me. Audio books have eliminated that impediment.” Davis says she intends to purchase the Kindle 2 once the controversy surrounding it has been resolved.
Blind people are not the only disability group that can benefit from the Kindle 2’s speech feature. Paul Kelley has a learning disability. He learns and remembers by hearing. On the Kindle 2, he says, “The speech function enhances my education opportunity. I can afford the Kindle 2 but I can’t afford a computer. The Guild’s opposition to this speech service is interfering with my future.”
Terri Weiss uses a wheelchair. She has limited mobility in her hands and can’t turn pages. An ardent reader, she says of the Kindle 2, “Hearing a book reduces the energy I spend trying to read the book.”
One senior citizen is voicing his support of the Guild’s copyright stand regarding the Kindle 2.
Seventy-year-old Thomas Mason says, “Reading is one of the great joys of my life. A talking Kindle 2 would add to that joy.” But Mason won’t buy a Kindle 2 until this issue is resolved to his satisfaction. He believes, “Amazon should pay the writer a royalty.”
Mason and other advocates wonder why publishers providing books in different accessible formats are not protesting Amazon’s position and that of the Author’s Guild. A retired CFO, Mason says, “Publishers whose books can’t be downloaded onto the Kindle 2 because of this audio controversy between Amazon and the Author’s Guild are losing money. They should be leading the charge against both to resolve this issue.”
Tricia Roth, chief executive officer of www.readhowyouwant.com, a company that works with publishers to convert their content to accessible formats, says, “Technology now makes it possible for content to be made accessible for print disabled readers at the time of publication. This needs to be done in cooperation with publishers and authors. It will be unfortunate if the Kindle 2 controversy polarizes the discussion between the disability and the publishing communities, rather than leading to a mutually beneficial discussion that would make more books readily available in libraries, bookstores and on-line for readers who require a format other than a standard printed book.”
(Neither Amazon nor the Author’s Guild responded to my calls regarding this article.) One way to resolve this controversy is to charge additional money for downloading a book and pay the authors the extra money. The person downloading the book could have the option of paying more if audio is required. However, this approach can lead to a charge of discrimination.
A second approach is for the Guild to drop its demands for royalties. Adding a speech function does not make the book an audio book. Audio books are bought separately and usually have a professional actor’s or the author’s voice reading them.
The courts may ultimately have to settle this dispute.
Meanwhile, people who can benefit from the speaking function on the Kindle 2 are not benefiting as long as authors can refuse to let Kindle 2 have access to their books. They are being denied the right to read and the career opportunities that accompany reading. This is wrong.
Reasonable people should reach an agreement on this issue immediately.
John Williams has been writing about disability issues since 1978. He can be reached at jwilliams@verizon.net.
