the Kindle 2 Controversy: Amazon Gives In

Apparently all it takes is an Opp Ed piece in the New York Times for Amazon to give into ridiculous demands. On February 27, Amazon released an official statement that they will be allowing the publishers to decide on a book by book basis if the text to speech feature can be used. They will be altering the software on the Kindle 2 to make sure that people can only use the text to speech feature if the publisher okays it. I am frankly angered and appalled Amazon has the ability to have stood up to the Author's Guild, and they chose not to. To read the official statement and to read some great comments to their decision visit this link.

At this point I am considering not buying books from Amazon, and I'm really thinking about never ordering a book on Audible. Maybe if enough people get angry and don't by the Kindle 2 or purchase books from Amazon, they'll change their tune. Another option though is to tell Amazon how we feel. There is currently a petition asking Amazon to make the Kindle fully accessible to the blind and low vision communities. I really would appreciate it if people would sign the petition. I want to believe that Amazon cares about their customers, and if they do than they'll want their products to work for everyone. Here is the link to the petition.

Let's all keep our fingers crossed that most publishers won't have a problem with the text to speech feature, and in the end, the Authors Guild's original complaint will have changed nothing.