Kindle 2.0's Read-To-Me Raises Hell

Talk about having a short honeymoon. You thought Barack Obama had a short honeymoon? Think again. Amazon Kindle 2G is already taking heat for its innovative Read-To-Me feature. I get what Jeff Bezos was trying to accomplish by adding Read-To-Me feature to Kindle 2.0. The truth is we as a people are finding new ways to consume content. We want to watch video training programs instead of reading books. We want to listen to pod-casts and audio-books instead of reading blogs and regular books. So the Read-to-Me feature is not only a great accessibility feature, but it’s also allows us to multi-task more effectively. Now you can listen to your book and check you e-mail messages at the same time.

The problem? Authors Guild. I am sure those guys want to protect the work of folks who spend so much time to develop their works, but to even suggest that Amazon’s Read-To-Me feature makes audio-books out of e-books is simply ridiculous. The book is read by a computer program and in form or shape capable of topping the quality of a professionally composed audio-book. I am sure a lot of folks want to sue Amazon and make some quick cash, but you’ve got to have a better excuse to do that. I am all for protecting the work done by authors, composers, musicians, and everyone in between, but sometimes these silly laws get in the way of innovation. For ours and Amazon’s sakes, let’s hope there is no hefty lawsuit in the horizon.

What do you think? Who’s on the right side here?