FukDatShhh.CoM

Kindle 2

Hey, so does the Kindle 2’s Read to Me text-to-speech feature really infringe on authors’ copyrights?

It’s nice to be back! It’s been a while.

Yeah yeah. Get to it.

Okay, so the issue is that the Kindle 2’s Read to Me feature obviously threatens the audiobook market, and while at first blush it seems like the Authors Guild has a pretty weak case when executive director Paul Aiken says things like “They don’t have the right to read a book out loud,” it’s not necessarily as ridiculous as it seems.

Yeah, that’s totally ridiculous! Wait, what?

Well, think about it this way — once you get it on the Kindle 2, an ebook can serve as both a regular book (that you read) and a recording (that you listen to). What the Authors Guild seems to be saying — in a totally backwards and potentially inaccurate way — is that while Amazon has the rights to sell you the book, it doesn’t have the rights to sell you the recording.

Are you seriously saying that I don’t have the right to read a book out loud? You crazy.

No, you absolutely have the right to read a book out loud — but you’re not allowed to make recordings of yourself and sell them. That’s something only authors are allowed to do, and it’s hard to have a problem with that. You’d be pretty miffed if someone started selling recorded versions of your blog without compensating you, wouldn’t you?

But the Kindle isn’t playing back recordings — it’s synthesizing sounds based on the words in the book! Isn’t that just a private reading?

Sure, and a MIDI piano isn’t playing back song recordings, it’s just playing notes from a file that sound exactly like the sound recording, right?

This is actually pretty tough stuff — as far as edge cases go, this one pushes right up against the boundaries of the current law. On one hand, you definitely have the right to read books that you own out loud using whatever tools you want, and on the other, authors definitely have the right to prevent others from selling audio versions of their works. The Kindle’s text-to-speech feature blurs the lines between books and recordings, and that means those two rights are in conflict with each other.

Come on, text-to-speech has been around forever! What’s next, suing Apple for MacInTalk?

It’s always gotta be Apple, doesn’t it?

Answer the question, smartass.

Well, sure, you can buy ebooks and play them back using OS X’s text-to-speech voices. But here’s the thing — no one really does that, so no one cares. The Kindle is the first major text-to-speech device that could impact audiobook sales, so it’s not surprising it’s the first to garner this kind of scrutiny. Remember: just because someone can file a lawsuit doesn’t mean they have to.

Okay, but who’s honestly going to choose the Kindle’s computer voice over a real person reading an audiobook?

You’re right, nothing’s ever going to compare to a real live person reading to you, but it’s not like technology ever stops progressing — while the Kindle 2’s voice isn’t the best, we’d bet almost anything that the Kindle 5 or the Kindle 10 will be more than adequate for a lot of people. Remember, people happily listen to 128kbps MP3s through crappy iPod headphones all day long — eventually the quality tipping point will come, and the Authors Guild is just trying to protect its own before they get totally bowled over.

So basically Amazon just has to pay up?

Well, maybe — it’s not exactly terrific public policy to say that text should be considered a recording as well, especially given the prevalence and intrinsic value of computerized text-to-speech. We’d say that means Amazon should fight this one out, honestly, but that doesn’t mean Jeff Bezos won’t just cut a check and make this all go away for now. You can do that when you’re Amazon.

Look, just make this easy for me: who should I flame in comments? That’s all I really need to know.

Doesn’t matter — we read everything back in the OS X “Princess” voice anyway, tough guy.

Thanks again to Matt Gavronski of Michael Best & Friedrich for his assistance!

Miri Ben-Ari, a Grammy Award-Winning violinist, originally from Israel, dedicates her rendition of the National Anthem titled Stand With Me, a music video in support of the Democratic Presidential Candidate Sen. Barack Obama. Supported by Hip Hop mogul Russell Simmons and fashion designer Marc Eckó, Ben-Ari introduces a new musical approach to capture the spirit of the American people before the 2008 Election Day.

When the savings and loan industry collapsed, Keating’s failed company put taxpayers on the hook for $3.4 billion and more than 20,000 Americans lost their savings. John McCain was reprimanded by the bipartisan Senate Ethics Committee, but the ultimate cost of the crisis to American taxpayers reached more than $120 billion.

The Keating scandal is eerily similar to today’s credit crisis, where a lack of regulation and cozy relationships between the financial industry and Congress has allowed banks to make risky loans and profit by bending the rules. And in both cases, John McCain’s judgment and values have placed him on the wrong side of history.

Source: Keating Economics

Police are warning people not to give financial information to companies that call saying their car warranties are about to expire and encouraging them to buy extended ones.

Brian Meyers, spokesman for the Maitland Police Department, sent out an e-mail alert about the calls last week.

Meyers noted that he has even gotten some of the calls himself.

“They started on my cell phone,” he said. “It’s a private number, because I don’t have a house phone, so I don’t know how they got it.”

Meyers looked into the bothersome phone calls after co-workers and Maitland residents sent him e-mails inquiring about them. He said they were more annoyed by the calls than concerned.

He noted that people can try calling the numbers back to remove themselves from the companies’ call lists, though many times people get recordings saying the numbers have been disconnected.

Companies warning people their warranties are about to expire and offering to sell them new ones have been the subject of an investigation and lawsuits in Missouri. John Fougere, press secretary for the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, said his office has received complaints from across the country.

Attorney General Jay Nixon launched “Operation Taken for a Ride” in March, filing lawsuits against eight companies accused of sending out mailers as well as calling people nationwide to trick them into buying Motor Vehicle Extended Service Contracts. The contracts are similar to car warranties, except they aren’t being offered by the manufacturers or dealers as salespeople imply, Fougere said.

Because the companies use the fear of a supposedly expiring warranty to pressure quick buys of MVESCs, victims have wasted thousands on the unnecessary contracts.

“Say your actual warranty still has another two years to go,” Fougere said. “You end up paying $2,500 for something you don’t even need due to the misrepresentation and high-pressure sales tactics.”

Users have also voiced concern about complaint Web sites such as 800notes.com and whocalledme.com that information given to the companies could be used to steal victims’ money or identities.

Terence McElroy, spokesman for Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, warns against giving any personal information to callers.

“The advice we give people is, unless you initiated the call, do not give financial information to someone over the phone who claims to be a representative from any organization,” McElroy said.

Complaints about the phone calls can be filed with the FCC via their Web site at esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm.

Story from: OrlandoSentinel.com