Kindle 2 Text To Speech Changes

One of the most interesting features of the new Kindle 2 has to be the text to speech option. This is where a user can toggle between reading a book on their Kindle, to having the book read to them aloud (albeit, by a very computer sounding voice, not a profession narrator). This option is handy during say, a car ride, or even while working instead of listening to a radio. I imagine the feature could be extremely useful to college students, who have to read a large amount of text during cram sessions.

Well, unfortunately, while text to speech is still available on most of the Kindle 2’s offerings, Amazon is no longer making it mandatory, and authors or rights holders to the books will be able to decide if they wish their literature to be include text to speech. Honestly, I can’t imagine why any author would take issue with text to speech, unless, perhaps, they make a good portion of their income from audio book sales. Again though, the text to speech offered by the Kindle is not at the level of a profession narrator, but rather a computerized voice.

The whole thing kind of makes me scratch my head, but certainly doesn’t make me want a Kindle 2 any less!