Comments on: Kindle 2.0′s ‘Read to Me’ Text to Speech feature under attack + Video

By: Brenda

Brenda — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 22:25:41 +0000

You already paid for the book. Imagine a world where all books could be read to anyone regardless of their reading issue or disabilities etc. The print industry should be working opening this avenue as an alternative. Within truly reasonable cost. Shame on you for trying to stop progress that could help so many many people. Greedy, Greedy,Greedy

By: Fay

Fay — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 16:06:07 +0000

I have a friend who is blind. When she wants to read a book, she scans in page by page and has narrator read it to her, there needs to be a better way for her.

By: Holli

Holli — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 17:31:26 +0000

I agree! I have 2 children with sever dyslexia, if we could get textbooks that a kindle could read to them that would reduce the amount of time I spend reading their homework to them. I also feel that if they could highlight/underline/boldface the word that is being read it would be of great benefit for struggling readers!

By: Holli

Holli — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 17:25:49 +0000

I’d love to see a good combination of audio book & text especially if it highlighted/enlarged the word that was being read. I have 2 children that are dyslexic and this would greatly improve their desire to enjoy reading rather than see it as a laborious task that has to be done!

By: Kathy

Kathy — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 19:39:24 +0000

This is a great advance for people with severe dyslexia and other reading disorders. The Author’s Guild may find the disability rights people on the other side of this fight.

By: Tina

Tina — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 14:27:48 +0000

I think having the Kindle read to me is great!!! I love it. I listen to it while driving, I listen to it at work and when you have older people whose eyes aren’t the best, having the Kindle read to them is great. Each of my parents have one and I have one and we all love the read to me action. I think it is great for younger kids who can’t read yet.

By: Susan

Susan — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 15:56:32 +0000

My son has severe ADHD, for him, reading and retaining are difficult. He has a degree in Graphic Design because that was a very “hands on” course area. He would love to go back to college and get a degree in Social Work. If he could have a text book that talked, he would be estatic. I am sure there are many others like him that would agree.

By: Deser_dweller

Deser_dweller — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 21:08:31 +0000

This whole thing is a disgrace. Ride the wave of change or drown in it. I can’t believe that publishers are so reluctant to open the market to those who can’t see to read on their own. Many people with visual impairments can’t read, not because they are illiterate, in fact many are literate in 2 languages, braile and their native tongue. It doesn’t make any business sense to try to limit this stuff. let’s face it. when the economy is down and people can’t afford tv or movies to watch, what do they have left for media? Books and periodicals, probably the web, After along hard day of working the last thing you want to do is get more eye strain, if you are sighted, or try to exert your self trying to read a braile copy of a book, which by the way are hard to come by and have limited selection. you want to curl up in your favorite recliner or bed and just listen to a nice story of happier times as you drift off to sleep. the print industry is really missing the boat on cashing in on opening up a new markets. now any book or text can be accessible to those with reading disabilities, visual impairment, dislexia, people who have visual cognitive deficits, the list is too long, people who would otherwize be readers that can’t because of their impairment, now can because of technology and they, the print industry are trying to shut it down. does that make sense? are these people luddites? you would think they would welcome the chance to open up new markets instead of complaining that, oh these people aren’t paying me enough because they are “stealing” my audio right…. Give me a break. How did you learn to read? someone probably read to you. You learned by pairing the sounds with the symbols over and over again you finally got it. if it wasn’t for that parent or teacher reading to you, you are more likely be illiterate. Why are you discouraging readership? People are busy or don’t want to put the effort into reading, now a days because it takes lots of effort. if there were an easier way, I’m sure readership would increase and so would literacy, hopefully, and that would be a social benefit because a literate, informed, and well read society is essential to us in “democratic” nations. How can we elect affective leaders efectifly if we all have our respective and collective heads in the sand. Just my 2 cents. Come on Print industry, make it more accessible!!!

By: C. Davis

C. Davis — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 14:08:07 +0000

My husband has Multiple Sclerosis which has affected his vision. My whole motivation for buying a Kindle was to find a way he could “read” again. And like many others, I wouldn’t buy him a book if it wasn’t for the “read to me” feature.

By: Brent

Brent — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 16:50:38 +0000

Get over it! This is a great feature, and authors/publishers demanding that it not be allowed is akin to trying to charge extra if the purchaser of the CONTENT (aka book) wants to read it out loud…or have someone read it to him. This is just plain old GREED going on here. When you buy a book, you’re buying rights to ingest the content. It’s nobody’s business whether you’re doing that through reading the words yourself or having someone (something) read it to you. Windows has had usability features for years that allow it to read content displayed on the screen, and I don’t recall hearing a big skirmish over that.