Trouble: iBooks on iPad will read aloud

IPad buyers using the new iBooks feature to read e-books will be able to hear the text read aloud thanks to the VoiceOver feature. Which is great. Except that when Amazon tried to introduce the same feature on to the Kindle, there was a big argument over copyright. I sense trouble brewing for Apple.

The Apple iPad went on presale yesterday, and Apple took the opportunity to detail some of the extra features. Amongst the other iBooks spiel was this line:

iBooks works with VoiceOver, the screen reader in iPad, so it can read you the contents of any page.

A nice feature to have, for sure. Unfortunately, when the Amazon Kindle 2 was introduced last February, the Authors Guild claimed its ‘Read-to-me’ feature broke copyright laws. In effect, the organization wanted Amazon to pay extra for the audio rights to books. Which, as most people at the time agreed, is absolutely ludicrous.

Amazon ended up ending the row by allowing authors to disable the audio function for each book. And I’m guessing Apple will face calls to make similar changes to the system. Although I’d personally like to see Apple fight any such arguments to see how far the Authors Guild would take matters.

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• Kindle 2 prompts ‘reading aloud’ copyright claim
• Authors Guild pushes for audio rights licensing on the Kindle 2
• Amazon gives in to the whiners over Kindle 2 text-to-speech
• Before you decide to publish with iBooks look at what others have to offer
• The Kindle is dead, long live the iPad