[Random-bits] Soundproof books on Kindle 2

[James Love]

http://www.keionline.org/blogs/2009/05/17/sound-proof-books/

Knowledge Ecology Notes
Soundproof books
By James Love, on May 17th, 2009

I spent a few minutes today on Amazon, to check on reports that some
Kindle titles now have text to speech disabled. Among the authors who
are “turning off” text to speech in Kindle editions of books are
President Obama, Vice President Biden, Toni Morrison, the Pope, Stephen
King, Maya Angelou, Mother Teresa, Isaac Asimov, Tom Brokaw, P.D. James
and Ann Coulter, to mention a few.

Random House is claiming all of its ebooks have text to speech disabled.

    Random House FAQ:
    Do your ebooks have the text-to-speech feature disabled prior to
purchase?
    Yes, all of our eBooks have the text-to-speech feature disabled. 

In looking at Random House titles, it seems as only some listed on
Amazon are identified as having text to speech disabled, yet. There are
also soundproof books from several other publishers.

Here are examples of the new soundproof Kindle titles:

Change We Can Believe In: Barack Obama’s Plan to Renew America’s Promise
(Kindle Edition)
by Barack Obama (Author)
Publisher: Three Rivers Press (September 8, 2008)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (Kindle
Edition)
by Barack Obama (Author)
Publisher: Crown (October 17, 2006)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (Kindle Edition)
by Barack Obama (Author)
Publisher: Crown; Reprint edition (January 9, 2007)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics (Kindle Edition)
by Joe Biden (Author)
Publisher: Random House (July 31, 2007)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

Overcoming Dyslexia: A New and Complete Science-Based Program for
Reading Problems at Any Level (Kindle Edition)
by Sally Md Shaywitz (Author)
Publisher: Vintage; 1 edition (December 24, 2008)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

Tea Time for the Traditionally Built: The New No. 1 Ladies’ Detective
Agency Novel (Kindle Edition)
by Alexander Mccall Smith (Author)
Publisher: Pantheon (April 21, 2009)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

A Mercy (Kindle Edition)
by Toni Morrison (Author)
Publisher: Knopf; 1st edition (November 11, 2008)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

Beloved (Kindle Edition)
by Toni Morrison (Author)
Publisher: Vintage (July 24, 2007)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

Song of Solomon (Kindle Edition)
by Toni Morrison (Author)
Publisher: Vintage (July 24, 2007)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

The Stand (Kindle Edition)
by Stephen King (Author)
# Publisher: Doubleday; 1st edition (June 24, 2008)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

The Road (Kindle Edition)
by Cormac Mccarthy (Author)
Publisher: Knopf (March 20, 2007)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

True Detectives: A Novel (Kindle Edition)
by Jonathan Kellerman (Author)
Publisher: Ballantine Books (March 24, 2009)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

Letter to My Daughter (Kindle Edition)
by Maya Angelou (Author)
Publisher: Random House; 1 edition (September 23, 2008)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Kindle Edition)
by Maya Angelou (Author)
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks (April 21, 2009)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

Outlander (Kindle Edition)
by Diana Gabaldon (Author)
Publisher: Dell (October 26, 2004)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

Your Heart Belongs to Me (Kindle Edition)
by Dean Koontz (Author)
Publisher: Bantam (November 25, 2008)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

Odd Hours (Kindle Edition)
by Dean Koontz (Author)
Publisher: Bantam (May 20, 2008)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

Forever Odd (Kindle Edition)
by Dean Koontz (Author)
Publisher: Bantam (June 29, 2007)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

The Da Vinci Code: A Novel (Kindle Edition)
by Dan Brown (Author)
Publisher: Anchor; 1st edition (March 18, 2003)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

Snow Crash (Kindle Edition)
by Neal Stephenson (Author)
Publisher: Spectra (August 26, 2003)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

Foundation (Kindle Edition)
by Isaac Asimov (Author)
Publisher: Spectra; Revised edition (June 1, 2004)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity: A Memoir (Kindle Edition)
by Bill O’Reilly (Author)
Publisher: Broadway (September 23, 2008)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

Guilty: Liberal “Victims” and Their Assault on America (Kindle Edition)
by Ann Coulter (Author)
Publisher: Crown Forum (January 6, 2009)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini
to the Politics of Meaning (Kindle Edition)
by Jonah Goldberg (Author)
Publisher: Doubleday; 1 edition (January 8, 2008)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior (Kindle Edition)
by Ori Brafman (Author), Rom Brafman (Author)
Publisher: Doubleday Business; 1 edition (June 3, 2008)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life (Kindle Edition)
by Alice Schroeder (Author)
Publisher: Bantam (September 29, 2008)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

The First Billion Is the Hardest: Reflections on a Life of Comebacks and
America’s Energy Future (Kindle Edition)
by T. Boone Pickens (Author)
Publisher: Crown Business; 1 edition (September 2, 2008)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

The Return of History and the End of Dreams (Kindle Edition)
by Robert Kagan (Author)
Publisher: Knopf (April 29, 2008)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light (Kindle Edition)
by Mother Teresa (Author), Brian Kolodiejchuk (Author)
Publisher: Doubleday Religion (September 4, 2007)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

Jesus of Nazareth (Kindle Edition)
by Joseph Ratzinger (Author)
Publisher: Doubleday Religion (May 15, 2007)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street
(Kindle Edition)
by William D. Cohan (Author)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

The Wisdom of Crowds (Kindle Edition)
by James Surowiecki (Author)
Publisher: Anchor (August 16, 2005)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies
(Kindle Edition)
by M.D., and Cameron Stauth Kenneth Bock (Author)
Publisher: Ballantine Books (April 29, 2008)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

Wisdom of Our Fathers: Lessons and Letters from Daughters and Sons
(Kindle Edition)
by Tim Russert (Author)
Publisher: Random House (May 23, 2006)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Kindle Edition)
by Stieg Larsson (Author)
Publisher: Knopf (September 16, 2008)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

Boom!: Voices of the Sixties Personal Reflections on the ’60s and Today
(Kindle Edition)
by Tom Brokaw (Author)
Publisher: Random House; 1 edition (November 6, 2007)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court (Kindle Edition)
by Jeffrey Toobin (Author)
Publisher: Anchor; Reprint edition (September 30, 2008)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

The Private Patient (Kindle Edition)
by P.D. James (Author)
Publisher: Knopf; 1 edition (November 18, 2008)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

Getting Past No (Kindle Edition)
by William Ury (Author)
Publisher: Bantam; Revised edition (April 17, 2007)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

Rogue (Kindle Edition)
by Danielle Steel (Author)
Publisher: Dell (February 24, 2009)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

His Excellency: George Washington (Kindle Edition)
by Joseph J. Ellis (Author)
Publisher: Knopf (October 26, 2004)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation (Kindle Edition)
by Joseph J. Ellis (Author)
Publisher: Vintage (December 16, 2003)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

A Short History of Nearly Everything (Kindle Edition)
by Bill Bryson (Author)
Publisher: Broadway; 1 edition (October 26, 2006)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil (Kindle
Edition)
by Kristin Ohlson (Author)
Publisher: Random House (April 10, 2007)
Text-to-Speech: Not enabled

How many books are now text to speech disabled in Kindle 2? It is hard
to say. The Authors Guild is now actively campaigning for authors to
“turn off” text to speech. A Google search with the term:
“Text-to-Speech: Not enabled” site:www.amazon.com gives 343 hits today.
It will interesting to see how this number changes over time.



-- 
James Love, Director, Knowledge Ecology International
http://www.keionline.org | mailto:james.love at keionline.org
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