Amazon's Kindle 2 runs afoul of the Authors Guild

Last week Amazon released the much-awaited Kindle 2 ebook reader (and more) with a built-in text-to-speech feature that Amazon kept secret. Now CNET reports that the Authors Guild has claimed text-to-speech created a derivative work and violated copyright. Paul Aiken, the guild's president said many publishers were also angered over the speech function, adding that Amazon never consulted beforehand with either of those groups. Amazon responded Friday by handing publishers the ability to disable the text-to-speech feature on any title they choose.