Apple’s iPad Will Read Books Out Loud, Support Free E-Books
When it began taking pre-orders for the iPad this morning, Apple also published some new details about how the tablet device will function as an e-book reader.
It turns out the iPad will read books out loud to you with audio dictation, a controversial feature that caused some trouble for Amazon’s Kindle last year. Also, Apple indicated that you’ll be able to use the iPad to read EPUB titles from sources outside of the iBooks store.
The new features are described in the iBooks overview page on Apple’s website. In the section titled “Change your reading habits,” Apple says its VoiceOver functionality — an accessibility tool that works in other parts of the iPad’s interface to help visually impaired users — will also work to dictate e-books.
“IBooks works with VoiceOver, the screen reader in iPad, so it can read you the contents of any page,” Apple’s description reads.
And for EPUB titles that are not offered through the iBooks store, you can manually add them to iTunes and then sync them to the iPad:
“The iBooks app uses the EPUB format — the most popular open book format in the world,” Apple’s site reads. “That makes it easy for publishers to create iBooks versions of your favorite reads. And you can add free EPUB titles to iTunes and sync them to the iBooks app on your iPad.
That’s good news for iPad customers, because that means bookworms won’t be limited to the offerings in the iBooks store, which are based on partnerships that Apple inked with publishers.
The new detail about audio dictation should raise more questions. Amazon’s Kindle 2 reader shipped with a function to read e-books out loud, and the Authors Guild made a fuss alleging copyright violations that would cut into sales of audiobooks.
“They don’t have the right to read a book out loud,” said Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “That’s an audio right, which is derivative under copyright law.”
The guild contended that authors should be awarded audio-licensing fees for e-books. Responding to the criticism, Amazon said “no copy is made, no derivative work is created and no performance is being given.” Nonetheless, Amazon in late February 2009 gave rights-owners the choice to enable or disable the audio function title by title.
There’s no word on whether the Author’s Guild will pursue a similar complaint against Apple.
The National Federation of the Blind has already applauded Apple for including VoiceOver in the iPad.
iBooks description [Apple]
Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
Additional reporting by Charlie Sorrel
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5 Responses
3.12.2010
Things that are REQUIRED on my portable computer: read and make .pdf files, Adobe Flash on websites, play .mp3’s off sd card, chrome or firefox browser (safari sucks). So, can iPad handle it?
3.12.2010
First of all, how is this news? The Kindle already does this, and is for the most part a worthless feature. If you are buying an E-reader to have it read books out loud to you, then you don’t need one. Most mp3 players and smart-phones do the same thing, and have the advantage being compact. Seriously, you want it to read to you while you follow the words with your finger? Next thing you know, people will complain that they can’t get “the Great Gatsby” in a color format. This is not an important feature for the majority of people looking to buy an E-reader. I would hate to have to hook my iPad up to my car stereo to listen to an audio-book on my morning commute when I can simply dock my iPod/iPhone, something that I already carry with me that fits in my pocket.
And by the way, veggiedude, the Kindle rocks for the serious reader. The iPad looks great for a myriad of reasons, but is an inferior E-reader simply based on being the fact that it’s back lit and heavier. There is plenty of room in the world for both. Apples to Oranges indeed.
3.12.2010
“The new detail about audio dictation should raise more questions. Amazon’s Kindle 2 reader shipped with a function to read e-books out-loud, and the Authors Guild stirred a fuss alleging copyright violations that would cut into sales of audiobooks.
Using their reasoning it would also be illegal for me to read a book out loud to my grandkids. I have to purchase an audiobook instead of using a book I already paid for. These idiots are just as bad as the RIAA. Hey Authors Guild, bite me…
3.12.2010
If the iPad is destined as a resource for college students, replacing the tons of textbooks printed every year, some sort of electronic reading is a necessity for visually impaired students. If this goes to court, I would think that Apple (and maybe even Amazon) could make a case for accommodating the disabled under ADA especially in education use.
And for standard books, I really don’t see this function replacing the regular audiobook, read with proper inflections by a celebrity voice.
3.12.2010
I selected the text of your article in Safari, right clicked and choose ’start speaking’ from the Speech menu. Why do you think this would be controversial on the iPad? Oh, just because it didn’t work good on the Amazon Kindle? Ha ha. Apples and Oranges mate.