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I won't write until later tonight, but I've had a couple of >2,000 word days in a row on Aquarium, so I'm feeling pretty good about where I'm at. Should break 15k before bed.
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It's been beat to death this past week; so the only thing I'm going to say about the Kindle 2 text-to-speech controversy is this: yes, authors are struggling for cash right now--just like everyone else in the world. No, the Kindle can't replace a professional audiobook. Yes, it's worthy of discussion. All true. But the important thing that Roy Blount doesn't seem to have acknowledged (or realized) is that by taking a hard line stance on this issue and leading the charge to protect the author-members of the Author's Guild from this minor so-tagged threat, he is risking turning the guild (and, by proxy, all professional writers regardless of if they belong to the AG or not) into the puppy-killing protectionists that the internet has twisted the MPAA and RIAA into. Reading as a pastime is tenuous as it is, and current and prospective authors don't really need someone pissing in the pool right now over a minor issue that is looking to get overblown in another case of the Streisand Effect.
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If you're one of the 1.2 million people who haven't seen this short video about superheroes Piderman and Baman, enjoy in preparation of going to see Watchmen next weekend...
5 comments:
I'm with you on the Kindle issue. Hard lines are rarely effective on issues of changing technology.
Thanks for the video/laugh.
Okay, Baman and Piderman are now my favorite superheroes.
I hope the Authors Guild et al back off on the Kindle audio thing too. They just sound like clueless jerks.
I love audiobooks and try to listen to them as much as possible -- with a commute of about an hour, it makes sense. And while I don't have a problem with the Kindle (not saying I'm going to throw down all that money any time soon), I just can't see the quality of the audio being very good. I mean ... wouldn't it sound like Stephen Hawkins? The answer is probably online somewhere and I'm just too lazy to find it, but if technology has taught us anything, you can't manufacture proper tone, pauses, even dialect. And that's why audiobooks rock.
Also, I don't envy you the heat. Here on the east coast, it's supposed to snow tonight, and while I'm not a fan of snow, I'm REALLY not a fan of heat.
"I believe this is your sandwich"
*LOL*
When I visited Vegas (a mighty decade ago), it was in the 80s in October. I perform better in colder climates.
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