Chicago (IL) - Yesterday, the Authors Guild warned that Amazon's newest Kindle 2 e-book reader is equipped with a voice function which more than likely violates writer's copyrights. Intellectual property experts, however, have claimed that this assertion has no base.





"Until this issue is worked out, Amazon may be undermining your audio market as it exploits your e-books," the guild told its members in a memo Thursday.



The copyright issue is over a function on the Kindle 2 which allows a user to enable a built-in robot like voice, reportedly selectable from a range of male or female options, which then reads the book aloud to a user.



The Author's guild claims that they don't have the right to read a book aloud. They claims that authors should be awarded audio-licensing fees for the e-books. The guild feels that out loud reading is acceptable if it's reading only an authorized audio copy of the book.



The guild warns that text to speech functions are designed to undermine audio book sales.



Legal scholars feel that the Kindle 2 is exposing the closing technological gap between digital and audio versions of books.



At this point Amazon has declined to comment.