Quite a number of authors have voiced out their sentiments regarding the Amazon Kindle 2′s text-to-speech feature, therefore it has been made optional. As of today, publisher Random House, has reportedly disabled text-to-speech on at least 40 titles.

The presence of the text-to-speech feature on the Amazon Kindle 2 may pose a threat to the audiobook industry, but not as of yet. It will take a great amount of time before electronic devices will be able to mimic real-life voiceovers and narration by professionals.

Clearly, a good number of authors are definitely feeling the heat of technological advancements in text-to-speech technology. Authors should market audiobooks more aggressively by enticing consumers that an electronic device simply cannot compare to professional narration.

[via TeleRead]