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The Kindle Swindle? Really?

I am a bit puzzled by Authors Guild President Roy Blount Jr.’s op-ed piece in the NYTimes today.  He is up in arms over the Kindle 2’s new text-to-speech feature, defending the Authors Guild claim that it violates authors and publishers audio rights because they are not specifically compensated for them.

While this may be technically true given current IP laws (disclaimer: I haven’t spent enough time digging through the archane statutes to know for sure), I don’t understand the rational behind it.  Unless a Kindle book purchaser would have separately purchased a full price audio book, there is absolutely no cannibalization taking place here. I’d frankly be very surprised if there was much overlap at all between individual’s purchases of printed and audio versions of the same book.  In fact, I would bet that folks will buy books they otherwise wouldn’t have (in either printed or audio form) because of the Kindle’s additional text-to-speech benefit.  I certainly will.

The larger point this highlights is the unecessary complexity embedded in our intellectual property system.  This is largely a legacy effect, as technology has moved far faster than IP law has adapted.  As Larry Lessig has been preaching for years, we must simplify the way intellectual property works or we will cripple our ability to effectively disseminate and monetize it in this new age.

As far as literature is concerned, I would posit that there should be one price for a digital copy of a book and a slightly higher price for a printed one to compensate for the cost of printing and publishing.  With either purchase, one should get access to a digital copy as well as an audio copy so it can be enjoyed anytime, anywhere, anyhow.  And the industry should price accordingly to ensure there is aporopriate margin for all involved.

At the end of the day, the IP is the IP.  What form it gets consumed in is irrelevant.  This approach will likely increase the overall sale of books as it will make it easier for people to actually read them.