[matwood]

> Also, can people really claim with a straight face that running a book through text-to-speech is the same as a real audiobook (that’s often a voice actor, right?)?

TTS is quickly improving. While it's not quite there yet, there are already ways to have any text read with anyones voice.

There also comes a point where even if it isn't perfect, it doesn't matter to the consumer who just wants the book read to them. Meanwhile, the publishers want the revenue from selling both versions of the book.

[slaymaker1907]

It's not really all that grating anymore, just a bit dry in delivery. On a separate note, I think it's really dumb that voice actors can't easily record works without explicit, particular permission from an author. They should license it from the author with some sort of profit sharing per copy, but the current system means there is often only one audiobook version unless a work is public domain. And when I say license it, I mean some sort of form contract available to anyone without huge legal fees.