Putting an end to the controversy started by Amazon's new ebook reader Kindle 2 over its text-to-speech function, which violates copyright, the online retail giant announced it plans to modify the Kindle 2 so that authors, publishers or any holders to a novel's rights can choose whether to turn on the feature, which takes written text and converts it to human speech.

Though insisting their text-to-speech feature of their device does not violate any publisher rights since "no copy is made, no derivative work is created," the firm released a statement on Friday explaining why they decided to turn of the newly introduced feature.

"We are modifying our systems so that rights holders can decide on a title by title basis whether they want text-to-speech enabled or disabled for any particular title. We have already begun to work on the technical changes required to give authors and publishers that choice. With this new level of control, publishers and authors will be able to decide for themselves whether it is in their commercial interests to leave text-to-speech enabled," the statement published in the New York Times said.

The Kindle 2, which was released on February 9, is an improved version of the first device, faster and smaller, able to hold more than 1,500 books and has 25% more battery life than its predecessor. The digital reading device is also capable of reading, in a variety of synthetic voices, any text shown on the display.

Arguing that the gadget's text-to-speech feature would "swindle" penurious writers out of precious audiobook revenue, the Authors Guild in the United States protested against the device saying it violates copyright law.

"They don’t have the right to read a book out loud," said Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild. "That’s an audio right, which is derivative under copyright law."

Hopefully, Amazon will make it up to its users for the loss of the text-to-voice feature.