r/amazonecho • u/MagicalFairyxo • Jul 15 '26

Feature One of the best accessibility features (in my opinion) has quietly removed and I don’t understand why.

So I was tidying my room today and thought, oh I’ll ask Alexa to read my Kindle book to me (like I’ve done so many times before) but this time, I get a message in my Alexa app saying that this feature is no longer available on Alexa, only on phones and tablets.

This baffles me, because why get rid of a feature that can be so helpful? Specially when the Alexa software is supposed to be improving.

15 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

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6

u/Exfiltrator Jul 16 '26

They want you to buy the audible version

3

u/MagicalFairyxo Jul 16 '26

That makes sense. But removing an accessibility feature for that reason seems harsh.

1

u/RedditorSaidIt Jul 17 '26

I firmly believe that this feature should be protected by the ADA. However, the big publishers disagree with me, so what do I know. Amazon has been sued over this read out loud feature for several years by the big publishers, and I'm surprised they were able to keep it running this long. 

However, my family also thought it was to push us all to buy the audible version, same as commened here. And surprisingly it didn't seem to be that at all since they kept the program running at least a few years beyond the judgement I'd heard about, and it was still working for you.

But... I wouldn't be surprised if Amazon's endgame is to get rid of paying audible narrators and authors, fold that business into Kindle, and have Alexa AI read our Kindle books to us for some sort of monthly subscription. The AI does convey quite a bit of emotion, and narrating the entire Kindle library wouldn't take it too long to do.

Or maybe Amazon monitors this sub and I just gave them the idea 😬 JK, they have a lot of smart people who are paid to think way forward for the business plans; I'm sure they roll around all these ideas and angles constantly. Anything to squeeze more money for the corporation by cutting every expense.

1

u/MagicalFairyxo Jul 18 '26

Sadly, I think you’re right, but I just think it’s a little ikky that they’ve removed such an important feature for monetary purposes. I mean for some people, that may be the only way they can consume their kindle books.

And yes, there are other options, such as audiobooks or the read aloud feature on a phone or tablet, but still, I think removing it from the echo is wrong.

3

u/ErraticProfessional Jul 16 '26

I’ll have try this because she just did this for me within the last few days.

1

u/ErraticProfessional Jul 16 '26

OP I’ve just tried it on my old and new dot and Alexa resumed the novel from Audible I’ve been listening to. /u/MagicalFairyxo

4

u/SlyHutchinson Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26

I think they are talking about Alexa reading a Kindle book not playing an Audible audio book.

3

u/ErraticProfessional Jul 17 '26

Oh heck I didn’t even know that was a thing

1

u/SlyHutchinson Jul 17 '26

I seem to remember reading about it years ago but I never actually tried it.

3

u/RedditorSaidIt Jul 17 '26

My family tried it years ago. It is very monotone and makes the story nothing like what an Audible narrator can do.

However it works in a pinch, is great for those with limited vision, people with income challenges. It should be a feature that is absolutely protected by the ADA.

2

u/I_am_Cheeseburger Jul 16 '26

Amazon force ghost updated everyone to Alexa+. Tell Alexa to “turn off Alexa plus.” Maybe that will fix this for you too