Comment Re:To hell with them! (Score 1, Insightful) 683
The authors do not a problem with the reader translating a book aloud, but they have a problem with someone they have a contract with to sell text-only versions of a work (and with whom they have separate audio version contracts) selling text plus audio versions. It is a contract issue.
There's no issue. If I have a contract which allows me to sell frozen burritos, but not ready-to-eat burritos, selling frozen burritos along with a microwave (which turns them into ready-to-eat burritos) doesn't violate the contract.
Even if your analogy -- that cooking a burrito is akin to creating a derivative work -- is a good one, there is no law that gives a burrito-maker exclusive rights to derivative works based on his burrito. The author of a book does have that right, and absent a contract that waives this right, I don't see how this is as clear cut as you claim.