Kindle

The Kindle 2 electronic reader is shown at an Amazon.com news conference in New York on Feb. 9. Macmillan CEO John Sargent said he was told Friday that
its books would be removed from Amazon.com, as would e-books for Amazon’s Kindle e-reader.
Mark Lennihan, The Associated Press

Technology is turning the page on hard copy textbooks — well, almost.

Twenty sections of RHET 105, one of the most popular courses on campus, are offering their textbooks in a computerized format. Students purchase an access
code and can read the book on their computer or on an e-reader such as Amazon’s Kindle or Sony’s Reader.

Three US universities have agreed not to use Amazon’s e-book reader the Kindle until it is easily usable by blind people. A fourth settled a complaint from
blind people’s advocacy groups by saying that it will strive to use accessible devices in future.

Though the Kindle DX reader can read out text, making it potentially useful to blind people or those with low vision, it offers no way to navigate its controls
and menus that is accessible to blind users.

PHOENIX, Jan. 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), the American Council of the Blind (ACB), and Arizona State University
(ASU), today announced a settlement agreement resolving litigation filed by NFB and ACB against the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) and ASU. The lawsuit
arose from the university's participation in a pilot program using the Kindle DX, a dedicated device for reading electronic books, or e-books, developed
by Amazon.com, Inc. The NFB and ACB alleged that the Kindle DX was inaccessible to blind students and thus violated federal law. ABOR and ASU denied and
continue to deny any violations of the law.

The settlement agreement among the parties was reached in light of several factors, including: (1) ASU's commitment to providing access to all programs
and facilities for students with disabilities, including students who are blind or have low vision; (2) the fact that the pilot program will end in the
Spring of 2010; (3) Amazon and others are making improvements to and progress in the accessibility of e-book readers; and (4) the university's agreement
that should ASU deploy e-book readers in future classes over the next two years, it will strive to use devices that are accessible to the blind.