[Blindtlk] Amazon's Kindle to get audible menus, bigger font

[David Andrews]

Amazon's Kindle to get audible menus, bigger font

By Jessica Mintz

Associated Press
Posted: 12/07/2009 01:55:11 PM PST
Updated: 12/07/2009 03:47:24 PM PST


SEATTLE ­ <http://Amazon.com>Amazon.com will add 
two features to the Kindle e-book reader to make 
the gadget more accessible to blind and vision-impaired users.

Monday's announcement comes a month after 
Syracuse University in Syracuse, N.Y., and the 
University of Wisconsin-Madison said they would 
not consider widely deploying the device as an 
alternative to paper textbooks until Amazon makes 
it easier for blind students to use. Both 
universities bought some Kindles to test this fall.

The Kindle has a read-aloud feature that could be 
a boon to blind students and those with other 
disabilities including dyslexia, but turning it 
on requires navigating through screens of text menus.

Amazon said Monday it is working on audible 
menus, which would let the Kindle speak menu 
options out loud. It's also working on an 
extra-large font for people with impaired vision. 
The additions should reach the Kindle next summer, Amazon said.

Chris Danielsen, a spokesman for the National 
Federation of the Blind, said Monday that the 
organization doesn't know enough about the new 
features to say whether they adequately address 
concerns of the blind community. But, he said, 
it's a good sign Amazon is expressing commitment to improve the Kindle.

Amazon released this year the $489 Kindle DX, a 
large-screen model aimed at textbook and 
newspaper readers. Several colleges including 
Arizona State University are testing the gadget 
this academic year and sending feedback to the company.

The federation for the blind, which is based in 
Baltimore, teamed up with another advocacy group, 
the American Council of the Blind, to sue Arizona 
State in an attempt to block it from using the 
Kindle as a way to distribute electronic 
textbooks because the devices can't be used by      blind students.

It also filed complaints with the Justice 
Department against five other schools 
participating in the Kindle trial with Amazon: 
Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, the 
Darden School of Business at the University of 
Virginia in Charlottesville, Va., Pace University 
in New York, Princeton University in Princeton, 
N.J., and Reed College in Portland, Ore.

Syracuse University and the University of 
Wisconsin were not among the pilot-test schools.

Danielsen declined to comment when asked if 
Amazon's proposed changes would lead the federation to abandon its complaints.