[Blindtlk] [nabs-l] notetakers: are they worth buying anymore?

Mon Jul 25 12:21:45 UTC 2011

I have a braille lite meleneum 40 and the battery stuff doesn't work right 
any more, and the flash drive doesn't work any more, and it every once in a 
while warm resets it'sself. So like I said, I'd love a better note taker for 
portability purposes, because when I go to activities in the community where 
I meet new people I don't want to lug my lap top with just to get there 
information.
Nikki Wunderlich
face book, my space, and MSN as well as email nikki0222 at gmail.com
yahoo and AIM nikkiwunderlich
skype and twitter nikki022285
cell 763-248-0106
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "T. Joseph Carter" <carter.tjoseph at gmail.com>
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Cc: "Blind Talk list" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2011 2:05 AM
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] [nabs-l] notetakers: are they worth buying anymore?


>I don’t think they do, or at least I think their lifespan is limited.
>
> First, there’s very little that can justify the cost of an Apex these 
> days.  It just costs too much.  Second, I don’t know how many times I have 
> heard the excuse from our chapter secretary that his BN crashed and he 
> needs someone else to get him a recording or produce minutes or something. 
> Both it and the PAC mate have a solid reputation for being about as stable 
> as a house of cards in a tornado.  During an earthquake.  While a volcano 
> is erupting.
>
> And while the PAC mate is supposed to be so great because it can run 
> "standard" software for the platform, most of the software doesn’t 
> actually work with it properly and the platform has pretty much taken a 
> back seat to iOS and Android at this point.
>
> At the beginning of the PDA revolution, there was Palm.  (Actually, there 
> was Apple with the Newton, but I’m talking successful PDA revolution 
> here…)  Then Handspring came along and produced a Palm that was better 
> than the Palm.  There were accessories the people who made it never 
> intended, including a folding laptop-style keyboard called the Stowaray, 
> and suddenly there was no need to lug a laptop in to a meeting to take 
> notes.  Plus the thing was SO COOL, and it cost a small fraction of what a 
> laptop did that wasn’t as fast or as convenient to the task!
>
> Of course, none of this is accessible.
>
> Fast forward about 15 years or so and today sighted people likely use an 
> iPad or Android-based wannabe tablet for the same purpose.  They may or 
> may not use an external Bluetooth keyboard.  They could use an iPhone (or 
> wannabe) for the same purpose, but the sighted like having big screens 
> that are easy to see, so the preference is the iPad.
>
> But the blind can tell you that the iPhone is just as useful, and perhaps 
> more so because you can’t stuff an iPad into a pocket (unless you’re 
> wearing a Scott-E-Vest which is just comical and not really the point.) 
> There are flip-out keyboard cases for the iPhone 4 (which are a great idea 
> for any blind user) and small Braille I/O devices that are much more 
> comfortable to ear than the brick-like note taker of yesteryear.
>
> And accessibility is improving, in general, on the iPhone.  Even the 
> Android platform is starting to see some movement in that direction.  At 
> some point either platform will be viable to the blind, at least as 
> effective as a PAC mate, probably as easy to use as a BrailleNote, and 
> cheaper than any of the above.
>
> If anybody has a future with the form factor of the traditional note 
> taker, it’s LevelStar, which figured out that having their own custom 
> software just doesn’t make sense anymore.  They’re building on the proven 
> interface of the Icon (their own software) and putting it into Android 
> itself giving you the ease of a BrailleNote and the function of an Android 
> device.  And if the guys at LevelStar stay true to form, they’re going to 
> bring it to you for a lot less than HumanWare does.
>
> Neither iOS nor Android is ready to replace KeySoft IMO, but KeySoft is 
> still the same program HumanWare has been schlepping for decades now with 
> big ticket upgrade fees for small, incremental feature additions.  In 
> fact, I remember the "major" upgrade (with SMA usage or paid outright) for 
> KeySoft 7.5 to add RFB&D book support to my little PK less than six months 
> after I bought the thing!  More than a year ago, I read a blog article 
> from the CEO of Serotek about the "blind ghetto" technology.
>
> He was talking about Freedom Scientific and HumanWare specifically, and 
> how neither company seems to truly innovate.  Why should they?  So far 
> they’ve been able to foist minor evolutions of products that are becoming 
> less and less stable for exorbitant upgrade fees, or make minor revisions 
> to a product while maintaining an existing price point.  The exceptions 
> for HumanWare were the Apex and the Victor Reader Stream, the former of 
> which saw a massive cost increase that isn’t going down anytime soon, and 
> the latter was made some five years ago.
>
> Meanwhile new players are filling the market with devices that are better 
> than anything any of the big players has to offer at a fraction of the 
> cost.  Companies like LevelStar, HIMS, SeroTek, and even GW Micro has 
> dipped its toes in the water here and there.  They are still making 
> blindness-specific products, but they’re taking a fresh look and realizing 
> that if they can’t deliver products that are better or cheaper or both 
> than the legacy dinosaurs (and each other), they will die out.
>
> The BrailleNote will die off because people will move on.  There are still 
> people out there using Braille 'n' Speaks, but not many these days.  The 
> BrailleNote will follow suit.  The PAC mate is halfway there already, if 
> you ask me.
>
> Joseph - KF7QZC
>
>
> On Sun, Jul 24, 2011 at 10:01:57PM -0400, Chris Nusbaum wrote:
>>Hi all,
>>
>>I don't have a set opinion on this matter as of yet, but I'd like to 
>>initiate the discussion.  I'm noticing a trend in the blindness technology 
>>field: PC's can do most everything a notetaker (BrailleNote, BrailleSense, 
>>PacMate, etc.) can do, with some obvious changes and differences, and in 
>>some cases can do and support more than the notetaker.  This is also true 
>>with the ever-improving accessible smartphones and tablets: the iPhone, 
>>iPad, iPod Touch, (the semiaccessible) Android phones, the KNFB Reader, 
>>etc.  Yes, the notetakers have built-in Braille displays, but you can also 
>>install a stand-alone Braille display on a computer to display what's on 
>>the screen, or you could just buy a screen reader (text-to-speech, not 
>>text-to-Braille) as a replacement for the Braille display...  that is, if 
>>you think it is in fact a replacement for refreshable Braille.  That's 
>>another question for all of you in this discussion.  So, here's the 
>>question: with all the advancements and capabilities of a computer and 
>>screen readers or stand-alone refreshable Braille displays, is it worth 
>>it, in your opinion, to buy a notetaker anymore? What, given all the 
>>things a PC can do, is the real purpose of the notetakers now? I'd love to 
>>hear your thoughts!
>>
>>Chris
>>
>>"A loss of sight, never a loss of vision!" (Camp Abilities motto)
>>
>>The I C.A.N.  Foundation helps visually impaired youth in Maryland have 
>>the ability to confidently say "I can!" How? Click on this link to learn 
>>more and to contribute: www.icanfoundation.info or like us on Facebook at 
>>I C.A.N.  Foundation.
>>
>>Sent from my BrailleNote
>>
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