[Dtb-talk] NLS Digital Players

[Valerie Lewis]

Aditionally, the National Library Service program is designed for people
with physical disabilities who cannot hold a book or turn pages. The
cartridges can be used more easily than the microscopic electronics that
are commercially available. People with dexterity problems can
grab/grasp/hold the NLS cartridges and can use the larger buttons on the
NLS DTB machine. 

Valerie 




On Mon, Feb 15, 2010, Tim Gillett <tim.gillett at optusnet.com.au> said:

> David wrote:
> 
> "NLS does not provide blank cartridges or thumb drives. 
> They are in the business of providing books preloaded on cartridges
>  - in the way that they have provided cassettes."
> 
> 
> Yes it's easy to forget the whole purpose of the NLS larger cartridge housing
>  is to make it easy for the Print handicapped to read books. 
> 
> One of the downsides of the miniaturisation of electronics has been its effect on the blind.
> 
> The compact cassette was still reasonably large enough for easy use by the blind.  Whereas
>  on the modern flash card there is usually not enough room  for adequate braille or printed labelling
> for example, let alone reliably inserting such small media into a player.
> And what if the blind person drops a tiny memory card? How do they find it again?
> 
> Similarly players with tiny control buttons and tiny screens  make them almost impossible to use,
> especially for the elderly blind.
> 
> I came across this many times with the blind here in WA when cassettes were the current format
>  and here in WA. but clients had to find their own cassette player.
>  The old "shoebox" cassette player with its large piano key operation was fairly easy for most blind to use.
> But once it started to disappear from the market and was replaced by smaller, more fiddly Walkmans
> the blind struggled to use these players.
> 
> I'm pleased to see the designers of the NLS player specified a largish cartridge 
> even though it only contains a small memory stick inside. This is practical for the blind,
>  however antiquated and "uncool" it might appear by sighted people's standards. 
> 
> Similarly it's pleasing in the NLS DTB to see other features carried over from the old TBC1 players
>  such as internal speaker, rechargeable battery, variable speed control, automatic power down etc.
> 
> It's important we stay real and remember  the many blind people in their homes who have to use these devices.
> 
> 
> Tim Gillett
> Audio/Electronics Technician
> Perth, Western Australia
>  
> 
> 
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