[Dtb-talk] NLS Digital Players

[Greg Kearney]

These are some of the very reasons we settled on the NLS cartridges. We have found we can get about 4 books on one. You don't really want more than that anyway. Imagine hearing that your bookshelf had 100's of books in it and you had to go one by one to get to the one you want.

We thought about using SD card but when we tested such we found them just too small and easy to loose.


Gregory Kearney
Manager - Accessible Media
Association for the Blind of Western Australia
61 Kitchener Avenue, PO Box 101
Victoria Park 6979, WA Australia

Telephone: +61 (08) 9311 8202
Telephone: +1 (307) 224-4022 (North America)
Fax: +61 (08) 9361 8696
Toll free: 1800 658 388 (Australia only)
Email: gkearney at gmail.com

On 15/02/2010, at 12:27 PM, Tim Gillett wrote:

> 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
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Dtb-talk mailing list
> Dtb-talk at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/dtb-talk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Dtb-talk:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/dtb-talk_nfbnet.org/gkearney%40gmail.com