[Dtb-talk] NLS Digital Players

Mon Feb 15 17:29:25 UTC 2010

Haha, I too was one of those who thought the NLS was being dumb to not
go with CD. Although, seeing where technology has gone has reshaped my
opinion. Nobody uses CD players anymore. For even the average sighted
person, CDs serve only as a transient transport medium; most often the
CDs end up on people's iPods or the like anyway.

To me, in the end, the NLS really did a great job to work with all
levels of technical savvy-ness. The non-savvy can order carts like
they always ordered tapes. And the savvy can get a blank cart or use a
flash drive, and download from BARD. The person desiring something
very portable can get a VR Stream and either download from BARD or use
the Library edition. Looks like all bases are covered, so in the end,
it's nice that CD's were avoided. If they had been implemented, it'd
have been only as a stepping stone to where we are now anyway.

I agree SD cards would have been too small and easy to lose. Heck, I
have about 20 or more SD cards and I keep them all in a little zipper
pouch, just so as not to lose them!

There is only one more thing I'd like to see.. A cartridge in which
you either can open it up and put inside or slide into its side an SD
card. It seems like it wouldn't be impossible to put an SD card reader
into a cartridge shell. Then, we could use the same SD card on the VR
Stream and our NLS players. :)

The DTB world is very exciting right now and I can't wait to see where
we go from here!

fm

On Mon, Feb 15, 2010 at 9:24 AM, Mike Freeman <k7uij at panix.com> wrote:
> I concur. Moreover, the battery life on the NLS player is to die for and the
> sound is great! I tend to use my VR Stream most of the time but am very glad
> to have the NLS player and it's still small enough to carry in a pinch.
>
> Incidentally, I have a 32 gig card in my Stream with something like 69
> talking books, the complete "Gunsmoke" series and God knows what else on it.
> But I anxiously await my NLS blank cartridges from APH. Trouble is APH
> hasn't charged my credit card yet so no pay, no cartridges! (grin)
>
> Mike
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Andrews" <dandrews at visi.com>
> To: "Discussion of Digital Talking Books" <dtb-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Sunday, February 14, 2010 11:04 PM
> Subject: Re: [Dtb-talk] NLS Digital Players
>
>
>> Personally, I think NLS is due a lot of credit.  They resisted the
>> pressure to use CD's.  They started this process back in the 90's, and while
>> they can be slow and ponderous at times, they developed a system that works
>> well for most of their target audience.  And ... for those more technically
>> inclined there is the download service.
>>
>> Dave
>>
>> At 11:53 PM 2/14/2010, you wrote:
>>>
>>> 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
>>> >
>>
>>
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