[Dtb-talk] new to the list and DTB's

Mike Freeman k7uij at panix.com
Mon Mar 8 03:55:12 UTC 2010 

Ya got a point there, Judge!
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lynn Evans" <evans-lynn at comcast.net>
To: "Discussion of Digital Talking Books" <dtb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 07, 2010 4:48 PM
Subject: Re: [Dtb-talk] new to the list and DTB's


> Wont that make her fertile?
> Oh the cable.
> sorry
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
> To: "Discussion of Digital Talking Books" <dtb-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Sunday, March 07, 2010 5:56 PM
> Subject: Re: [Dtb-talk] new to the list and DTB's
>
>
>> The female connector needs to have its "shield" removed.
>>
>> Mike
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Lynn Evans" <evans-lynn at comcast.net>
>> To: "Discussion of Digital Talking Books" <dtb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Sunday, March 07, 2010 11:46 AM
>> Subject: Re: [Dtb-talk] new to the list and DTB's
>>
>>
>>> The cable needs to be a male connector at one end and a female connector 
>>> at the other.
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>> From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
>>> To: "Discussion of Digital Talking Books" <dtb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Sunday, March 07, 2010 1:06 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [Dtb-talk] new to the list and DTB's
>>>
>>>
>>>> You can buy a USB cable (it's part of an adaptor kit to interface with 
>>>> various digital cameras) that works with NLS or the blank cartridges 
>>>> mentioned below from Radio Shack. tIt isn't cheap but works like a 
>>>> champ.
>>>>
>>>> Mike
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>>> From: "Flint Million" <fmillion at gmail.com>
>>>> To: "Discussion of Digital Talking Books" <dtb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>>> Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2010 6:11 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: [Dtb-talk] new to the list and DTB's
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> It's probably been discussed a lot, but I'm happy to give a nice 
>>>> overview.
>>>>
>>>> The DTB system by the NLS is based on Daisy, but there are proprietary
>>>> extensions and encryption used to protect the rights of the copyright
>>>> holders. This is why only certain players will play NLS content. The
>>>> Victor Reader Stream, BookSense and I believe the PlexTalk and
>>>> something from APH can play the NLS content, as well as, obviously,
>>>> NLS's own player.
>>>>
>>>> If you want the NLS player, it is free to US citizens, so it's
>>>> obviously the cheapest route. The NLS provided player is available in
>>>> two versions: standard or advanced. The standard player is loosely
>>>> analogous to the old EZ Cassette player - you simply insert a book and
>>>> it plays it, and there's minimal control over navigation aside from a
>>>> simple rewind and fast forward key. The advanced player on the other
>>>> hand features extra navigation and information keys to allow you to
>>>> navigate the book's DAISY structure, and also can set bookmarks in the
>>>> book for easy return to important passages.
>>>>
>>>> Once you have a capable NLS player, you can either receive your books
>>>> from the NLS on their new digital cartridges (which are simply
>>>> read-only USB flash drives in a modified casing) or you can download
>>>> books anytime you like from the NLS's "BARD" website. You can then
>>>> load your downloaded books on to either a standard USB flash drive
>>>> (the kind available at any electronics store or department store), or
>>>> you can purchase a cartridge that is identical to the NLS shipping
>>>> cartridges except it is read-write and blank, so you can put the books
>>>> you desire on the cartridge.  The player has a USB flash drive port on
>>>> the side, so if the idea of a flash drive sticking out the side of the
>>>> player bothers you at all, you'll want to go for the cartridge.  I
>>>> ordered my cartridge from APH, and it was $12 for a 2GB cartridge. You
>>>> also need a USB cable; these are sold by ILA, but if you already have
>>>> a USB extension cable it *may* work, depending on the style of the
>>>> connector on it.
>>>>
>>>> Downloading books will require high speed internet, as books run about
>>>> 10MB per hour of audio, so a 6 hour book will be about 60MB, which
>>>> even on a 56K connection would take all night long, and downloading
>>>> the larger 200MB+ books would become infeasible.
>>>>
>>>> (A bit of trivia: So far, the largest and longest book on the NLS site
>>>> is Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898. It's 90 hours 14
>>>> minutes long, and the download is 942MB in size!)
>>>>
>>>> In either case, downloading from BARD is free and it's available 24/7.
>>>> So far, nobody has reported any sort of limits of any kind on the
>>>> number of books you can download. (Friends of mine have downloaded
>>>> over 100 books in a few days without any problems.) You can also get
>>>> all of the NLS produced audio magazines on BARD, usually even sooner
>>>> than the cassette versions ship.
>>>>
>>>> As for RFB&D, as I understand it, it is possible to authorize an NLS
>>>> player to play RFB&D titles. The authorization key (which usually
>>>> comes in a special file called a KXO file) can be obtained from RFB&D
>>>> and allows their AudioPlus DAISY content to be played on the NLS
>>>> player. The popular portable players (Victor Reader Stream and
>>>> BookSense) can also play RFB&D content. AFAIK, there's a yearly limit
>>>> on AudioPlus DAISY downloads of something like 50 titles a year. You
>>>> can download unlimited WMA encrypted content, but this can't (legally)
>>>> be converted for playback on anything but a computer with Windows
>>>> Media Player.
>>>>
>>>> The NLS player can also play MP3 files stored on flash drives or the
>>>> cartridges. This lets you play back any CD book copied to MP3 files,
>>>> or even play music if desired.
>>>>
>>>> Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions you may have.
>>>>
>>>> FM
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Mar 4, 2010 at 9:21 AM, Mike Gilmore <m_b_gilmore at yahoo.com> 
>>>> wrote:
>>>>> Good morning everybody.
>>>>>
>>>>> I just found this listserv on NFB's web site yesterday and became 
>>>>> excited about it. When it comes to digital talking books, I know as 
>>>>> much about them as I do about who'll be in the 2010 World Series and 
>>>>> win it (which is to say nothing.)
>>>>>
>>>>> I currently receive my books from NLS in either cassette or braille; 
>>>>> however, I noticed as I search NLS's web site for authors or books 
>>>>> that a lot of them are digital downloads or web braille. I know that 
>>>>> this is a DTB listerserv; however, does anyone know what web braille 
>>>>> books from NLS is and how to access them?
>>>>>
>>>>> As far as DTB's, my question is the same thing. I tried to investigate 
>>>>> how to receive them from NLS; but, one needs a player and there's 
>>>>> seven listed. I also noticed that RFB&D switched all of their stuff to 
>>>>> digital stuff. So, what's the best DTB player (the NLS one, etc.?) How 
>>>>> does one get digital books from NLS? Downloading? Ordering?
>>>>>
>>>>> I hope to make the switch in the near future because I'm afraid that 
>>>>> NLS will start to offer more DTB's and junk the cassettes very soon. 
>>>>> I'm especially worried about the older books only on cassette that 
>>>>> aren't on DTB and if they'll conver them or what.
>>>>>
>>>>> Sorry for all this rambling! Thanks for all your help and for reading 
>>>>> this!
>>>>>
>>>>> Mike
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
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>>>>
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