[Dtb-talk] New Victor Reader Stream Upgrade Available

[Andrews, David B B (DEED)]

Victor Reader Stream 3.3 free upgrade released

Dear Victor Reader Stream Customer:

HumanWare is pleased to announce a new free upgrade for the Stream, version 3.3. It is described later in this email. First, we wish to remind you of the version 3.3 upgrade to the HumanWare Companion software which was just released October 29. If you have not yet taken advantage of the new Companion 3.3 software you may wish to do so before updating to the Stream 3.3. The reason is that the new Companion includes a Help menu item to Check for Stream Updates. Thus, you can use the Companion to update your Stream. It will do the work for you of downloading the software, unzipping, and transferring the update file to your Stream.

To help you with installing and using the new Companion 3.3 we have prepared a short audio/video. To listen or watch the video, just activate the following link:

http://visit.humanware.com/e/3332/ompanion-3-3-video/4VBHE/55592152

As mentioned in the video, the new Companion version 3.3 is available for free download on the Stream support page at:
http://visit.humanware.com/e/3332/tream-software/4VBHO/55592152

To install HumanWare Companion, download the executable (EXE) file from the above link and then run the file. After installing, you can run the program by selecting the HumanWare Companion icon on your desktop. Then select the Check for Stream Update item from the Help menu to get the new Stream software, which is also version 3.3.

If you do not wish to use the new Companion program to update your Stream, you may download the Stream 3.3 software from HumanWare at the above link. After downloading follow these steps:
* Copy the .UPG file from the download zip file to the root of an SD card. Note that you do not need to install special unzip software. Windows will unzip the UPG file. Simply press ENTER on the zip file and the UPG file will appear. Then press the SPACEBAR to select the UPG file and press CONTROL+C to copy it to the clipboard. Then navigate to the root of your Stream SD card and press CONTROL+V to paste the UPG file from the clipboard to the root of the SD card.
* Connect the Stream to a power outlet and power it on.
* The software update will start automatically. The installation process takes about 1 minute during which time the Stream will issue periodic "Please wait" messages. The Stream will announce when the update is complete and then it will power off.
* When you power the Stream back on you can confirm the new version number by pressing the INFO key 0.

After you install the new Stream software, the following Release Notes will also be saved to a HumanWare folder in the text bookshelf on your Stream SD card.

1 Stream 3.3 New Features:
* Support of new Japanese and Chinese text-to-speech voices. * CD Accessory: If you use the Stream CD drive accessory, you can now play and copy MP3 CD books. The MP3 books will be copied to the Stream Other Books bookshelf. You can also play (but not copy) a commercial audio CD.
* Announce Author for NISO Books: For DAISY 3 NISO books such as those from NLS, if the author metadata has been provided by the book producer, then the author will be announced when browsing the bookshelf or pressing the INFO key 0.
* Spell Mode: When you use the 2/8 keys to navigate to the Spell Word function, the Stream will now automatically spell the current word. You can then use keys 4/6 as before to spell the previous or next word. * More accurate messages containing numbers: The Stream messages containing numbers are now more precise with respect to plurals and genders in some languages. For example, in English Stream will now announce, "0 bookmarks" instead of "0 bookmark".
* PC Disconnect. When you disconnect the Stream from the PC it will now automatically power off. This is because after disconnecting from the PC, it is necessary to power off and back on again before you can use the Stream.
* Stream Attributes file: When you begin using Stream 3.3 you may notice a file created on your SD card with the name,
$VRStream_Attributes. Please ignore this file and do not edit it. It is used to provide player information to the HumanWare Companion program. If you need to format your SD card it is ok. The Stream will re-create this file if it is not on the card.

2 Issues Corrected
* DOCX: Corrections have been made that prevented some DOCX documents from playing. DOCX files can only be played on Streams that have the Stream SoftPak installed.
* DAISY NISO Text-only Books: Some NISO text-only books with html list tags could crash the Stream. This issue has been corrected. * DAISY Books with Space at end of Title: If you tried to copy a DAISY book from the CD accessory or from a USB stick (such as an NLS cartridge) and that book had a space at the end of the title, a media error 12 would occur. This issue has been corrected.
* Large Text Books: The Stream is now able to play large DAISY text-only books such as those from Bookshare.org. Note that you may hear "Please Wait" messages when opening these books while Stream scans the large book structure.
* If you had both audio files and folders within a subfolder of $VROtherBooks the Stream would not always find the audio files. This has been corrected.

With this announcement Stream 3.3 is available in Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, Flemish, French, German, Japanese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish. Chinese and Polish are in final stages.

HumanWare remains committed to the Stream and its customers. This is the seventh update to the Stream over the past 3 years. We appreciate your valuable feedback which has been essential in our efforts to provide the continuous improvements to the product over that time. Please enjoy these latest updates to the Stream and its Companion software.

Thank you,
The HumanWare Team



David Andrews
Chief Technology Officer
State Services for the Blind
2200 University Ave. W.
Suite 240
St. Paul, MN  55114-1840
Telephone:  651-642-0513
Cell Phone:  612-730-7931
Fax:  651-649-5927
E-mail:  david.b.andrews at state.mn.us