[Dtb-talk] The Physical Cartridges themselves?

Dornetta dornetta at gmail.com
Sun Jul 31 20:08:16 UTC 2011 

Mike...what can I say but...I am so glad you are not on the design end of 
the smart phone. LOL But honestly, it would be great & then we can use this 
list to discuss our complaints about the size of the phone (grin) On the 
other hand, I see that the app store have apps for extending the battery 
life but I haven't attempted to try any SMH *shrug*
Netta
"Just because you are blind, does not mean you lack vision"-Stevie Wonder
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
To: "'Discussion of Digital Talking Books'" <dtb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 31, 2011 11:14 AM
Subject: Re: [Dtb-talk] The Physical Cartridges themselves?


> You're right. But other smart phones are nearly as bad. If you think about
> it, the reason becomes obvious: small size with many functions competing.
>
> If I had my way, we'd have smart phones that looked like bricks or 
> ham-radio
> handy-talkies of yesteryear with three-quarters battery so you could 
> operate
> them for a week key-down without problem. (grin) And these phones would 
> put
> out 5 watts! Wouldn't *that* make the fear-mongers about cellphone
> "radiation" wake up!
>
> But, in truth, I can usually get a day's work out of my iPhone.
>
> Mike
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: dtb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:dtb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Dornetta
> Sent: Saturday, July 30, 2011 9:34 PM
> To: Discussion of Digital Talking Books
> Subject: Re: [Dtb-talk] The Physical Cartridges themselves?
>
> Mike, while I am thinking the same thing, it have adopted the attitude 
> that
> it doesn't matter about the battery life since I think that the iPhone
> battery life sucks! With or without the NLS app. It is indeed one thing 
> that
> I do not like about the iPhone!
>
> Netta
> "Just because you are blind, does not mean you lack vision"-Stevie Wonder
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
> To: "'Discussion of Digital Talking Books'" <dtb-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Saturday, July 30, 2011 11:21 PM
> Subject: Re: [Dtb-talk] The Physical Cartridges themselves?
>
>
>> One observation about an NLS iPhone app: while I'd love such an app,
>> it would eat the iPhone battery alive so one would need one of those
>> USB charging packs or something similar to get anywhere near the life
>> you get with a VR Stream, BookSense, Book Port Plus or especially the NLS
> player.
>>
>> Mike
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: dtb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:dtb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]
>> On Behalf Of Greg Kearney
>> Sent: Saturday, July 30, 2011 5:24 PM
>> To: Discussion of Digital Talking Books
>> Cc: Discussion of Digital Talking Books
>> Subject: Re: [Dtb-talk] The Physical Cartridges themselves?
>>
>> We wrote an iPhone app DaisyWorm which can read the DAISY/NISO 2002
>> format which the NLS uses. We contacted the NLS and offered to make
>> that software work with their books they never replied to us.
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> Greg Kearney
>> Association for the Blind of Western Australia
>>
>> On 31/07/2011, at 7:58 AM, Jim Barbour <jbar at barcore.com> wrote:
>>
>>> No, no iphone player for NLS books.
>>>
>>> Various rumors say that NLS might be working on something, but nobody
>>> knows if it's true nor when such a thing might be released.
>>>
>>> Jim
>>>
>>> On Sat, Jul 30, 2011 at 07:47:36PM -0400, Dornetta wrote:
>>>> Hello all:
>>>> I have been monitoring this convo for a while and would like to
>> ask...does
>>>> NLS has a app for the iPhone?
>>>> I find that while enjoying books via the DTBM is a +, it becomes a
>> nuisence
>>>> when travel is thrown into the mix. :-( I am saying that this is an
>>>> "bad"
>>>> concept or thing but useing the VR Stream/DTBM vs. the iPhone allows
>>>> for more portibility. What a great concept if this was possible :-)
>>>> Netta "Just because you are blind, does not mean you lack
>>>> vision"-Stevie Wonder
>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lynn Evans"
>>>> <evans-lynn at comcast.net>
>>>> To: "Discussion of Digital Talking Books" <dtb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>>> Sent: Saturday, July 30, 2011 2:28 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: [Dtb-talk] The Physical Cartridges themselves?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> I would think NLS has a few more patrons then you do Down Under.
>>>>>
>>>>> Also you have a central location and NLS has regional libraries
>>>>> spread throughout the 50 states.
>>>>>
>>>>> Not only are the cartridges right protected, according to my
>>>>> library
>> here
>>>>> in Florida each cartridge with a book has the firmware on it for
>>>>> the NLS player.
>>>>>
>>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Greg Kearney"
>>>>> <gkearney at gmail.com>
>>>>> To: "Discussion of Digital Talking Books" <dtb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>>>> Sent: Saturday, July 30, 2011 12:05 AM
>>>>> Subject: Re: [Dtb-talk] The Physical Cartridges themselves?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> Well as I said we went a different rout here. We assigned the
>>>>>> cartridge to the user and not the book. We then developed software
>>>>>> that reads the unique serial number tied to each cartridge and
>>>>>> then erases and lads that users next set of books.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> This achieves several things:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 1. No book is ever "put of stock" as we do not store copies on a
>>>>>> self but rather on a server.
>>>>>> 2. We need only about 2 cartridges per user this reducing the
>>>>>> number of cartridge required.
>>>>>> 3. We reduce the number of packages that go out in the mails by
>>>>>> putting several books on a drive.
>>>>>> 4. We no longer need a big room filled up with shelves for books.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> As a result our drives are not write protected and as of yet that
>>>>>> has never been an issue for us.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Gregory Kearney | Manager Accessible Media Association for the
>>>>>> Blind of WA - Guide Dogs WA PO Box 101, Victoria Park WA 6979 | 61
>>>>>> Kitchener Ave, Victoria Park WA
>>>>>> 6100
>>>>>> Tel: 08 9311 8246 | Fax: 08 9361 8696 | www.guidedogswa.com.au
>>>>>> Tel: 307-224-4022 (North America)
>>>>>> Email: greg.kearney at guidedogswa.com.au
>>>>>> Email: gkearney at gmail.com
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 30/07/2011, at 11:50 AM, Lynn Evans wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Please allow me to chime or clang in on this subject.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The cartridges are indeed flash drives in a different form that
>>>>>>> is in a cartridge with a big finger hole on one end and the USB
>>>>>>> connector on the other end.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The cable used to connect a blank cartridge to the computer is a
>>>>>>> standard USB extension cable. The cable will be able to connect
>>>>>>> one end to the other end like a necklace. I have been told these
>>>>>>> cables can be found in the Dollar Store for you guessed it a dollar.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> NLS did not choose to use flash drives or even smaller flash
>>>>>>> cards because of the dexterity issues that some patrons would
>>>>>>> have with working with small objects.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The use of a flash card reader along with a flash card is
>>>>>>> problematic at best. NLS has recommended during the BARD pilot
>>>>>>> phrase that flash cards not be used with the NLS digital players.
>>>>>>> Some may have reported some success in their use. Others have
>>>>>>> reported slow access of data transfer from card to player causing
>>>>>>> the player to loose its place in the book.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> It is a waist of human resources and librarian's time for them to
>>>>>>> sit at a computer all day erasing cartridges and then replacing the
> files
>>>>>>> with newly requested books from NLS patrons.   NLS has contracted
>>>>>>> with
>>>>>>> a company to load books, mass produce books and ship them out to
>>>>>>> our regional libraries. Like the audio cassettes the cartridges
>>>>>>> are kept in their blue shipping boxes ready to be pulled off the
>>>>>>> library shelves, affixed with the patron's address card and mailed
> out.
>>>>>>> What
>>>>>>> would be the point of fixing the cartridges so they can not be
>>>>>>> erased only to have the librarians replace the books with other
>>>>>>> books on the same cartridge?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Greg Kearney"
>>>>>>> <gkearney at gmail.com>
>>>>>>> To: "Discussion of Digital Talking Books" <dtb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>>>>>> Sent: Friday, July 29, 2011 3:18 PM
>>>>>>> Subject: Re: [Dtb-talk] The Physical Cartridges themselves?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> It would be possible to build an SD card reader into the housing
>>>>>>>> of a NSL Drive. We have considered building such a thing but
>>>>>>>> right now the drives are less expensive and you have to have a
>>>>>>>> really BIG order to justify all the plastic production work.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Gregory Kearney | Manager Accessible Media Association for the
>>>>>>>> Blind of WA - Guide Dogs WA PO Box 101, Victoria Park WA 6979 |
>>>>>>>> 61 Kitchener Ave, Victoria Park WA 6100
>>>>>>>> Tel: 08 9311 8246 | Fax: 08 9361 8696 | www.guidedogswa.com.au
>>>>>>>> Tel: 307-224-4022 (North America)
>>>>>>>> Email: greg.kearney at guidedogswa.com.au
>>>>>>>> Email: gkearney at gmail.com
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On 30/07/2011, at 1:31 AM, Eric SS wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Paul, good question. It would be interesting.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I was just wondering why the blank cartridges we can buy are
>>>>>>>>> limited to 1 or 2GB. Also, why couldn't there be an empty
>>>>>>>>> cartridge so that we could insert an SD card of whatever
>>>>>>>>> capacity.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Curious minds keep us from getting work done...
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Eric SS
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
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