[Dtb-talk] What are the cheapest accessible ebook readers?

Fri Oct 14 18:23:54 UTC 2011

Hi Kestrell,

I still feel that Hims goofed by dropping GW Micro and opening their own 
office!  Oh well, water under the bridge now!  Just the same, they should 
stand by their products and to say out of warranty is your problem isn't 
nice at all!  Please keep us posted as to whether they repair your unit and 
give you satisfaction in their repairs.

Jim

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kestrell" <kestrell at panix.com>
To: "Discussion of Digital Talking Books" <dtb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 13, 2011 8:19 AM
Subject: Re: [Dtb-talk] What are the cheapest accessible ebook readers?

> Yes, Hymns, Inc., makes the BookSense, but the models which came out a 
> couple years back had known design flaws, which I didn't know about until 
> after I bought one. The AC adapter tends to come loose, which mine did 
> just a few months after I bought it. It was replaced with a new unit, but 
> the replacement unit began to have the same issue earlier this summer, 
> after it was out of warranty. Now the USB is also too loose to charge the 
> unit, which has had its charge drop to 1, which makes it impossible to 
> charge even if either of the jacks was working (another design flaw which 
> I didn't know about when I bought it).
>
> Yesterday I called Hymns, and the tech support person basically said, it's 
> out of warranty, so it's not our problem. I said that this was not a 
> satisfactory answer and I would like to file an official complaint, at 
> which point the tech person said she would get back to me. Last night she 
> e-mailed me and said Hymns would be willing to repair my BookSense because 
> they understand how frustrating this must be.
>
> Kes
> ,
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "James Aldrich" <jajkaldrich at gmail.com>
> To: "Discussion of Digital Talking Books" <dtb-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, October 13, 2011 9:19 AM
> Subject: Re: [Dtb-talk] What are the cheapest accessible ebook readers?
>
>
>> Hello!
>>
>> Doesn't Hymns Inc. out of Texas repaire a Book Sense?  Why can't these be 
>> fixed?  My wife has one which she is very happy with!
>>
>> Jim
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
>> To: "Discussion of Digital Talking Books" <dtb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 2:06 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Dtb-talk] What are the cheapest accessible ebook readers?
>>
>>
>>> You probably have figured this out but I know some others who liked 
>>> their old BookPorts were
>>> disappointed that the BookPort Plus has different voices, being Samantha 
>>> and Tom like the PlexTalk
>>> Pocket and the Stream.  However, APH has their own voice that is used 
>>> for the menus, but that is a
>>> different voice than the text-to-speech voices.  I think it is a good 
>>> unit in terms of features, though,
>>> as is the PlexTalk Pocket.  I am not sure I am going to give up on the 
>>> BookSense, though, I may just buy
>>> another one.  .
>>>
>>> Best regards,
>>>
>>> Steve Jacobson
>>>
>>> On Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:47:15 -0400, Kestrell wrote:
>>>
>>>>Thanks! I'm looking at the page for the BookPort Plus, though, and it's 
>>>>much
>>>>less than I thought it was, only $325 (to use the word only rather 
>>>>loosely),
>>>>so I'm thinking I may go with that, as I loved my old BookPort, which 
>>>>lasted
>>>>me about six years .
>>>
>>>>Kes
>>>
>>>>----- Original Message ----- 
>>>>From: "smokey joe" <smokeyjoe at musfiber.com>
>>>>To: "'Discussion of Digital Talking Books'" <dtb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>>>Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 2:29 PM
>>>>Subject: Re: [Dtb-talk] What are the cheapest accessible ebook readers?
>>>
>>>
>>>>> Freedom Scientific has a good price on the Plextalk Pocket ($275) till 
>>>>> the
>>>>> end of the month. They include a piece of DAISY editing software that
>>>>> appears to be pretty easy to use. However, I think you have to put up 
>>>>> with
>>>>> their copy protection scheme on that program. Their July and August
>>>>> podcasts
>>>>> give a really good overview.
>>>>>
>>>>> I think the APH version of the Pocket sells for $300.
>>>>>
>>>>> My experience with this type of machine is fairly limited. I mostly 
>>>>> use
>>>>> the
>>>>> NLS digital player for audio and my computer for DAISY text files. I 
>>>>> had a
>>>>> Victor Stream for a time, but it died. It was good for audio, but not 
>>>>> so
>>>>> good for text. I would rather hear Eloquence on my netbook than Tom or
>>>>> Samantha on the Stream.
>>>>>
>>>>> I got to play with a BookSense briefly last spring. The voices on it 
>>>>> were
>>>>> much better than those on the Stream. I can't keep these companies
>>>>> straight
>>>>> in my head, but the voice names were something like Paul and Kate. 
>>>>> Anyhow,
>>>>> I
>>>>> sped them up and the speech was still understandable.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: dtb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:dtb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] 
>>>>> On
>>>>> Behalf Of Kestrell
>>>>> Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 1:52 PM
>>>>> To: Discussion of Digital Talking Books
>>>>> Subject: [Dtb-talk] What are the cheapest accessible ebook readers?
>>>>>
>>>>> My BookSense just died (it's less than two years old so, needless to 
>>>>> say,
>>>>> I
>>>>> will not be recommending a BookSense to people).
>>>>>
>>>>> What do folks recommend as the least expensive accessible ebook reader
>>>>> options?
>>>>>
>>>>> Kes
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Dtb-talk mailing list
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>>>>> om
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
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>>>
>>>
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