[Electronics-talk] Wow! $10 MP3 Player Really Is Accessible

[Gerald Levy]

I just received my Coby MP200 MP3 player from J&R, and it is truly simple and totally blind accessible.  On top of the unit is the earphone jack into which you plug the included earbuds.  The front panel has 5 discrete buttons arranged in a vertical column.  From top to bottom, the buttons are skip forward, play/pause/power, skip backward, volume up and volume down.  Pressing and holding the second button from the top for 5 seconds turns the unit on, and pressing and holding it again for 5 seconds turns it off.  That's all there is to it.  The bottom of the unit has a USB connector that plugs directly into a USB port, although a separate USB cable is also included.  You just plug it into your PC and copy and paste the MP3 files you want to download.  Just install the included AAA battery and you're good to go.  The sound quality is surprisingly good, at least using a better pair of earbuds than the included ones.  There is absolutely no learning curve, and no sighted assistance is required to use it.  The included software, which I have not tried yet, is fully JAWS accessible.  With 2gb of memory, it can hold up to 1,000 songs.  This is probably the best blind accessible MP3 deal ever.  It is still available from J&R for $10 with free shipping, but they probably won't last much longer at that price.  They make wonderful stocking stuffers.  The hardest part of using this gizmo is getting it out of the plastic blister pack which requires a heavy duty scissors to cut open.

http://www.jr.com/coby/pe/CBY_MP2002G/

    Gerald