[Electronics-talk] E-Readers

[Chris Nusbaum]

Hi Sharon,

Do you purchase books using the Kindle's PC app? I thought the 
Kindle's features (other than reading books with text-to-speech) 
weren't accessible.  And according to what I read in a press 
release the NFB put out, TTS isn't available in the Kindle Fire.

Chris

"The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight.  The 
real problem is the misunderstanding and lack of education that 
exists.  If a blind person has the proper training and 
opportunity, blindness can be reduced to a mere physical 
nuisance."
-- Kenneth Jernigan

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Sharon Ballantyne <sballan at nexicom.net
To: Discussion of accessible electronics and 
appliances<electronics-talk at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Tue, 10 Jan 2012 23:22:36 -0500
Subject: Re: [Electronics-talk] E-Readers

Hi Vince,

I am totally blind.  i ahve been using a kindle keyboard for 
about a year and a half.  You can put audible books on it so you 
ahve different narrator's for those books from audible.  The text 
to speech has a regular voice speech rate (very very slow to my 
ears) and their increased speed is still rpetty slow.  I'd love 
to be able to adjust the speech rate further but the kindle does 
allow me access to Amazon books that are text to speech enabled.  
This unfortunately does not apply to all books, so check before 
you purchase any text.

I have not found a way to asily use the keyboard except for the 
space bar to pause and enabling the speech using control and 
symbols.  The homea nd back key are easy to use and the five way 
key that simulates an enter key in the middle of a box with the 
upper and lower edge lines of the box operating as up and down 
cursors and the left and right sides operating as left right 
cursors.  The menu key just above the five way is also accessible 
as are the page up and down on either side.

When the speech is turned on, it will read the book continuously 
so you don't ahve to turn pages.

The navigation for on and off is a slider that also takes you to 
screen saver and turning off option.  The volume control is easy 
to use and the earphone jack is discernible.

I do use the book mark features with no difficulty but not the 
add notes and highlights.

I ahve used the keyboard (QWERTY style) to do searches within 
texts or to locate a text but when you are using the keyboard for 
example to enter ssearch string there will be no audio feedback 
so you are a bit in no mans land there.

I use the computer to go to Amazon and actually find the books I 
want.  If I ahve ordered a free sample I can choose to purchase 
the book right from my kindle without going to my computer.

It is not as accessible as all the features that the sighted have 
but I really like it for its portability, long battery life and 
instant access to books.  Theya re not kidding about a book in 
under a minute.

Hope this description is of some help.

At the time I bought my e-reader the others were not at the time 
as accessible.  That could have changed.

All the best,

Sharon
On 2012-01-10, at 7:59 PM, cheez wrote:

 I think this topic has been discussed before, however I don't 
remember what was said.
 Which E-Reader offers the most user-friendliness for a total?
 Vince

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