[nabs-l] learning ally and download frustrations

[Carly Mihalakis]

Yes, guys, that's why we gotta put blind back in 
the name! Don't even refer to it as Learning 
Ally! You know they say, what's in a name? 
Everything! As far as i'm concerned, that 
opperation is called Recording for the Blind and 
serves blind people who can't see printed material!
Car :32 PM 4/14/2014, Chris Nusbaum wrote:
>I agree and have had many similar frustrations. 
>Since their rebranding as Learning Ally, I 
>believe, they have shifted their focus from the 
>blind to those with learning disabilities, 
>leaving us all but forgotten. Sad but true. 
>Chris Nusbaum Sent from my iPhone > On Apr 14, 
>2014, at 4:22 PM, "Ashley Bramlett" 
><bookwormahb at earthlink.net> wrote: > > Hi 
>all, > > Do you all think learning ally makes 
>changes not in our favor for nonvisual access? 
>Well, I do. Since they changed their name, I 
>knew this was trouble. > Well, to start, no 
>longer is the book catalog searching easy. Sure 
>you can do it, but your results do not show you 
>all you need; before it showed it all in a good 
>way; like your publisher and copy right year. 
>Now its barried among links which is harder as 
>you have to listen to the whole line to hear it 
>all, one of which is the year. Oh, and did you 
>notice the  links to get to the next and 
>previous pages are no longer links? Jaws does 
>not recognize them as links. I clicked on it 
>with enter and it worked, but it should read as 
>a link with screen readers. > > Now, if that is 
>not bad enough, I  have tried unsuccessfully to 
>use the darn download manager. Thankfully, I 
>usually use the old fashion cds, but sometimes 
>I’m in a pinch, like now, and need to download 
>asap so I have instant access, not wait for the 
>mailed books. > > I’ll call them again. I 
>searched for the books and clicked on add to 
>bookshelf; they were added. > Then, I attempted 
>to install their download manager. > > The 
>learning ally is no ally to us. > The old 
>download manager was screen reader friendly and 
>I successfully downloaded a lot of books! > > 
>The download manager does not give a lot of 
>screen prompts, and there was no way to ensure 
>it finished installing. I did click on the next 
>buttons, so I thought it was installed. Well, 
>when I called them last week, we determined it 
>was not installed since no icon was on desktop, 
>nor did I see it in my computer as I 
>searched. > > I don’t know how to get from the 
>bookshelf step to dowloading them with the 
>download manager, and then  using my victor 
>reader stratus. > > This is rediculous not to be 
>user friendly. I cannot express my 
>disappointment enough that for years I used them 
>with no issues, ever since high school, and then 
>in college got my own account. I had issues with 
>some readers, but not obtaining books. The 
>readers are not always the greatest quality. 
>But, the book service was fine. I even asked the 
>DC recording studio to record a few books, and 
>they were happy to do so! They sent me my books 
>in installments either on cassette, or later via 
>cd. It worked well. I also picked up my books 
>after recording them in good condition. > > But, 
>now, as learning ally, the website is terrible. 
>They have cut critically needed staff in my 
>opinion from regional offices. Get this, they 
>cut staff, but then increase your membership 
>fee! Where is my increased 25 dollars going? 
>Where are the costs there in that nonprofit? Oh, 
>maybe to increase outreach to the dislexic 
>population, which does not want the name 
>dislexia in the title of the nonprofit. > > > 
>I’ll call again. I need help with this stupid 
>download manager. they said there is a 
>specialist who can better help me who knows 
>about screen readers. > > I’m curious about 
>your experiences with downloads. > > Thanks. > 
>Ashley > 
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