[NABS-L] Students Reading Books From Learning Ally

[Gene Kim]

Hi Curtis,

Thank you for opening this discussion. I primarily rely on bookshare and
mobile apps like voice stream reader for my book needs, and I know the
combination of bookshare and bard is very popular amongst students. I don't
want to generalize too much, but most of the blind students I know rely on
bookshare, bard, and other digitally-based platforms like vital source.
I'm also not very well-informed on this, but my sense is that Learning Ally
has been shifting their focus a little toward the dyslexic community,
particularly younger students.

I hope this helps and that you are able to hear from other students,
whether through this mailing list or otherwise.

Cheers,
Gene
--
Gene S-H Kim
Secretary/Webmaster | National Association of Blind Students
Chairperson | NABS Membership Committee
B.S. Candidate, Symbolic Systems | Stanford University

On Mon, Jul 24, 2023 at 1:52 PM Curtis Chong via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
wrote:

> Greetings everyone:
>
>
>
> My name is Curtis Chong, and I have been a longtime member and leader in
> the
> National Federation of the Blind. I am writing to this list to ask a
> question and then to possibly raise an issue regarding Learning Ally and
> its
> current stance regarding the new Victor Reader Stream's ability to play
> books in the DAISY format from that worthy organization.
>
>
>
> Question:         if you are a blind student today, do you find Learning
> Ally to be a useful source for your textbooks, and do you use the original
> or the second generation of the Victor Reader Stream to read your Learning
> Ally books?
>
>
>
> I have just purchased the new Victor Reader Stream 3. I am a lifetime
> member
> of Learning Ally. I went to Learning Ally's Authorize a DAISY Player
> <https://portal.learningally.org/Authorize-DAISY-Player>  page,
> (https://portal.learningally.org/Authorize-DAISY-Player) to request a user
> authorization key (UAK) for my new Stream. I kept receiving a message
> saying
> that my serial number was not valid. When I contact Learning Ally Customer
> Service, I was told that Learning Ally would not be supporting the latest
> model of the Victor Reader Stream because of the relatively small number of
> its members who read books in the DAISY format.
>
>
>
> Now, if today's blind students no longer rely upon Learning Ally to get
> their textbooks in an accessible format, I can be irritated with Learning
> Ally because of its disservice to existing members. However, if there are
> no
> longer any blind students who care, then this becomes a moot point. If, on
> the other hand, blind students continue to rely on Learning Ally as one
> source of accessible textbooks, then this becomes an issue which we all
> must
> deal with.
>
>
>
> If you want to communicate with me privately, I can be reached by email at
> chong.curtis at gmail.com <mailto:chong.curtis at gmail.com>  and by phone at
> 515-306-1654.
>
>
>
> I thank you all for your kind attention.
>
>
>
> Yours sincerely,
>
>
>
> Curtis Chong
>
>
>
>
>
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