[nfb-talk] Bard

Thu Jul 15 13:34:12 UTC 2010

Yeah, I know the format is daisy. I tried to open a bard book with FS Reader 
on my Pac Mate but it said it was unauthorized. I didn't actually think that 
would work anyway because the Pac Mate doesn't even have enough RAM to open 
many of the books from bookshare.

I looked into writing a daisy player for linux but I didn't get any farther 
than googling for open source libraries for the daisy format. That would 
actually be the first step -- writing an open source library for daisy. I 
should probably get started on that. It would coincide nicely with my work 
on starting the International Association of Visually Impaired 
Technologists.

I don't know if you heard about this but the World Intellectual Property 
Organization (WIPO) is working on a treaty that would essentially allow 
bookshare to go international. Right now, you have to be a US citizen to 
sign up with bookshare.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2010 3:30 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Bard

> John,
>
> The basic structure of NLS audio books on BARD is DAISY.  There are 
> software DAISY players around already.  DAISY can contain either text or 
> audio with other
> files defining the structure of the book.  The issue as I understand it 
> with NLS books is that the audio itself is encrypted.  When you buy a 
> device that can play these
> books, you must register the device and then get an authorization file 
> that you place on the device itself, such as the BookSense, and routines 
> in the device use
> that authorization file to activate it's ability to play the audio on 
> these books.  You would therefore likely attract some unwanted attention 
> if you were to undertake
> soch a project.  <smile>  The makers of players that can read these books 
> agree to not register a player unless it has been verified that the owner 
> is receiving NLS
> services.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Steve Jacobson
>
> On Wed, 14 Jul 2010 10:05:24 -0500, John G. Heim wrote:
>
>>No, you didn't misunderstand my question. I just didn't think about the
>>restrictions.  Well, that's kind of a bummer though. I was thinking of
>>seeing if I could write a linux program to play a book downloaded from 
>>bard.
>>I used to sort of do that kind of thing for a living. I worked for a 
>>company
>>that wrote software for medical scanners and part of my job was to reverse
>>engineer image file formats. There is nothing illegal about taking a data
>>file and writing a program to read it. You can legally write an mp3 
>>decoder
>>but you can't write an mp3 encoder.  But there might be special laws
>>regarding bard books. So maybe I'd better not write an open source linux
>>bard player. It probably couldn't be done anyway. Most likely, the content
>>is encrypted.
>
>>----- Original Message ----- 
>>From: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
>>To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2010 9:28 AM
>>Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Bard
>
>
>>> John,
>>>
>>> Maybe I am misunderstanding your question, but the Victor Reader Stream,
>>> the BookSense from GW Micro, and the BookPort Plus from the American
>>> Printing
>>> House for the Blind can all play BARD books, and I think the Plex-Talker
>>> from IRTI can also do it.  It is unlikely that note-takers will be able 
>>> to
>>> play audio NLS books
>>> because NLS is shying away from players that have a software component
>>> that could be compromised by someone seeking to decode books.  Of 
>>> course,
>>> the
>>> above players all have software components, but the systems are
>>> proprietary and users don't have the ability to easily load software on
>>> these devices that could be
>>> used to tap into the logic associated with decoding the audio on these
>>> books.  Web Braille books which will become part of BARD can be played 
>>> on
>>> Note-Takers,
>>> though, since it is felt that the translation to grade two braille is an
>>> effective obstacle to making such books available to the public.
>>>
>>> Best regards,
>>>
>>> Steve Jacobson
>>>
>>> On Wed, 14 Jul 2010 08:42:08 -0500, John G. Heim wrote:
>>>
>>>>Can you buy a commercial player for the books from bard? I have 2 
>>>>cassette
>>>>book players in addition to the one the library sent me. But I don't 
>>>>have
>>>>any way to play a book downloaded from the bard site except on the 
>>>>player
>>>>they sent me.
>>>
>>>>I would think that the newer braille notetakers will be able to play 
>>>>books
>>>>from bard. I own a Pac Mate and it can recognize a book downloaded from
>>>>bard
>>>>but it cannot play it.
>>>
>>>>----- Original Message ----- 
>>>>From: "Wm. Ritchhart" <william.ritchhart at sbcglobal.net>
>>>>To: "'NFB Talk Mailing List'" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>>>Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2010 5:04 PM
>>>>Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Bard
>>>
>>>
>>>>>I really like the new digital talking book player.  I do wish it was
>>>>>still
>>>>> smaller and lighter.  With all my swimming gear, lunch, back-up cane 
>>>>> and
>>>>> everything else I have in my gym bag; it is still too heavy.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]
>>>>> On
>>>>> Behalf Of Steve Johnson
>>>>> Sent: Monday, July 12, 2010 8:22 PM
>>>>> To: 'NFB Talk Mailing List'
>>>>> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Bard
>>>>>
>>>>> John, I have not tried one myself yet, so this is good to know. 
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>> Steve
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]
>>>>> On
>>>>> Behalf Of John G. Heim
>>>>> Sent: Monday, July 12, 2010 3:26 PM
>>>>> To: NFB Talk Mailing List
>>>>> Subject: [nfb-talk] Bard
>>>>>
>>>>> Man, I just got one of those new digital book players from the 
>>>>> National
>>>>> Library Service.  You might wonder why a computer nerd like myself 
>>>>> took
>>>>> so
>>>>> long to ask for one of those things. Well, I guess mostly the reason 
>>>>> is
>>>>> that
>>>>> I have 2 tape players that I bought myself plus the one from NLS. So 
>>>>> now
>>>>> I
>>>>> have to use the player from the NLS all of the time.
>>>>>
>>>>> But holy cow, is this thing nice. I downloaded a book and put it on a
>>>>> USB
>>>>> thumb drive and was listening to a book amybe 3 minutes after getting
>>>>> started. And navigation within the book is very nice.
>>>>>
>>>>> Your tax dollars at work.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
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>>>>>
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>>>
>>>
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>
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