[Nfbmt] FCC Chooses to Approve the Waiver for E-book Readers for One Year

[James Aldrich]

Hi all,

I like the direction we are heading!  We no longer have two or three 
companies dominating the field of blindness technology! We now have 
more and more access to main stream technology with accessibility built 
in!  The IPhone is a great example of this! I understand great strides 
have been made with the latest Kindle Fire.  It isn't perfect but 
people are beginning to purchase it! We may have lost a battle with the 
FCC reviewing the need to have accessibility built in and included in 
all reading devices! We simply need to stick to our guns and insist all 
devices must be accessible to us and this accessibility must be built 
in! If we don't, the writers, publishers and manufacturers will attempt 
to make more of their devices with no accessibility included!  Our 
National Office is certainly on top of this issue! We will be notified 
when we need to write our congressman to state our case!  When a 
company does something right, it doesn't hurt to contact them about how 
pleased you are with your recent  purchase!

I can agree to a point about the free marketplace but that is an empty 
argument when we have been told over and over again, we are a 
specialized market and our products aren't needed by the masses 
therefore, we must pay much more for our technology!  I think some 
companies felt they knew better than we did about what was truly 
needed!  iI can go into allot of detail about this!  The cost for 
screen readers is also going down and one company isn't dominating the 
field as it once did! It really makes allot of sense to put a thousand 
dollar, maybe two thousand dollar screen reader on a three hundred 
dollar netbook right?!  Okay, I have two computers but the cost of some 
screen reader technology exceeded the cost of the computer it would be 
used on. This technology is competing with Voiceover which is built 
into the Mac computer.  System Access and GW Micro are bringing the 
cost of screen reader technology down!  The founder of Serotek Corp 
invisions a day when the company he founded would no longer be needed! 
All computers would be accessible off the shelf! Perhaps the computers 
we now know may not exist as they do in a few years!  Technology is 
constantly changing!

I think Dan has it right for the most part!  I'd rather have a device 
which can access as many books as possible and it would be a pleasure 
to read something which has been recently published! It would be nice 
to pay $60 for it!  on the other hand, I tend to take the middle ground 
on this issue!  If something works well for someone, why not promote it 
especially if it costs $350 or so.  That is much better than $900 or 
$5000! I have two of those $5000 notetakers with braille displays which 
are no longer repairable or replaceable.  They can no longer go online. 
Even the $1500 notetakers Dar and I purchased over five years ago 
cannot go online any more!  They are no longer supported by the 
manufacturer.   They work fine, but if they quit, they go to the dump I 
guess!  We'll use them till they croke! Meanwhile that $350 or so 
netbook could go online the day I bought it and if I still had it here, 
I'm certain it could connect to my present network.  I've wondered why 
the blindness devices I purchased did not have the latest connectivity 
features and I' paid much more!  I had someone bring in the Humanware 
APex notetaker and it did work on our Wi fi.  I paid $800 for a second 
hand Trekker Breeze and a bit over $900 for a new one!  Now one can get 
them for $300.  I think they are on the way out!  I can get a better 
GPS app for my phone for $20 which will equal the Trekker Breeze I 
think.  My Trekker Breeze still works fine and it had been to the shop 
once but it is hardly used! I can buy allot of IPhones for $5000 even 
if I pay $850 or so through Apple.  Thank goodness, I got most of them 
subsidized through Verizon Wireless.  I'm not crying in my beer really! 
i don't drink beer as a rule unless it is a very hot summer day!

Right now, the latest Victor Stream with its present upgrade is ahead 
of  all the other reading devices!  I think second in line are the Book 
Port Plus and the Book Port DT as well as the Plextalk line of 
products.  The Book Sense has an excellent TTS Engine, but I can 
utilize this through my IPhone!  So if I were to let go anything, it 
might be the Book Sense!  They have some great features, but it doesn't 
go online and it is harder to put books on the unit than the other 
above mentioned reading devices.

I don't wish to tell anyone what they should use!  I won't pay anything 
above $4000 for a braille notetaker.  I'll purchase one reconditioned 
or used if it has been refurbished by the factory.  I may get a braille 
display which can connect via bluetooth with my phone or IPod. I'm 
still thinking it over!

For what it is worth!

Jim


Original message:
> Very good points Dan.  I'm very new at having a Victor and at this point I'm
> still in awe that it does everything it does.  I have no idea what's
> available to the sighted users of other electronic toys.  I feel very
> fortunate to have been introduced to the Victor, I love it's versatility,
> it's portability and so much more about it.  Ted sent me a message from the
> company who made it and I loaded an ap into it to get internet radio
> stations but I haven't yet figured out how to play them but I'm sure I will
> eventually figure that outas well.  For me, I love the tools that are
> available to us blind users.  In time, I will doubtless start to feel as you
> do.   I'm still so new at  all this cool technology.  Perhaps we should get
> with the manufacturers of some of these toys and help them design them to be
> accessible to the blind, sort of like advisors.  We, after all, know what we
> need and what we like.  Just a thought:)

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nfbmt [mailto:nfbmt-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Dan Burke
> Sent: Saturday, February 8, 2014 6:59 PM
> To: NFB of Montana Discussion List
> Subject: Re: [Nfbmt] FCC Chooses to Approve the Waiver for E-book Readers
> for One Year

> True, except that Kindle has tens of thousands more books than we can ever
> get on our Streams, and the e-book readers sold to the mainstream are about
> $100 or less, instead of $380.  I  want the free market that everyone else
> has access to.  I want to pay those same prices and get accessible
> mainstream readers and books.

> The FCC's decision is indeed a big disappointment..

> Dan


> On 2/8/14, Rebecca Stewart <becca33 at bresnan.net> wrote:
>> Well, that's bad news of course but it can only create more business
>> for companies who have chosen to cater to our needs, companies like
>> the one that makes the Victor Stream.  If these companies show a great
>> profit by catering to the blind, then other companies who are not
>> forced to will make the choice to become accessible in order to get
>> our business, that's how the free market works:)

>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Nfbmt [mailto:nfbmt-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Rik James
>> Sent: Friday, February 7, 2014 11:53 PM
>> To: NFB of Montana Discussion List
>> Subject: [Nfbmt] FCC Chooses to Approve the Waiver for E-book Readers
>> for One Year

>> Hello, list members. This is Rik.

>> I read this as a bit of disappointing news. Maybe some of you already
>> had heard about it.
>> I found it as one of the items in Blind Bargains today, which is a
>> pretty neat place to find stuff for sale in addition to news bits, and
> what not.

>> http://www.blindbargains.com/


>> FCC Chooses to Approve the Waiver for E-book Readers for One Year

>> Back in  August,  we told you about the Coalition of E-book Reader
>> manufacturers asking the FCC to waive the requirements to make their
>> basic e-book readers accessible. Then in  October,  we let you know
>> that a temporary waiver had been granted to the Coalition while the
>> FCC reviewed the case. Today, we're sad to announce that the FCC has
>> decided to grant the waiver, granting these companies the right to not
>> have to make their basic e-book readers accessible to people with
>> disabilities. According to the Digital Journal, here are some of the
>> requirements that the FCC laid out for which devices would qualify for
>> the waiver: the device must not have an LCD screen, the device must
>> not have a camera, and the device must be marketed as a reading
>> device. The waiver that was granted will last for one year.
>> Posted by Alena Roberts Sunday, 02-Feb-2014 2:02 PM ET in
>> Books/Movies/Music


>> If your email is in rich text and not plain text then you can TAB down
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>> FCC Chooses to Approve the Waiver for E-book Readers  for One Year
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> --
> Dan Burke
> My Cell:  406.546.8546
> Twitter:  @DallDonal

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