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<body><div>The following is an update to the open letter I posted previously.</div><div>This is good news.</div>
<div>Thanks.</div><div><div><br /></div><div id="signature_old"><div dir="ltr"><div>Shane Popplestone</div><div>vice president of the Ohio Association of blind students</div><div>member of the Grater Akron Chapter</div><div>member of Ohio Association of Guide Dog users</div><div><a href="mailto:spopplestone.nfb@gmail.com" target="_blank">spopplestone.nfb@gmail.com</a></div><div>The National Federation of the Blind knows th</div><div>at blindness is not the</div><div>characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the</div><div>expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles</div><div>between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want;</div><div>blindness is not what holds you back.</div></div></div><br /></div>
<div><br /></div>
<div>
<div>------ Forwarded Message ------</div>
<div>From "Open Letter" <<a href="mailto:support@openletter.earth">support@openletter.earth</a>></div>
<div>To <a href="mailto:shane.davidson@icloud.com">shane.davidson@icloud.com</a></div>
<div>Date 2/3/2023 11:46:10 AM</div>
<div>Subject An Update on the open letter to Amazon requesting reinstatement of Victor Reader Stream support</div></div><div><br /></div>
<div id="x840c629c7302474">
Thanks to everyone, 678 people at the time of publication of this update, who signed the open letter requesting that Amazon reinstate support for HumanWare’s Victor Reader Stream.<br />
The letter came about as the result of comments made by HumanWare representatives in episode 212 of the Mosen at large podcast that not only was the forthcoming third generation Stream not yet supported by Audible, but changes to Audible Sync prevented new authorisations of current models.<br />
During the week, I received a comprehensive audio demonstration from a listener, which will air in Mosen at Large 213, showing that with the latest version of Audible Sync, authorisation of the current generation Stream has now been reinstated. I should emphasise that this is not a result of the open letter, the Audible Sync update had been published previously but it seems Audible had not communicated this fix to product management at HumanWare.<br />
I have contacted HumanWare and they confirm that they have heard similar and verified the fix with internal testing.<br />
This is good news for all current Stream owners.<br />
While matters are less clear with the third generation Stream and it appears HumanWare may need still to do some work on their side, things are also looking positive there as well.<br />
It is a pity that communication between Audible and HumanWare hasn’t been better, but it is great that those who choose to read Audible books on the Stream can do so now with the current device, and should be able to do so soon if they purchase the new model.<br />
Full credit to Amazon for responding, but I encourage larger companies to take the time to communicate with those serving the blind community. We are a small market, but the consequences of these things are significant for us.<br />
While better communications would have saved us the bother of this open letter altogether, it has been a positive demonstration that we care about this issue.<br />
<br />
<br />
---<br />
Update to <a href="https://openletter.earth/to-amazons-audiblecom-division-please-reinstate-support-for-humanwares-popular-victor-reader-stream-player-for-the-blind-and-low-vision-community-c26fcf78">To Amazon's Audible.com division: Please reinstate support for HumanWare's popular Victor Reader Stream player for the blind and low vision community</a>
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