[Perform-talk] Whatare we going to do about this issue?

[Kenlawrence124 at aol.com]

Hello friends Sorry for a cross posting, but I think this is important both 
 to the access of the net, and to the musicians on the PAD list.  I 
recently  got an email from a electronic/dance group called Girls on film stating 
that the  new release is available on CD baby.  I went to CD baby and found 
that  blind users can no longer preview what they buy on CD baby.  Yeah that  
right sound in sight contributers blind can no longer hear samples before  
buying.  Below is a message along with my original to CD baby alerting them  
to this.  The cop out here is a cop out and I got the same thing from  
Pandora.  It seems to me that the lie that it costs to much to make a site  
accessible won't cut it.  So my friends what are we going to do to help  Kevin 
Reeves and all the blind people who until now at least depended on the  
discover music tag on CD baby?  We sure can't discover music if we can't  sample 
it Huh?  Tell me if you think this is an absolute crock of you know  what.   
  
Hello Ken,
I'm sorry our update removed the functional use for our blind  customers.  
Our programmers
are all in house and are looking forward to  making it more friendly to the 
blind.
Unfortunately, there are a few other  programming issues they need to 
finish first.
Take care,
Joel
-CD  Baby
In Reply To:
Hello, My name is Ken, and I'm blind and am very  disappointed that you 
have changed
your page.  Today I wanted to post a  review of a CD by Girls on Film 
called Mental
inage and I found that I can  see the times of the songs, and a bunch of 
check boxes,
and the place to  review but according to one of the members the preview 
button is
now a flash  application.  This likely means the blind user can no longer 
preview
CDs  before buying since Flash can't be read by a screen reader.  So for 
now the  reviews
of Ken Lawrence of national federation of the blind won't be  appearing on 
the site
unless I hear the music elsewhere.  I'm sorry It's  not something you've 
done on purpose,
but you should consider who is on the  net and who is able to access your 
site.  In
future why not consult with  the federation?  We have a web certification 
program
and we'll give you  all you need to make your site accessible for the 
blind.  Give
them a  call at 1-410-659-9314 between 8:30 and 5:00 eastern time and take 
the  Tech
answer line on the prompt.  We'll give you all the help you need  for the 
blind.
The Crackerjack staff at our tech center have gotten me out of  a few 
pickles already
Huh?
I pledge to participate actively in the efforts  of the national federation 
of the
blind to achieve equality, opportunity, and  security for the blind; to 
support the
policies and programs of the  federation; and abide by it's constitution.


I pledge to  participate actively in the efforts of the national federation 
of the blind to  achieve equality, opportunity, and security for the blind; 
to support the  policies and programs of the federation; and abide by it's  
constitution.