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

[Moria]

Guess what?  Apparently, not only can't you preview the songs, you can't buy
the CD either.

On September 5 I went to the CD Baby site and tried to purchase Lisa
Ostrow's album "Unconditional".  I couldn't preview the songs.  Based on the
reviews, and because I used to know Lisa and want to support her project, I
decided to buy the CD anyway.  When I pressed enter on the "buy CD" button,
nothing happened.  I went to the "Contact us" link and sent them an email.
I promptly got a form response which said they might be slower than usual in
responding because of their new launch.  I thought the new launch must be
part of the problem; something that was accessible before had been made
inaccessible.  I never received a follow-up email.

This past Saturday I returned to the site, but got the same results.  So on
Monday afternoon I called and had a long talk with someone in customer
service.  I wanted to make sure the problem wasn't just my computer or my
understanding of the site.  With the rep on the phone, I once again went to
Lisa's album page and tried to preview the songs and to buy the CD.  I could
do neither.  The rep also told me that Lisa's page looked like it was set up
incorrectly.  (I thought this might have to do with the access problem as
well, and highly doubt it was any fault of Lisa's.)  So I looked up another
CD which I'd been wanting to purchase, and tried to preview the songs and
buy that CD.  The results were the same.  I couldn't even distinguish
between the songs which had preview samples and the one which the rep told
me did not.  And with JAWS, the setup of the other group's page seemd to me
to be the same as the setup of Lisa's page, so the differences must have all
been visual.

Throughout the conversation, the rep was courteous and trying to be helpful,
but obviously couldn't solve the problem.  She said she'd pass the
information on to someone.  In the end, I ordered both the CDs from her.
After reading Marion's post, I rather wish I'd waited; I guess consumerism
got the better of me.

This situation is particularly infuriating because CD Baby used to be very
accessible.  It worked well, and didn't seem to need a makeover.  The
customer service rep told me there have been other problems with the new
design: apparently people are trying to pay for their CDs and getting thrown
back to a previous page.  I wonder what "improvements" they were trying to
incorporate?

I find the email Ken received insulting.  It really does relegate us to the
status of second-class customers.  I doubt we're a large enough market to
affect them with a boycott, though.  What they need now is a lot of free
publicity.  I'll do whatever I can to help.

Masha Sten-Clanton


 

-----Original Message-----
From: perform-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:perform-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Marion & Martin
Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 12:55 PM
To: Performing Arts Division list
Subject: Re: [Perform-talk] Whatare we going to do about this issue?

Ken,
    One thing I can do is to inform CDBaby that my plans to sell my music on
their website are on hold until such time as my blind consumers and I can
independently navigate the site! Consumers are what drive any business, so
we need to get as many people as possible to cooperate by not purchasing
from CDBaby and/or pulling their products from their catalogue.

Fraternally yours,
Marion


----- Original Message -----
From: <Kenlawrence124 at aol.com>
To: <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: <perform-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 12:35 PM
Subject: [Perform-talk] Whatare we going to do about this issue?


> 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.
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