[blindkid] How to chose a notetaker?

Bernadette Jacobs bernienfb75 at gmail.com
Mon May 14 20:58:38 UTC 2012


On 5/14/12, Richard Holloway <rholloway at gopbc.org> wrote:
> Our daughter's notetaker was in for repair. There was an intermittent
> failure which they blamed on a drink being spilled on the unit (occasional
> random reboots). Made sense, only no such spill ever occurred. Easier to
> blame a "mystery spill" than a defective unit they might have to pay to
> repair. They also started off the initial $4500 repair estimate with an
> included $3000 display replacement. That seemed strange since the display
> was working perfectly when sent in. When questioned, they explained (about
> the barely-over-a -year-old-unit) it is just "a good idea" to go ahead and
> replace the displays when they're in for service.
>
> Sure, that's a good idea, sort of the way it is a good idea to replace the
> engine on a car when it is due for a tune-up. And if you do that, it
> absolutely will run like new, so it does make a certain kind of twisted
> sense. But with that mindset, why not just buy a new car (or note taker)
> instead?
>
> (The display was then NOT changed and the $3000 was ultimately removed from
> the bill.) My suspicion is they tend to do this sort of thing and generally
> people handling the repair don't know what was or was not working-- this may
> be a repair division of a school system's IT department which knows NOTHING
> about the machines and has absolutely no way to test them without going back
> to a TVI and/or a student. If it were a laptop or desktop PC, the same
> people could check things out and KNOW what was broken before it went out
> for repair.
>
> We have great uses for notetakers and I think they are wonderful devices.
> Kendra could hardly function without having one at this point. With that
> said, I think the days of the current way of selling and maintaining
> notetakers are numbered.
>
> It may be a few years away, but I can see a day when there is enough
> realistic competition with BrailleNotes and PAC Mates (etc.) from mainstream
> crossover products that they have to finally admit that they do "pad" their
> profits. ("Admit", as in stop doing it.) I have no doubt that it costs more
> per unit to make these specialized units as opposed to the massive volumes
> in which iPads are made, for example, but that doesn't explain routinely
> attempting to overestimate repairs with additional $3000 displays and the
> like. And I say "routinely" because I hear of this sort of thing fairly
> often, and their own comments seem to support this being routine.
>
> It isn't just one brand of notetaker either. I have direct or indirect
> experience with this sort of situation from numerous companies making note
> takers, embossers, screen readers, thermoforms... you name it. It is the way
> the industry works right now.
>
> I'm quite willing to pay reasonable extra expenses for Kendra's needs due to
> low volume / high support issues, but I really resent being taken advantage
> of, and that's what it feels like is going on too often with these
> situations.
>
>
>
> On May 14, 2012, at 3:13 PM, Bernadette Jacobs wrote:
>
>> On 5/13/12, Holly Baker Miller <hollym12 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> So...many...choices...
>>>
>>> Almost 12 yr old, going into 6th grade, fairly tech savvy, new braille
>>> user
>>> who has appropriate respect for expensive electronics.
>>> Only blind child in the district, this is new territory for everyone
>>> involved.
>>>
>>> Mom & Dad are also fairly tech savvy but not brilliantly so :::grin:::
>>>
>>> Would like to be able to pair with i-devices,  student has an ipod touch
>>> and there is a household i-pad.  District is discussing bringing i-pads
>>> into the classroom for all students.
>>> This is not a deal breaker, I would chose reliability over i-devices but
>>> the i-devices would be a nice touch.
>>>
>>> So wise ones, what would you suggest?  Perhaps more importantly, what
>>> would
>>> you suggest we avoid?
>>>
>>> Holly
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>> Hi Holly!
>>
>> Have a couple suggestions for you.
>>
>> 1.  You could attach a blue tooth refreshable Braille Display for the
>> Braille part.  You could also use a blue tooth keyboard.  We're going
>> through the same thing with our 9-1/2 year-old daughter at MSB.  I
>> understand they're going to begin using Ipads for all the students
>> next year.
>>
>> As for me, I'm so dismayed with the notetakers' world, I'll never have
>> a notetaker again because the maintenance agreements are over-priced.
>> For the last notetaker I had I had actually had it for two years with
>> upgraded software then found out that I had to have a hardware
>> agreement and needed enough to upgrade hardware that I could've bought
>> another new notetaker for cheaper!  Oh boy was I hot!  Down with
>> notetakers.  My idea for me personally, might be to do a netbook with
>> four-six gigs so I can install JAWS, use an earbud and be done with
>> it.  Why haul around all these extra keyboards, braille displays when
>> you can pack one thing up in one case and carry it
>> over-the-shoulder?What's the point of being portable if I need to haul
>> around an extra keyboard???  Oh Please!!
>>
>> Bern
>>
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>
>
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YOU GO!!!!!




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