[nabs-l] Learning Ally and WMA

[Chris Nusbaum]

Hi Kristen,

Thank you for the information! I'm glad we have some representatives from
both Bookshare and Learning Ally on this list, so they can read opinions
about and suggestions for these 2 organizations from their customers which
you can take back to your organizations.

Chris

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Witucki, Kristen
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2012 12:20 PM
To: 'nabs-l at nfbnet.org'
Subject: [nabs-l] Learning Ally and WMA

Hello, list,

I am one of the Product Support coordinators at Learning Ally.  I'm also
congenitally totally blind and use Jaws, a BrailleNote and a Stream for
personal use as well as the tools of Learning Ally/RFBD.  Without getting
too lengthy, I'll try to generally answer the questions asked here about WMA
and playback options going forward.  If you have questions, definitely email
me at kwitucki at learningally.org<mailto:kwitucki at learningally.org>, and I'll
answer them.

First of all, WMA is a pretty standard format in Windows Media Player, and
that format itself is not disappearing.  But Learning Ally used WMA with DRM
(digital rights management), which allowed us to keep our agreements with
the publishers.  This WMA/DRM format became harder and harder to support for
a variety of reasons, ranging from changes in Windows operating systems and
Media Player to issues with MP3 players changing, so the format was becoming
unwieldy.  So we're discontinuing the format.  At best, though, the format
offered very linear navigation of a book.  You couldn't go directly to a
page, adjust the speed of the human narration, or insert bookmarks.

People can play their books back through a variety of options.  I'll
describe them very briefly.

Apple App: Through the ITunes store, you can get an app called Learning
Ally, which allows you to download books right to your IDevice.  Right now,
these books are audio only (meaning they are read by humans, and there is no
text in them).  However, the app does have the capability to display text so
that when we have text, that will be an option.  Note that the app was
updated recently, so those of you who remember that you had to connect your
device to your computer should know that's no longer the case.  You can now
download right from your device.  The app costs $20 and that is a one-time
cost which includes any subsequent updates we make to the app.

Daisy Players: These include the CD players as well as the Victor Reader
Stream and Plextor Pocket, but they also include devices such as the
BrailleNote, Pacmate, BookSense and APH devices.  You can either order books
on CD, or you can download them from our site.  If you have questions about
these processes, let me know.

ReadHear: This is a Daisy program which is free for the first computer to
individual members, and it works on both Windows and Mac platforms.
(Additional computers cost $20 per year).  Basically, this allows members to
play Daisy books right on their computers if they don't use a stand-alone
Daisy player.

I hope this helps, and again, please let me know on or off list if you have
any questions.

Kristen Witucki
Product Support Coordinator, Member Services Learning Ally, Formerly
Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic
20 Roszel Rd Princeton, NJ 08540
(800) 221-4792
Fax: (609) 987-8116
kwitucki at learningally.org<mailto:kwitucki at learningally.org>
Please visit our training and support center:
http://www.learningally.org/help

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