[acbny-l] Fw: New RFB&D Policy, How Much Do We Care?
- From: "Frank Casey" <frcasey@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "acbny acbny" <acbny-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 17:29:59 -0500
Greetings,
I received the message, below, from Chris Gray, via the ACB National E-Mail
list and thought, perhaps, it might be of interest to the members of the
ACBNY E-Mail list.
Best regards,
Frank Casey
frcasey@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Hi Fellow ACBers:
>
> It has come to my attention today that RFB&D has adopted a new policy that
went
> into effect on Monday, October 27, 2003. The policy is of particular
interest
> to those who borrow Daisy books from RFB&D to play on the new CD-type book
> players. I recognize this is a small minority today, but this group will
grow
> over time, and perhaps we need to consider the policy now.
>
> If you purchase your Daisy player from RFB&D directly, you have no
problems
> playing RFB&D books. However, if you purchase your player from any other
> source, Daisy books from RFB&D are not playable on that machine. Until
Monday,
> you had to purchase from RFB&D a special CD called a UAK, Universal Access
Key,
> and after playing this disk on your player, it would be enabled from that
time
> forward to play Daisy books from RFB&D. While a bit of a nuisance and an
> additional expense, it seemed hard to complain too much about this
requirement.
> RFB&D requires this UAK approach in order to honor commitments they say
they
> have made to all publishers of books they produce in Daisy format. They
believe
> it is a copyright issue for them.
>
> As of this Monday however, this policy has changed considerably. RFB&D
will no
> longer provide the UAK on disk. They say that people would not return the
disks
> and thus expose them to copyright liability and a possible lack of
integrity in
> the eyes of publishers. So, one must now pay $10 and send your player
through
> the mail or other shipping means to RFB&D headquarters in New Jersey.
They
> promise to turn your unit around in 24 working hours and return it to you.
> Besides the $10 for the UAK, you are responsible for the shipping charges
to
> RFB&D.
>
> I foresee several problems with this approach. First, this has an ominous
ring
> of unfair competition with other vendors of Daisy players in my mind.
Also, is
> it reasonable to ask anybody, particularly a student, to live without a
player
> for a possible two-week or even longer period of time while it is shipped
to and
> from New Jersey? What is the potential for damage to a player during
shipment
> and who is responsible for that and the even longer time a person will
then be
> without a player? Shipping with insurance can be relatively expensive,
and
> it's not necessarily the easiest thing for us to do.
>
> Speaking strictly for myself, this seems like a pretty misguided policy.
But,
> I need input from others. What do you think? Perhaps the consensus will
be
> that while this is a real pain, it's ok in the end. Let's have some
discussion
> on this. I don't wish to do nothing about this until next summer if
people
> believe it is a serious concern.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Chris
>
> ----------------------------------------
> Chris Gray, President
> American Council of the Blind
>
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