[access-uk] Re: First impression of penfriend...

is this a hahaha?
brian
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Barbara Wilson 
  To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
  Sent: Saturday, August 01, 2009 11:58 AM
  Subject: [access-uk] Re: First impression of penfriend...


  Can't believe someone on this list has missed the Penfriend!


  Find me on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/barkingbabs
  Barbara Wilson
  M: 07917710779
  T: 02887784046
  E: barkingbabs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  IM: creativeeyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  Skype: creativeeyes

    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: william lomas 
    To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
    Sent: Saturday, August 01, 2009 11:55 AM
    Subject: [access-uk] Re: First impression of penfriend...


    ah you don't know? big smile 
    It is a new labelling device from the RNIB to let you read food packages 
etc. record what you want to hear and when you touch the pen to the adhesive 
lable, it reads back what you said use for foods, dvd's, cd's, etc etc 


    On 1 Aug 2009, at 11:49, Saqib wrote:


      Hi. What is a pen friend. Is this a new device?
        ----- Original Message -----
        From: Barry G
        To: Access Mailing List
        Sent: Saturday, August 01, 2009 11:46 AM
        Subject: [access-uk] First impression of penfriend...


        Well, mine came this morning and here's my first impressions...

        The labelling and reading function works well, it's easy to use, 
smaller and lighter than I expected.  It picks up the tags and plays the note 
quickly, and the sound quality is fine - it does exactly what it says on the 
box and I reckon it's an excellent little device.

        My concerns...

        Mine came with a short fly lead to convert between the standard 
headphone jack and the smaller jack socket on the penfriend - someone mentioned 
that there had been a manufacturing glitch and the wrong jacks were fitted to 
the early batches.  It would seem that these mis-manufactured models have been 
issued to customers.

        I tried the mp3 player function and there are no instructions for using 
this feature on the product guide at rnib.org other than telling you to paste 
the music to the mp3 folder on the device.  That's fine, but there are no 
instructions for operating it.  Can't remember which, but either the power or 
the record button toggles play/stop.  Sound quality is not sparkling, but it's 
acceptable in a device that doesn't try to be a dedicated mp3 player.   There 
appears to be no way of moving from file to file however, so at first glance, 
it's not really very useable.

        My single serious gripe is the volume!  The product guide and the tags 
on the packaging correctly say that the device defaults to the same volume each 
time the machine is switched off and on, and this is rather high.  The real 
pain, on mine at least, is that it jumps to this high volume each time a new 
label is scanned, even though the volume has been turned down, so you have to 
reset it on each scan!  I'm hoping that there may be firmware updates that will 
include a fix for this, but there is no mention of this in the product 
information.

        Finally, the online product info sheet says the following:
        RNIB are developing some associated products that are pre-recorded.  If 
you wish to listen to RNIB’s pre-recorded information then you will need to use 
the download feature. You must have access to the web and connect to 
www.rnib.org.uk/penfriend. You will see a list of titles available for 
download. These titles are free or are part of any subscription system that you 
may have joined with RNIB. Click on any single title to download and save on to 
your computer’s hard drive. For example, c:\penfriend\downloads. After you have 
downloaded all the titles you are entitled to, connect PenFriend to the 
computer using the USB cable.  Next, enter or double click on any title and an 
audio installer programme will appear, and then just follow the simple 
instructions on screen. This programme will automatically load the audio file 
onto PenFriend. Repeat the process for the other titles that you have 
downloaded. Remember, a copy of all titles is always kept on your hard drive so 
there is no need to back up. The audio files will be kept on the AP4 folder in 
PenFriend.
        Well, the link doesn't exist or is broken.


        All the best,
        Barry G





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database 4295 (20090731) __________

    The message was checked by ESET Smart Security.

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