[access-uk] Re: Milestone 311 digital recorder and MP3 player

how would this piece of kit compare to the bookcourier I wonder? for ease of use and friendly interaction with the pc?
comments welcomed.

Marie
----- Original Message ----- From: "Ian Macrae" <ian.macrae@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, February 24, 2006 5:25 PM
Subject: [access-uk] Re: Milestone 311 digital recorder and MP3 player


Hi Clive,

I've had one from the Swiss manufacturers for a few weeks now. It has clearly been designed with the needs of visually impaired users very much in mind. The buttons are highly tactile and strongly contrasted with the fasure. All the functions and actions are spoken. In short it is a very usable and accessible device if you have little or no sight.

The information you passed on misses out some other important things. The MP3 player relies totally on SD or MMC memory card storage. Top Whack for these is, I believe, presently 2GB. The unit will, I understand, be supplied with a 128MB SD card. If you are serious about MP3 and want to carry more than a few dozen tracks around with you, then you might find this very limiting. However, if you want something on which to listen to the occasional audio book or odd album, and which is extremely easy to interface with your computer, then you might find the Milestone adequate for your needs.

There is a small external speaker on the front of the unit which, for its size, produces reasonable quality, particularly for messages and notes recorded on the digital voice recorder. However, be aware that the player is supplied sans headphones.

One small frustration I've found is that the voice prompts are sampled recordings of a real female voice. These are delivered at a rather slow rate. If, like me, you're used to using synthesised speech at very high speeds, it can be frustrating having to listen to this.

In short, this is a very accessible and intuitively usable piece of kit and will be of particular interest to people who are not massively friendly or confident with their PC. It's easy to get stuff into it and you don't have to faff around with scripts for Jaws etc. It interfaces easily with the PC. But, given it's price to storage ratio, it's been said by people that, compared, for example with the iPod shuffle, it's rather highly priced. More serious MP3 users are likely to find the iRiver/Rockbox combination and its 40 gig of space more attractive including on the price to storage ratio.

If anyone would like a copy of the manual, please contact me privately at
Ian.macrae@xxxxxxxxx

And I'd be happy to oblige.

Hope this has been helpful.

Ian

-----Original Message-----
From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Clive Pallett
Sent: 24 February 2006 16:04
To: Access-UK
Subject: [access-uk] Milestone 311 digital recorder and MP3 player

Hello listers,



I read in the RNIB's February Technology Update that they will soon be
selling the Milestone 311 digital recorder and MP3 player.   For those
of you who don't receive this update, here is the info.



The Milestone 311 is a portable digital voice recorder and MP3 player, the size of a credit card. It can record up to 2 hours of voice notes using the internal memory, or up to 140 hours using an external memory card. You can organise your notes into five folders and label them with voice tags. In addition, you can record from an external stereo source or a microphone in hi-fi stereo quality. The Milestone 311 can connect to your computer to enable the transfer of audio files or books for listening on the move using the integrated MP3 player which is fully self-voicing. An upgrade will be available later this year for customers wishing to play DAISY books.

Dimensions: 85 times 54 times 14 mm (3.35 times 2.13 times 0.55
inches)

Weight 49 grams (1.7 ounces)

Price:  £180 excluding VAT



I did a search on the web for more information and according to a review on the Blind Accessworld podcast this device has some limitations compared to other products such as the bookport. If anyone has either heard or read about this device I would be interested to hear their comments.



Best wishes,



Clive Pallett





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