I have thought for some time, that the remastering of a lot of the books has been done at a rush, and not very well. so far, on all the books I have had, there has been none of the promised easy navigation features, and I would rate the quality of the actual remastering as extremely poor. in one book for example, it is clear that 2 copies of the same book have been used to create the supposedly remastered version, as one copy is a lot clearer and has a lot less noise than the other, and who ever did the editing I think needs to get some practise in, as sometimes when one copy was switched for the other, you actually got a bit of the last word from the previous sentence rather than a clear transition. quite frankly, I could have done better myself with soundforge, and given access to some daisy making software. Simon ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ray's Home" <rays-home@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Saturday, December 24, 2005 11:02 AM Subject: [access-uk] Talking books: two questions and a reader's thoughts > Here's Two questions which could possibly best be answered elsewhere, so feel free to email me off-list if you feel that's appropriate. > > 1. I have one of the RNIB provided original 'Classic' DASY players. Most anoying thing is that, apart from limited battery life, it appears impossible to be able to fast wind/rewind through books if you've missed a sentence or paragraph due to distractions. Is an upgrade to the later machines going to give me a rewind/fast forward facility? Or do I have to buy another machine to be able to do this? > > 2. Well, I've just answered the question I'm about to comment on, (smile). Seems you can buy all the Harry Potter books from RNIB in DAISY format, and the Half-Blood Prince is around £17.00. (Presume this is the Stephen Fry version as available on BBC Word for Word.) Now, I wonder, isn't that a bit controversial, especially considering the HBP is in the shops for at least three times that amount; on the internet likely rather less? Good of course that RNIB can do this, but am I the only one to wonder if there are going to be those with portable MP3 players who might be geting hold of this? OK, I hear the majority of the blind exclaiming,, 'Not our problem'! Maybe, but I'd like to bet that some form of copy protection is going to rear its ugly head sooner or later. > > Just a final brief comment on my current reading - and I've only now gotten around to reading DAISY books. The spy story I'm reading just now is a scream! Not least because of the cut glass accent in which its being read. More amusing is the phrase 'four letter word' in place of say, 'F.... the party or F... the phone etc. Obviously this was recorded thirty years or more back; but more anoying is the poor editing of the CD version. Obviously banging out the titles is important with National Lotteries funding of the 'remasters'. All the remastering appears to amount to is some good noise reduction, on this recording, but no inserting of silence gaps between chapters. Also, there are large gaps where there shouldn't be. I'll swear , not a 'four letter word'coming on! I can hear a dog in the background sometimes! All this adds a good deal of unintentional amuzement for me, to abook which isn't that good a read. > > Sorry if much of this belongs elsewhere, but felt sharing of my views and questions might be of interest to a few. > > Ray > > Personal emails: Email me at > mailto:ray-48@xxxxxxxx > > > ** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- > ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] > ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: > ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > ** and in the Subject line type > ** unsubscribe > ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the > ** immediately-following link:- > ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] > ** or send a message, to > ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq > > --- > [This E-mail has been scanned for viruses but it is your responsibility > to maintain up to date anti virus software on the device that you are > currently using to read this email. ] > > > ** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** and in the Subject line type ** unsubscribe ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the ** immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] ** or send a message, to ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq