I've dropped my bookport, well, bookports, many times, and they have still
worked. I say bookports, because I get a new one at the beginning of every
school year, because our school lones them out. Right now mine is sitting on
top of my laptop hooked up to speakers with a subwolfer.
James
First of all, no it won't do everything that Book Port will do. It does not begin to support the number of file formats that Book Port does. Second, for just the hand-held unit the price is $1395; the same price will buy you 3 plus Book Ports. Third, I can be pretty sure that if I accidently drop my Book Port on the floor that the chances are good it will still work after the fall. But, I wouldn't want to bet that a unit with a 30 gigabyte hard drive inside is going to remaine operational if you drop it on the floor; particularly if it is running when you drop it.
I have to admit that it is a sharp looking unit, and it has some nice features. But, I'll vote for Book Port for durability and access to many more file formats to allow you to do what the Book Port was designed to really do well. Book Port isn't a PDA, and compairing it to a PDA is unfair to the Book Port and the PDA. But, if you want to read documents in a large variety of file formats, do so in a very portable way, and at a very reasonable price you can't come close with any PDA on the market.
The Icon is being made by a small company, who apparently has chosen to attempt to sell their product to blind people and not work with any access technology vendors. At that rate the chances are that they will remaine small, and can't hope to have contact with many blind people. At that rate, it will take a few years before we really know how good this new unit is or isn't. And, at the price the chances are the sales will be much smaller than for Book Port.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Bowman-Jones" <mikebowmanjones@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, October 23, 2006 3:12 PM
Subject: [bookport] Re: Hardware upgrade!
: Greetings, List.
:
: The other thing is that this is first-generation stuff and Lord alone knows
: how many bugs, fixes, upgrades, etc. you would have to deal with in the
: future.
:
: Michael
:
: ----- Original Message ----- : From: "Sandy Licht" <slicht@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
: To: <bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
: Sent: Monday, October 23, 2006 9:32 AM
: Subject: [bookport] Re: Hardware upgrade!
:
:
: > When I read that this device was going to use USB1.1, I admit I was no
: > longer impressed. That is old technology. To my way of thinking, the
: > only thing it has going for it is, it claims to be smaller than a laptop.
: > Oh, well... To each his own...
: >
: > At 05:16 PM 10/21/2006, Kevin Jones wrote:
: >>check out www.levelstar.com
: >>though the pda isn't out yet, you should have the abilities of a bookport
: >>a plextalk and much more
: >>
: >>Nancy Stevens wrote:
: >>>Hi Hope,
: >>>That is a cool saying at the end of your message.
: >>>Nancy
: >>>-----Original Message-----
: >>>From: bookport-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
: >>>[mailto:bookport-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
: >>>On Behalf Of Hope Hein
: >>>Sent: Saturday, October 21, 2006 9:35 AM
: >>>To: bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
: >>>Subject: [bookport] Re: Hardware upgrade!
: >>>Hi Walt!
: >>>I purchased a Plextor from recordings for the Blind a year ago.
: >>>Unfortunately it is on the blink because it fell off of a desk. The
: >>>Bookport
: >>>has an advantage because it is smaller and just uses CF cards. For some
: >>>reason I was told by Recordings for the Blind that I was not allowed to
: >>>transfer the material from the CD's to the CF card on the Plextor even
: >>>though it was being done on the Bookport. They would not be able to be
: >>>read
: >>>because of the protection. That is one of the main reasons I bought the
: >>>Bookport besides the Bookport is more durable. The Plextor had some
: >>>advantages such as the ones mentioned in my message. Is there any way
: >>>that
: >>>AFB could work with a company to combine say the features of the Bookport
: >>>and the Plextor?
: >>>Just throwing out thoughts.
: >>>Thank you for your patients.
: >>>Pondering, imagination and collaboration lead to new or improved
: >>>inventions.
: >>>Hope
: >>>-----Original Message-----
: >>>.From: "Walt Smith"<walt@xxxxxxxxxx>
: >>>.Sent: 10/20/06 9:30:11 AM
: >>>.To: "bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx"<bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
: >>>.Subject: [bookport] Re: Hardware upgrade!
: >>>.
: >>>.Hope -
: >>>.
: >>>.While there's been no official statement from APH concerning their
: >>>future
: >>>.plans, I think it's safe to say that the general consensus among those
: >>>of
: >>>us .who've been around here for a while that eventually, there will be a
: >>>new
: >>>.Book Port. There have been so many requests for improvements of the
: >>>exact
: >>>.kind you mention (improved audio quality, the ability to speed up MP3
: >>>and
: >>>.Audible materials) that can't currently be accommodated in the existing
: >>>.hardware that it seems a fair guess that a new and improved BP is
: >>>probably
: >>>.under consideration.
: >>>.
: >>>.Just to give you an idea of what has to be accommodated, though, bear in
: >>>.mind that right now, APH is dependent on Springer Design for the
: >>>hardware
: >>>.and unless Springer decides to upgrade their own BookCourier, on which
: >>>the
: >>>.BP is heavily based, it very well might not be economically feasible for
: >>>APH .to go it alone in the development and introduction of a new model.
: >>>Then, the .two parties would have to reach some kind of general agreement
: >>>on
: >>>what new .functions and features they want so that a single hardware unit
: >>>could be .developed with APH then assuming responsibility for their own
: >>>firmware .development as is the case today. This can't be an easy process
: >>>at
: >>>best.
: >>>.
: >>>.----- Original Message -----
: >>>.From: "Hope Hein" <hmhein@xxxxxxxxxxx>
: >>>.To: <bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
: >>>.Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 3:11 PM
: >>>.Subject: [bookport] Hardware upgrade!
: >>>.
: >>>.
: >>>.Will there be an upgrade coming out for the Bookport? I listened to my
: >>>.children's IPODS and they have a wonderful sound for such small devices.
: >>>I
: >>>.am wondering if you are considering to allow for improved sound as well
: >>>as
: >>>.to allow the Bookport user to speed up or sloe audio speech.
: >>>.
: >>>.I thought I read something about an update next year but was not sure if
: >>>I
: >>>.heard right and what that would entail.
: >>>.
: >>>.Thank you for doing such a great job.
: >>>.Hope
: >>>.
: >>>.
: >>
: >>
: >>--
: >>No virus found in this incoming message.
: >>Checked by AVG Free Edition.
: >>Version: 7.1.408 / Virus Database: 268.13.9/490 - Release Date: 10/20/2006
: >
: >
: >
: >
: > __________ NOD32 1.1786 (20061002) Information __________
: >
: > This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.
: > http://www.eset.com
: >
: >
:
:
