[bookshare-discuss] Re: Comparison Shopping
- From: "Maria Kristic" <maria6289@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:53:44 -0400
Sure, the PACMate can be used to read Bookshare content. A free Bookshare
Unpack Utility is available from the Freedom Scientific Web site, allowing
one to directly unpack BKS files which one may download directly to the PM
or copy over from a PC; the interface of the PM BKS unpack utility is
similar to the PC one in some respects. BRF files can be read in FSEdit, the
FS-developed word processor found on the PM in addition to Word Mobile, and
one can purchase the FSReader DAISY reader to read Bookshare DAISY
content-and it will also read RFB&D books again on the Omni (it does still
on the desktop version of FSReader, a separate product purchase, and it did
on the classic X-series PACMates, but that hasn't yet been restored on the
new Omnis) once RFB&D gets around to testing it on the Omni, confirming that
it doesn't work like they've been hearing from quite a few people including
myself, and issuing a corrected User Authorization Key for the user to
purchase from them and use to authorize FSReader to play RFB&D material.
As for mainstream players, sure, if you can get the BSO content in to MP3
form (using, say, Kurzweil or OpenBook; or, getting the BRF file in to TXT
using a Braille translator like the free WinTrans, or electing to unpack an
HTML version of a DAISY book and then opening that in a program which can
convert it to MP3, such as the shareware TextAloud, freeware DSpeech, or a
Web site like ReadTheWords.com), then, you'll be able to play them on one.
One relatively cheap player which has gotten some good reviews in the
blindness community is the Creative Zen Stone-for reviews, check out AFB's
AccessWorld and www.hartgen.org--at <http://www.hartgen.org--at/> , I
believe, $40 (don't own one, so going on memory RE the price).
HTH,
Maria
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_____
From: Rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx [mailto:Rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 10:34 PM
To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Comparison Shopping
Thank you all for your praise for the Victor Stream and I want to encourage
anyone else who may have comments to continue to make them, but I did not
name my subject comparison shopping for nothing. Have any of you had
experience with any other portable devices for reading Bookshare books? Do I
understand correctly that the Pacmate can be used for that purpose? How
about MP 3 players that are not made especially for us blind people? Those
would be a lot cheaper.
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