To add to this, kurzweil did their thing and you can download a book from within kurzweil but it seems like if a book is download directly from the website, then opening the book in kurzweil kurzweil can't determine if it is BRF or daisy and brings up a list of formats and for example I did the HTML but kurzweil can't convert it and bookshare needs to fix that, the book unzips fine but the format is confusing to kurzweil but doing a search from the online search in kurzweil no problem. ----- Original Message ----- From: Bonnie Blose To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 10:16 AM Subject: [bookshare-discuss] can't play books on victor stream Let me say first that I have always loved bookshare. It occurs to me though that in not being able to play books on the stream that Humanware should not be blamed. When taking in to consideration the varied technology used in downloading or scanning, it may be difficult to accommodate every product no matter how hard a company tries. In all honesty, Humanware is producing equipment such as the stream as they have always done. It is Bookshare that has changed the way in which books are downloaded and the form they take. This seems instead to be a situation in which someone somewhere dropped the ball and either this way of doing things was not tested enough before being put in to play and becoming the reality we must all deal with or there was a lapse in communication somewhere. It would not be the first time such a thing has happened! The question becomes how much a company is under any obligation to do upgrades to a product when they are only doing what they have always done. It seems that if bookshare or any company is making changes to files, it is their place to make sure that Humanware or any other company knows what and how they are changing their format so that customers will be able to download books and play them. I have thought about writing this all night before deciding to do so, because I know that in expressing this opinion I may hurt the feelings of those who feel a fierce loyalty to Bookshare and prefer not to have to think about all this another way. In the future, when upgrades are necessary, Humanware has a responsibility to all users in making products that work as they should with Bookshare or any other company they have supported thus far. Bookshare made this change, Humanware did not. Who should accommodate who? The answer seems obvious. Let me say that I use Bookshare a great deal, enjoy what it has to offer, appreciate all who volunteer and scan and those at Bookshare who make possible all the books I have enjoyed and hope to continue to enjoy in the future. Humanware is only making a product as they have always made it. I believe this to be Bookshare's problem, but I imagine with time and communication between these two companies the difficulties being experienced by those of us with Victor streams will be solved. That is my hope.