Re: Accessible Kindle for PC App Released
- From: "Brandon Keith \(Biggs\)" <brandonboy13@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2011 21:27:07 -0800
Hello,
After being annoyed at this slow navigation and voice on the accessible Kindle,
a friend and I found a couple Jaws friendly programs to convert the Kindle
files to HTML.
TO my knowledge, converting the books is legal, according to the new version
of the digital millennium copyright act, as long as you don't distribute the
files.
Because they are a couple of programs you need to install, including Python,
they are to big to attach to an email... And because we don't have a website to
attach these files to, we put them on Send space:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/hjuuki
Please let me know if there is a place we can put these files on to make them
known to the blind community.
Let me know if you have any questions,
Brandon Keith (Biggs)
Check out
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/brandonkeithcom
Also add me on facebook!
brandonkeith
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=675097942
And for my resume go to:
http://www.sfcasting.com/brandonkeith
From: Yadiel Sotomayor
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2011 2:33 PM
To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Accessible Kindle for PC App Released
Also, thanks for the suggestion of reporting this to the NFB. We have a NFB
afiliad here in Puerto Rico, and I am a member. I will talk to the state
president. I don't expect much fuzz from amozon though. I've never had any
problem with other than this. I always purchase any class book from its site
and my sister has used the MP3 purchase site without a problem.
From: Adrian Spratt
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2011 6:07 PM
To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: Accessible Kindle for PC App Released
I didn't finish my thought. As you probably know, Amazon made its Kindle more
accessible to enable American colleges to use it in courses without
discriminating against visually impaired students. Several entities were behind
the settlement with numerous colleges, including the two I mentioned. Amazon
wasn't a signatory to these agreements, but they are definitely the motivator
behind the developments that Gary reported here last night. I'm confident the
ACB and/or NFB would take up your cause if Amazon didn't cooperate directly
with you.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Adrian Spratt
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2011 5:02 PM
To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: Accessible Kindle for PC App Released
Yadiel, it's possible that excluding the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and
probably the other territories, was an oversight. I know, a big oversight. IN
recent months, I've found Amazon's customer service online and on the phone to
be much more helpful than in the past. You might want to contact them. Or else
contact the ACB (American council of the blind) in Washington, D.C. or the NFB
to ask them to look into it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Yadiel Sotomayor
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2011 12:34 PM
To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Accessible Kindle for PC App Released
Well, just my luck! Apparently Puerto Rico (even though is considered a state
according to all US federal laws) is not supported. I can't download the
application because, Puerto Rico is not an official "state". That is just great.
From: Gary King
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2011 12:50 PM
To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Accessible Kindle for PC App Released
Yes, the application is free, and as I mentioned, you can find some free books
in the Kindle Store. You do need an Amazon account to register the app and get
books from the store, even the free ones.
Gary King
w4wkz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
.
----- Original Message -----
From: Yadiel Sotomayor
To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2011 10:07 AM
Subject: Re: Accessible Kindle for PC App Released
Is the aplication free?
From: Gary King
Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2011 9:16 PM
To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Accessible Kindle for PC App Released
If you've been waiting for an accessible Kindle app for the PC, you're in
luck! Go to
http://blindbargains.com
and read the entry under Latest Bargains. The link will take you to the
Amazon page that describes the app and how to download and use it. Read
through all of the Help links, and you will know all that I do about it.
The app download is 231 MB, so if you have a dialup connection, forget it!
It has been tested with JAWS and NVDA. A screen reader must be detected by the
app in order to enable text-to-speech on all Kindle books. As you may know,
authors have disabled text-to-speech on the Kindle itself for many of their
titles. At least, we will be able to read them on the computer with this app.
You can read the books a page at a time or continuously with a male or female
voice. Navigation only goes down to the sentence level, so you can't read word
by word or have words spelled. I hope this will change in a later version.
I would suggest that if you want to try the program that you get one of the
free books available from the Kindle Store. I visited the Free Collections
link and chose a book from the Limited Promotions section. There were 143
selections to choose from. I just made sure that I looked for the ones that
were $0.00.
These are my early impressions of the program, and at least I think they have
made a good start toward accessibility. We will need to give them feedback to
insure that improvements will be made.
Gary King
mailto:w4wkz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Yadiel J. Sotomayor
E-MAIL: yadosotomayor@xxxxxxxxxxx
Yadiel J. Sotomayor
E-MAIL: yadosotomayor@xxxxxxxxxxx
Yadiel J. Sotomayor
E-MAIL: yadosotomayor@xxxxxxxxxxx
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