Well that would be great. If a version of SpeakOn can be produced for the general public then people like James and myself may use it more often. I'll certainly keep it on my system though.
-- Chris Hallsworth e-mail: christopherhallsworth71@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx MSN: ch9675@xxxxxxxxxxx Skype: chrishallsworth7266----- Original Message ----- From: "Isaac Porat" <isaac@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2009 7:52 PMSubject: [access-uk] Re: Announcement - New SpeakOn features release 30 January 2009
These are relevant points Chris. Interestingly, a large media provider approached me recently asking if I could make a cutdown version of SpeakOn for the general public. What theyare saying is that many people are in situations that they don't want or cannot have a screen in front of them. So a concept of a product for the blind may go the other way; to the main stream. Regards Isaac -----Original Message-----From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf OfChris Hallsworth Sent: 31 January 2009 19:31 To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [access-uk] Re: Announcement - New SpeakOn features release 30 January 2009I think what James is basically saying, and in no way am I bashing Isaac for his hard work and extensive training he did with me last year on how to useSpeakOn, however I'll say this anyway. I think it boils down to the fact that we'd rather use products that the sighted can equally use. Foobar2000is one of them, Winamp is another, etc. SpeakOn, no way can a sighted personuse it because there's no visual layout for them to use and therefore they won't be able to click on anything but the title. What I will say Isaac is thanks for a good release, it seems to work better on my system than previous releases, and please keep up the good works. -- Chris Hallsworth e-mail: christopherhallsworth71@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx MSN: ch9675@xxxxxxxxxxx Skype: chrishallsworth7266 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Isaac Porat" <isaac@xxxxxxxxxxx> To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2009 7:24 PM Subject: [access-uk] Re: Announcement - New SpeakOn features release 30 January 2009Hello James You may like to have a go at actually using SpeakOn - a lot has changed since the early days. This version is a big step in usabilitycompared to early versions and one own music is for the first time handledproperly.Foobar2000 has some overlap with what SpeakOn can do - namely music but there is a lot which is not overlapping at all. It will probably take you a good week going through the manual to take a full advantage of what SpeakOn can offer. There are people using it for everything other are using it for some types of media, it is modular; you can choose what you want to use (and not at all if you wish). Regards Isaac -----Original Message----- From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of James Scholes Sent: 31 January 2009 15:09 To: Isaac Porat Subject: [access-uk] Re: Announcement - New SpeakOn features release 30 January 2009 Hi Isaac, This will be my last message on this subject, however I will say that most of the features I would use in SpeakOn I already have in Foobar2000. Again this is just my personal opinion, and I'm definately not saying that Foobar can do as much as SpeakOn. But I'm saying for me, Foobar2000 will always be much better than SpeakOn. -----Original Message----- Sent by Isaac Porat on Saturday, January 31, 2009 at 09:50 AM I will not repeat the points in Steve's reply. Netbooks are great (I use one myself) they are cheap because a lot of shortcuts have been taken in their design. Granted, they are probably as powerful as a top laptop of five years ago but software is now a lot heavier as well. It is not only about disk space; it is cheap it is a lot about other resources as well. So the SpeakOn installer is 3.7Mb expanded to 10 Mb iTunes is about 57 Mb expanded to over 200 Mb. Can SpeakOn do everything that iTunes can do? Of course not for a start it does not handle video and does not rip or burn CDs. It has no store either. However it can do many other things that other players can not do for example handle Daisy and eText publications Last.FM music www.last.fm which is the biggest jukebox in the world and its radio facility uses the Radio Time database which is one of the finest there is www.radiotime.com Also efficient skipping, Remembering where you left off and bookmarking is built in. So not everything for everybody but plenty for some. Regards Isaac -----Original Message----- From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Steve Dryden Sent: 30 January 2009 21:52 To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [access-uk] Re: Announcement - New SpeakOn features release 30 January 2009 Um... I think not... have you seen a netbook with 4 or 8 GB RAM, Dual cor or quad core processor with a dedicated audio and graphics card along with shall we say, a 320 or 500 GB hard drive. I think possibly not the top end laptops which nowadays are quite comparrible with their desktop counterparts. Low end and even, the odd middle range laptop maybe. I think the comment was quite logical really. If you do a lot of searching and checking out yes, you can get some very good netbooks but remember, they are designed to be portable and reliable, they are not designed to be replacements for a high performance laptop. Some of the netbooks with low capacity drives are actually solid state drives and therefore will be extremely fast as access time is reduced. Steve ----- Original Message ----- From: "James Scholes" <james@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: "Isaac Porat" <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Friday, January 30, 2009 6:27 PM Subject: [access-uk] Re: Announcement - New SpeakOn features release 30 January 2009Hi,I wonder why you wrote the following: "making it ideal for use with netbooks" Netbooks these days are as powerful as low and middle end laptops, or even high-end laptops if you upgrade some components like the RAM. People still seem to be stuck in 2008 when netbooks had 256 MB of RAM and a 4 GB hard drive.Also, a note about SpeakOn, let me know if anyone uses it successfully, its always been painfully slow for me and pretty much useless compared to Winamp, Foobar2000, or especially Klango.-----Original Message----- Sent by Isaac Porat on Friday, January 30, 2009 at 05:23 AMHello All,A new features release of SpeakOn 2.1, 30 January 2009 is now available.In this version, the user interface has been simplified and improved. New features have been added for playing your music. You can now quickly and easily play folders, combine a number of folders and individual files for immediate play in your own playlists which can be easily edited. The media library is now expandable and podcast support has been improved.For those who are new to SpeakOn, it is a self-voicing software environment for finding, retrieving and playing audio and text media. All media local to your computer or remote on the internet is presented in the same simple tree-like structure. You can navigate to the media you want, select it and it is automatically downloaded or streamed and played in the same SpeakOn player which handles both audio and text. Common audio formats are supported including MP3, WMA and Real. You can either operate SpeakOn using a standard keyboard or an external low cost numerical keypad using one hand from the comfort of your armchair. SpeakOn has a low footprint (the installer is only 3.7 Mb) making it ideal for use with Netbooks.SpeakOn is available free from: www.a-technic.net/speakon.htmThis page contains information about SpeakOn, links to the download page, manual and mailing list.In the simplified user interface both Player and Library controls have been combined in one task. User interaction involves mainly operating these two controls with a minimum number of keys, tabbing between these control as necessary. All operations are also available from the menu - useful for newbies. The function keys are used to adjust audio and speech as well as getting context sensitive (new) media information and help.For an overview and comparison between Windows and the SpeakOn user interface see: http://www.a-technic.net/SpeakOn/docs/SpeakOn/ht/SpeakOn-r-0101.htmThe 'What's new' page is at: http://www.a-technic.net/SpeakOn/docs/SpeakOn/ht/SpeakOn-r-0079.htmInstructions for upgrading from an older version are at: http://www.a-technic.net/SpeakOn/docs/SpeakOn/ht/SpeakOn-r-0103.htmThe download page for new users is at: http://www.a-technic.net/SpeakOn/docs/SpeakOn/ht/SpeakOn-r-0016.htmIf you experience slow download, this is probably because of demand for this new version so you may like to try again in a day or so.The manual is at: http://www.a-technic.net/SpeakOn/docs/SpeakOn/ht/SpeakOn.htmThe new context media information keys are explained here: http://www.a-technic.net/SpeakOn/docs/SpeakOn/ht/SpeakOn-s-0009.htmThe new music features are explained here: http://www.a-technic.net/SpeakOn/docs/SpeakOn/ht/SpeakOn-s-0012.htmImprovements in podcast support are explained here: http://www.a-technic.net/SpeakOn/docs/SpeakOn/ht/SpeakOn-s-0013.htmEnjoy - and if you like SpeakOn, please forward this announcement to any mailing lists, blogs or bulletin boards you feel are relevant.Regards, IsaacIsaac Porat SpeakOn's author email: speakon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Website: http://www.a-technic.net/speakon.htm** 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__________ NOD32 3811 (20090129) Information __________This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system. http://www.eset.com-- Check out my radio and TeamTalk server! http://www.jls-radio.com -- James ScholesE-mail: james@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx MSN/Windows Live Messenger: jamesscholes@xxxxxxx AIM: JamesScholes000 Skype: james.scholes Website: http://www.jamesscholes.com Blog: http://www.jamesscholes.com/blog Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jamesscholes Find me on Facebook! 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