I have an hp 7500, which I don't think you can buy anymore either, but I'm very happy with it. One of the great things about it, besides the automatic document feeder, which I really didn't need, and hardly ever use, is its scanning area eight by thirteen. This allows me to scan most hardback books that I get from the library as a lot of them take up most of that space. I tried to look for your specific scanner on the kurzweil website but you have to enter all these parameters before you get your results and since I've never used your scanner, I don't know what to enter. I do wonder if there are any legal sized scanners that still adjust for brightness setting, ones you can still buy that is? Julia ----- Original Message ----- From: Monica Svopa To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Saturday, October 20, 2007 9:42 AM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: o.t. purchasing scanners Donna, thanks for your note. Actually, I payed about $280 for the HP. I should have written that in my previous message. ----- Original Message ----- From: Donna Smith To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Saturday, October 20, 2007 11:46 AM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: o.t. purchasing scanners Hi Monica. It's been a long time since I used an HP scanner, so I can't speak to the issue of whether it allows you to set brightness options. However, I know that changing the brightness option is not an adjustment I usually make. I can usually fix the problem by fooling around with the resolution setting. I can speak to the quality of Epson scanners. I've been using an Epson 1660 (no longer available for purchase as a new product) here at home for about four years, and it has been a real workhorse. I've also been using an Epson 3271 at work for about three years and it's even better than the 1660. I don't think you can go wrong with an Epson scanner. Having said all that, I've purchased an Opticbook 3600, and although I had to send it back because the light was damaged in shipping, I'm anxiously awaiting its replacement as I've heard so many good things about it on this list. One of the appealing factors for the Opticbook (aside from the cool feature of providing the edge of scanner option for placing the book for easy and complete scanning of a page), is that its strength is focused in scanning text as opposed to images. I think most commercial scanners focus on how well they can scan pictures/graphics and/or convert to PDF format. While these things are useful in their own right, for the work we do, getting the best scan of text is the ultimate goal. According to everything I've read on this list and on the web the Opticbook 3600 is the power scanner of choice for scanning books. Finally, cost plays an important part in making such a decision. If you got a good price on your HP scanner, (anything under $150), then you might want to take it out of the box, download the driver and see what kind of results you get. If you're not satisfied, then you can box it up, return it and buy something else. The Opticbook is $230 from Tiger Direct (a partner of Amazon.com), and I'm guessing that a good Epson scanner would be around $200 at best. I know this doesn't answer your question outright, but perhaps I've given you more to think about. Good luck. Donna ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Monica Svopa Sent: Saturday, October 20, 2007 11:28 AM To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [bksvol-discuss] o.t. purchasing scanners Hello list. I had a question about scanner preferences. I had recently bought, but have not taken out of the box yet, an HP 5590. I will be using Kurzweil 11. In my recent discussions with some tech folks, they had told me that the HP doesn't allow you to change the brightness setting. They suggested that buying an Epson or Optic book would be better. My computer instructor is not a Kurzweil expert. So, I pose the question to you. I can return my HP and buy either an Epson or OpticBook. I do want to get the best results possible. Or I can keep my HP but have to download the commercial drivers? Any thoughts. Thanks again for all of your help. Monica Svopa