[bookport] Re: BP 2 batteries
- From: DanFlasar@xxxxxxx
- To: bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2007 12:17:15 EDT
Hi y'all,
First off, I probably won't buy the BP2 but instead will wait for the BP3
and pay extra bucks for more features, although the prospect of being able to
read NLS digital books is awfully tempting.
As far as batteries go, I've been using rechargeables for 25 years now
and have saved a substantial amount of money - not to mention keeping an awful
lot of extremely toxic chemicals out of the environment. Chargers are
really cheap now, they take at most an hour and buying 3 or 4 4-battery sets,
you
will always have all the power you need. Just have your sets charged up when
you travel, which is as easy to do as packing non-chargeable's. Do you
really want to pay airport prices for batteries anyway?
So I applaud APH for taking that next step and offering rechargeable
power packs. The new generation last a lot longer than regular batteries,
give
a more consistent power curve and will save you a lot of money over several
years.
I like the idea of the BP being thinner, but I sure wouldn't want it to
get celphone size. I like the idea of a speaker and an on-off switch.
As for double-talk, I've only been visually impaired for 12 years and
did start with DecTalk. I'm grateful these amazing technologies came along to
allow me to keep my job. Doubletalk did take me a little time to get used
to - about 10 minutes, actually. I'm perfectly happy with it.
A few months ago, I was listening to my BP on the subway and a young
lady nearby, who was plugged into an iPod, asked me what I was listening to.
"It looks like an iPod that was designed by NASA in 1974", she laughed. So
did I - pretty funny. But when I told her what it did, her eyes literally
bugged out. She thought it was absolutely cool and wanted to know if she could
get one. She liked the idea of BookShare and being able to store and read a
large # of books on a small, portable unit. She'd be out of luck on BookShare.
This leads me to a question. Certainly anybody can buy a Bookport -
there are no visual or learning disability requirements for owning one as
there
are for membership in NLS or BookShare. But heck, there are tons of books
available on-line - such as Project Gutenberg. One of my clients at the
medical
school, a doc in physical therapy asked me if there was a way for her to
scan in and hear her case and study briefings so she could listen to them
while
she ran or biked (which I do). I'm going to give her a demo of K1000,
transfer the text file to the BP and show her what it sounds like. There are
a LOT
of people who would love to be able to do this kind of thing.
So, Pam, anybody can buy a Bookport, right?
Dan
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