--- Begin Message ---
- From: "Jim Fruchterman" <jrandom@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: akp@xxxxxxxxxxxx, pavi.m@xxxxxxxxxxxx, lisa.f@xxxxxxxxxxxx, betsy.b@xxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2009 19:29:35 -0800
We've been working on this,Ann . Here's the answer. Feel free to forward
widely. Jim Fruchterman
Bookshare wants to thank our users very much for their comments responding
to our email regarding the new site upgrade. We thought it was important to
answer some of the questions that have arisen about our move to the new zip
format. These questions mainly affect people who have hardware access
technology devices such as notetakers.
Once our new website goes live, our books will be compressed as standard zip
files instead of our former proprietary compression technology for packing
books. After much consideration, we decided to make this change because zip
is a common technology built into the operating system of most computers. If
your computer does not have zip or the Macintosh equivalent, we have links
on how to get free software to unzip files on the new site.
Access technology vendors also preferred we go to a standard compression
like zip, which is easier to support and has some exciting enhancement
possibilities (like AT working with a single zip file without needing to
unzip). We began working months ago with access technology vendors
regarding the transition to zipped files. We expect that the transition will
go pretty smoothly for members who use PCs and Macs for downloading our
books, either for use on their personal computer or for transfer to other
devices. For example, the new version of Victor Reader Soft provided with
the new website will support the zipped files without needing them to be
unzipped, as well as lots of other cool improvements.
Hardware devices that used to handle our packed files by connecting directly
to our website need to have software upgrades to support zipped instead of
packed files. Note taker vendors are already preparing upgrades to their
software to handle zipped files. Many of the vendors have their upgrades
ready, and others are expected to be ready in the coming month. The Wizard
that you'll see on the new site on your first visit has contact information
for your vendor.
The only people adversely affected will be those with obsolete devices that
used to support packed files and cannot be upgraded. You can work around
this problem by using a computer to download the books you want, unzip them
and then copy the book files to your note taker.
The change affects the following hardware vendors and note takers:
HumanWare
BrailleNote and VoiceNote mPower
BrailleNote PK
The BrailleNote Classic will not be updated, since HumanWare no longer
maintains or updates their proprietary software for these models
Freedom Scientific
Pac Mate and Pac Mate Omni
Level Star
Icon
American Printing House
Braille Plus
Springer Design
BookCourier
GW Micro
Braille Sense and Voice Sense
The Bookshare team
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