[bookshare-discuss] Re: scanner
- From: "Judy s." <mjstouff@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 6 Mar 2005 14:05:33 -0500 (EST)
Thanks, Peter! Budgetwise, I guess I hadn't decided yet - it depends on
the capabilities of the scanner. I was thinking in the $200-$300 range
originially, but I don't think there is anything that can scan duplex
under $600. So I guess maybe I'm looking at two categories - what can I
get for under $300 with an autofeed, and what can I get for under maybe
$800 with duplex ability.
The Fujitsu looks great, but I think it only works in the windows
environment from what I read after reading your email. Hmmm. I hadn't
realized that the mac world seems to have a real limited number of
scanners available to it.
On the Fujitsu, I read that it produces a PDF file automatically. Can you
tell me what type of PDF? Is it a PDF image file, or does it immediately
try to turn it into an editable text and images PDF?
Has anyone used the mac version of FineReader? It looks like its last
update was in 2003, so it's a couple of years behind the windows version.
Or has anyone used the mac version of OmniPage?
Thanks for the idea about getting a book rebound by Kinkos. I'll check
into that!
Judy
mjstouff@xxxxxxxxxx
> Hi Judy,Knowing what your budget is for a scanner would help in suggesting
> one. At Bookshare, there is a high speed, multi-thousand dollar machine
> which can scan things very fasst. I personally have two scanners, one of
> these is a sheet scanner. I also cut the spines off the books. At least
> most of the time. My sheet scanner is a Fujitsu 5150. It has some letters
> before the model number but I can't recall them. It is duplex so does both
> sides of the page at once. It has a range of resolution settings up to, I
> think 600 dpi which is too much for most OCR jobs anyway. It does about 15
> pages per minute, so about 30 sides. I use Kurzweil to do the recognition,
> but it comes with software which may work just fine. I think Fine Reader is
> considered to be the best or among the best OCR products available
> commercially though. The scanner may not appeal to some at first glance
> because it is not a standard TWAIN scanner. It does plug into a USB port,
> but uses its own proprietary interface. So Kurzweil, for example, doesn't
> see it directly. Instead, it produces a high quality PDF file and when
> done, auto launches Kurzweil for me. All of that is easy to set up and
> works nicely. The cost was around $400.
> By the way, there are some options for reconstructing chopped books.
> Kinko, for example, will bind a chopped book with tape for a couple of
> bucks.
> Marissa who is in charge of the scanningoperation at Bookshare actually
> does get the books rebound and then donated. Overseas, I think, but I'm not
> sure. Previously, Andrea at Bookshare, now moved onto grad. school would
> donate the books to a prison literacy program. Hope this helps.
>
> Peter
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