Product Evaluation: Plextalk Pocket PTP1 DAISY Book Player and Digital Recorder
- From: "Russ Kiehne" <wb6niu@xxxxxxx>
- To: <ptr1-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 15 May 2012 09:26:13 -0700
Did anyone see this article from the current issue of accessworld?
Product Evaluation: Plextalk Pocket PTP1 DAISY Book Player and Digital
Recorder from
Shinano Kenshi
Deborah Kendrick
The PLEXTALK Pocket PTP1 is a sleek DAISY book player and digital recorder
made for
use by people who are blind or have low vision. Smaller than some cell
phones, the
PLEXTALK Pocket is about the size of a deck of cards and weighs less than
four ounces.
Contents and Accessories
The PLEXTALK Pocket comes to you with a 2 GB secure digital (SD) card
already inserted,
stereo earbuds, an AC adapter, a USB cable for transferring material from a
computer,
a short USB adapter for connecting a USB memory stick or CD player, and a CD
containing
the User's Guide in HTML and Microsoft Word formats. The device also comes
with a
zippered, padded, fabric pouch that is adequate protecting the unit and all
of its
accessories.
Product Design
The PLEXTALK Pocket has an exceptionally smooth surface. The face has a
standard
12-button phone-style keypad, with 11 additional keys located above. The
layout of
buttons on the PLEXTALK Pocket is extremely well planned. Every button is
distinctly
shaped and textured, so that the location of keys without sight is
absolutely effortless.
Above the key panel is a speaker, which is activated when earbuds for
private listening
are not in use. This is perhaps the best internal speaker I've ever
encountered on
a handheld player.
On the top edge of the unit are the ports for headphones and external
microphone
and on the bottom are the ports for the USB cable and AC adapter. The left
edge has
the slot for the SD card, and the right edge has an up-down volume switch
and a switch
for locking all keys.
Using the PLEXTALK Pocket
The PLEXTALK Pocket plays quaint melodic sounds when powering on or off,
executing
a command, or directing you to wait for a task to be completed. Somewhat
akin to
the sounds one might hear in a children's play to indicate magical
happenings, I
found these sounds utterly charming. If you don't share my feelings, they
can be
silenced.
The logic employed in the device's operation soon becomes intuitive as
patterns of
performing tasks emerge. For example, one of the most prominent features on
the face
of the unit is a circle of four arrow keys with a concave Enter button in
the center.
Many functions are performed by first pressing one of the four corner keys
(Go To,
Bookmark, Menu, and Title) surrounding this circle, followed by a
combination of
arrow keys and presses of the Enter key. It did seem cumbersome at first,
but again,
once the pattern emerges, the operation is easy and intuitive. PLEXTALK
audibly confirms
every command executed, so that learning is facilitated and errors are
difficult
to make. The entire user's manual is available at any time with a press of
the #0
key, and a Key Describer mode can be invoked by long-pressing the Menu key
at any
time for learning the names of the various buttons.
Overview of Functions
The PLEXTALK Pocket is a DAISY book player and DAISY recorder. It can play
your books
and music from a variety of sources, and does all recording in DAISY format,
meaning
that you can easily insert Headings in your own recordings to improve ease
of navigation
and review. The PLEXTALK Pocket offers a Voice Memo feature for quick
recordings
or notes lasting up to one minute on the go, and it can tell you the time
and date.
Because it's always in standby mode, you can perform any of these functions
instantly
at the touch of a button. A complete power-off is necessary only when you
wish to
leave the unit for an extended period of time; powering up again takes 30 to
40 seconds.
Playing Media
The PLEXTALK Pocket can play just about any type of audio content you might
want
to load onto it, including books from Bookshare, the National Library
service for
the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Learning Ally, and Audible. It plays a
variety
of audio formats directly from your commercial CDs, and can download
podcasts or
stream content from your favorite Internet radio stations.
While many of the above book sources require authorization for any player, I
found
the installation of authorization keys and activation processes to be
extremely simple.
The Audible.com activation was so straightforward that I was almost
surprised to
find that my books had already transferred to the player and were ready for
listening!
Navigation
PLEXTALK Pocket organizes material in folders. You can access these folders
(by initially
pressing the Title key) either as one long string of titles or by arrowing
up to
select folder or category review. While playing a book or other file, you
can move
forward and backward by DAISY levels (the number of which depends on the
original
markup of the material) or by time increments of 30 seconds or ten minutes.
This
latter feature seemed inadequate at first, since some players offer a much
wider
range of time intervals for navigating, but the PLEXTALK Pocket also allows
you to
move forward by percentages which is a fair compensation.
To change speed of the narration, speed, or volume of the PLEXTALK voice, or
tone,
you press the #1 key repeatedly until you find the desired setting, then use
the
up and down arrows to adjust.
Voice Memos and Recordings
Where the PLEXTALK Pocket truly shines is as a DAISY recorder. The Voice
Memo feature
is available at any time by simply pressing and holding the Record key for
up to
one minute. This is useful, for example, when you want to capture a short
reminder
to yourself on the fly. Voice memos are stored internally in their own
folder and
can be reviewed, played, and deleted easily.
All other user-recorded material is stored on the SD card (up to 32GB) in a
separate
folder. You can record using the built-in microphone. For higher quality
recordings,
you can attach an external microphone or cable directly to another output
device
(such as a CD player, radio, or other source.) Recording quality from the
internal
microphone is quite good and, if you use headphones, the PLEXTALK voice can
guide
you through all monitoring without interfering with the recording itself.
All recording done with the unit can be easily marked for navigation, either
during
or after the recording process, by a simple press of a few buttons. Headings
are
inserted, allowing for delightfully swift and efficient navigation of a
lecture,
presentation, or program recorded from another audio source.
The Bottom Line
The PLEXTALK Pocket is a delightful digital player and recorder designed
specifically
for people who are blind or have low vision. Whether listening with
headphones or
via the built-in speaker, the device produces excellent sound clarity. The
PLEXTALK
Pocket shines as a personal DAISY recorder. It is an extremely stable
device; in
two months of testing, I never once had to reset or troubleshoot operation.
The learning curve for operating the PLEXTALK Pocket is a bit steeper than
for some
other players on the access technology market, but particularly for those
who need
to record lectures or other information, the time spent learning is well
worth the
effort.
Product: PLEXTALK Pocket PTP1 DAISY Book Player and Digital Recorder from
Shinano Kenshi
Price: $275.00 (until May 31, 2012)
Available From:
Freedom Scientific
or
Plextalk
, (800) 444-4443
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