Here's a related story:
The Next Update to NVDA will Bring Major Access Improvements to Kindle
Books
Scott Davert
Wednesday, 08-Feb-2017 12:42 PM ET
Over the years, many blind users have wanted to use Kindle for PC just as
easily as their sighted counterparts. This is especially true in the field
of education. Though the
Kindle for Accessibility Plug-in
exists, it only permits the user to read text out loud and to configure
basic speech settings. Last year, James Scholes released his latest tool,
Codex,
a conversion tool which permitted both braille and speech access to the
Kindle library once the book was converted to a more useable format.
With the next release of NVDA, version 2017.1 due out this spring, NV-Access
is expecting to bring direct access to Kindle books via the Kindle for PC
application using NVDA. Not only will the user have access to the text,
which has already been available using the above listed methods, but
NV-Access reports that the user will have access to links, footnotes,
graphics, highlighted text and user notes. The ability to have pages turn
automatically will also be possible. Once the Release Candidate comes out,
look for a review of this feature on Blind Bargains.
Source: NV-Access
-----Original Message-----
From: Mary Otten
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2017 6:54 AM
To: vi-kindle@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [vi-kindle] Re: for those that do kindle book conversions
I wonder if this applies to previous Kindle books or just to books that are
coming out from now on.
Mary
Sent from my iPhone
On Feb 13, 2017, at 10:48 PM, William Brandes <williambrandes@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
hi all. an interesting read for those that use kindle for pc and/or
conversions using codex. i did a copy and paste. below.
Kindle for PC
Kindle for PC allows you to manage your e-book collection and read any
of the titles you have purchased on your home computer or tablet.
Amazon has just issued a monumental update that includes typesetting
enhancements, search improvements, and a text-to-speech feature which
allows the app to read some e-Books aloud to you.
All of these new updates were made possible because Amazon no longer
delivers e-books into your account with the AZW format, instead they
are now sent in KFX.
There is lots of conjecture about the KFX e-book format, simply
because it came out in 2016. One of the biggest factors is that it is
digitally encrypted and nobody has managed to crack the DRM system,
which prevents piracy. The KFX format is also “pre-rendered” to some
extent, such as having hyphenation pre calculated and added to the
text as either soft-hyphens or html tags. This is similar to what Kobo
does with kepub. This allows Amazon to push out their new Ember and
Bookerly formats and to make e-books like way better than with
Caecilia.
stay well ... william
