Thanks John. I don't think I disagree with a single thing you said. My
only point was that we shouldn't expect the NLS to claim that there
player is anything but an NLS cartridge player or spend any resources
supporting anything but the playing of NLS books. conversely, we
shouldn't beat up the NLS or ridicule anyone who works there for
representing this position. I think it's great that it can do more than
that, and I think we should continue to share what we can do with the
player, but like I said, what it can do and what the NLS will support or
claim don't necessarily have to be the same thing.
--
Christopher
chalt...@gmail.com
On 3/25/2010 2:38 PM, DJ DOCTOR P wrote:
Hello Christopher,
Lets face some facts here.
The majority of iPods and MP3 players that are on the market, aren't
blind user friendly.
If it works, it works.
There is an old saying that goes, "if it isn't broke, don't fix it."
I'm glad the NLS player is a versatile MP3 player for blind people, if
I can call it that.
If you look at the previous thread, you will learn that play back
equipment that was only mint for talking books only, was used to
listen to music.
That kind of a thing has been going on for more then 7 decades.
The talking book program was introduced in 1931, right along with the
special machines that were designed for it.
But even then, a group of kids found out that, they could play their
music on it.
From the 1930's right up to the late 1960's, hardly anybody had money
to buy
good record players and such.
So If you came by records, you played them on whatever you could get
your hands on.
Here it is 79 years later, people are still having tuff times.
So If you come by it, and if you can get it to work for you, be
faithful for it!
My best regards.
John.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Christopher Chaltain"
<chalt...@gmail.com>
To: "PC Audio Discussion List" <pc-audio@pc-audio.org>
Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2010 1:50 PM
Subject: Re: digital talking book player
Well, what it was designed for and what it will do are different
questions than what NLS is committing and willing to support.
I for one have no problems funding the NLS, the Talking Books program
and the move to a digital format. As a US tax payer though, I would
not be happy having my tax dollars spent to pay for and support a
music or MP3 player for the blind. blind consumers, like everyone
else, have other options for music and MP3 players. If this needs to
be subsidized for the blind then I think that would fall under a
different program.
The NLS also needs to travel a thin line here. I doubt very much
their funding from Congress included any kind of development or
support for a generic MP3 player. I'd hate to have this funding
jeopardized because the general public found out it was being used to
fund the development and support of high quality MP3 players for the
blind.
Remember too that the patrons of the NLS service with computers and
the desire to play MP3's are a minority of their overall patron
population.
I think the NLS official "no support" statement for anything other
than an NLS book an an NLS cartridge is appropriate. Since, as far as
I can tell, they aren't prohibiting anyone from using a flash drive,
or playing MP3's on the player, there's nothing wrong with users
sharing this information and their findings.
I agree the player seems to be able to handle music and was made with
high quality audio components, but I'm not sure that still isn't
appreciated when listening to spoken recordings. I prefer listening
to the same book on my DTBM over my booksense, and I assume this is
in part due to the better sound quality. I believe the NLS also has
music and other recordings in their collection. I also wouldn't be
surprised if this was in part to anticipate the availability of
multimedia content (voice with music) in the future. A book on Mozart
that also included some performances for example.
--
Christopher
chalt...@gmail.com
On 3/25/2010 11:48 AM, Joe wrote:
Here's something to think about. If the NLS players weren't made to
also play music, they probably wouldn't have designed the headphone
Jack and amp to play stereo. Also, the audio quality of that speaker
is clearly designed for something bordering on hi fidelity. The base
response of that player is far superior to anything you would need
for the spoken word.The frequency response goes above and below the
voice range. Its far superior to the plex talk and other player
recorders that are ridiculously over priced for what they are. I'll.
bet if we could buy this player, it would cost at least $300
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