Lori Bell, Director
600
Phone 309-694-9200
Toll Free 1-800-426-0709
Email lbell@alliancelibrarysystem.com
Website: www.mitbc.org
The Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center (MITBC) is a sub-regional library serving
print-impaired readers in central and northwest
Tom Peters, Founder
Phone: 816-228-6406
Email: tapinformation@yahoo.com
Website: www.tapinformation.com
Founded in 2003, TAP Information
Services provides a wide variety of services supporting libraries, consortia,
government agencies, publishers, and other information and service
organizations. Services available
through TAP Information Services include:
support for projects, research reports, strategic planning, workshops,
writing, editing, conference services, virtual online reference services, consortial negotiations and agreements, and speeches. Peters is one of three co-authors of the
book, E-Book Functionality: What Libraries and Their Patrons Want and
Expect from Electronic Books, published in 2003 by LITA (Library
Information Technology Association, a Division of the American Library
Association).
This is a revised and expanded version of the Project HAL
(Handheld, Accessible Libraries) report, first released in January 2004. Major additions to this version include
reviews of two additional devices (Plextalk PTR1 from
Plextor, and Soul DMP-206b from Soulmate
Audiobooks) and the inclusion of feedback and
suggestions from actual users of some of the seven devices reviewed. Within the body of the report the phrase “Feedback from Actual User”
has been used (and highlighted in gray for sighted readers) to help readers
quickly find those comments.
Project HAL is a review of portable playback devices for
digital talking books and other types of digital audio content. These devices are being used by
print-impaired individuals, including the blind, visually impaired, physically
challenged, and dyslexic. The project was conceived, funded, and supported by the Mid-Illinois
Talking Book Center (http://www.mitbc.org). Tom Peters from TAP Information
Services (tapinformation@yahoo.com)
conducted the review. Peters is a
sighted individual with years of experience with ebooks.
Seven devices were examined and reviewed:
1.
Plextalk PTR1
from Plextor
2. Victor Reader Classic Plus from Visuaide
3. Victor Reader Vibe from Visuaide
4. Scholar from Telex Communications
5. BookCourier from Springer Design
6.
7. Soul Player from Soulmate
Audiobooks
Among the seven devices reviewed at least three lineages are
discernable.
1. Portable
CD Players: The Victor Reader Vibe, Telex
Scholar, and Soul Player are descendants of portable CD players that have been
on the consumer market for years. Their
hardware and software designs have been enhanced to make them more accessible
by and useful to print-impaired users. They also play more file types than a typical
CD player.
2. Flash
Memory Devices: The
3. Descendents
of the Analog Audiocassette Player/Recorder:
The Victor Classic Plus and the Plextalk PTR1,
on the other hand, seem to be descended from analog audiocassette recorder and
playback devices.
After looking at all of the factors and functionalities outlined in the
report, the reviewer tried to step back and make an overall comparison of the
seven devices. All seven
devices worked well and would be worthy of purchase and intensive use. They were fairly easy to begin using—at least
for a sighted user. Overall, the
Because of the
various design lineages, however, it is very difficult to select a best device
from the three “finalists”: PTR1, Victor
Reader Vibe, and
The learning curve for this set of devices appears to be
initially rather steep with a long curve.
In other words, it will take several hours or days of intensive use to
feel completely comfortable using any of these seven devices. This should not present a problem to most
real users because, once he or she makes a choice among these and other devices
on the market, in all likelihood the device will be used intensively. Nearly all of the functionalities worked as
intended. A few, such as fast forward
and reverse, obviously need additional design work.
The radical differences in design—ranging from the basic
lineage to the shape and arrangement of the keys—are both an asset and a
liability. The makers of these devices
are to be applauded because they represent a healthy, competitive
marketplace. However, for end-users who
will interact on a regular basis with more than one portable assistive technology,
a standard scheme for buttons would be advantageous, reducing the cognitive load
of needing to remember and reorient one’s self to each separate button
configuration and tactility, regardless of how ingenious each one happens to
be. Although we seem to be living in an
era of pluralistic designs for consumer electronic devices--an era in which no
single device dominates--there may still be some value in advocating some
convergence in these designs.
The collocation onto one portable device of various functionalities and access to a myriad of file types and information sources should be a boon to many print-impaired persons. The impact of DAISY-tagged files on the overall digital talking book market remains to be seen. Also, at least one of these devices—the BookCourier—plans soon to add content from Audible.com to its stable of supported file formats. Regardless of one’s opinion about proprietary file formats, for better or worse they are part of the overall landscape, and supporting the more popular proprietary file types does increase the reach of these devices. As these devices support more file types, we may see an impressive convergence of content onto a single user’s device of choice. There is no theoretical reason why content from NLS could not be incorporated on these devices, too. Simply being able to listen to work/study-related information, leisure reading, and music on one portable device more closely matches the daily information use habits of most people than did previous technologies for the print-impaired.
This is a revised and expanded version of the Project HAL
(Handheld, Accessible Libraries) report, first released in January 2004. Major additions to this version include
reviews of two additional devices (Plextalk PTR1 from
Plextor, and Soul DMP-206b from Soulmate
Audiobooks) and the inclusion of feedback and
suggestions from actual users of some of the seven devices reviewed. Within the body of the report the phrase “Feedback from Actual User”
has been used (and highlighted in gray for sighted readers) to help readers
quickly find those comments.
Project HAL (Handheld, Accessible Libraries) is a review of portable
playback devices for digital talking books and other types of digital audio
content that are being used by print-impaired individuals, including the blind,
visually impaired, physically challenged, and dyslexic.
The Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center (MITBC) (www.mitbc.org) funded this study. MITBC, with
offices in
Tom Peters from TAP Information Services (www.tapinformation.com) conducted the
review. Peters is a sighted person with
astigmatism who wears bifocal glasses. TAP Information Services provides
a wide variety of services supporting libraries, consortia, government
agencies, publishers, and other organizations in the information industry. Services include: support for projects, research reports,
strategic planning, workshops, writing and editing, conference services, consortial negotiations and agreements, and keynote
speeches. Peters is one of the
co-authors of the book, E-Book Functionality: What Libraries and Their Patrons Want and
Expect from Electronic Books (
The report begins by briefly describing the seven devices
reviewed. The next section presents some
overall impressions of the devices as a group and individually. The remainder of the report provides details
about the hardware, software, and functionality of these devices, beginning
with the devices as objects—their physical features, such as dimensions,
weight, buttons, ports, and power sources. Then the report looks at the file formats
supported by the various devices. The
largest section of the reports contains a list of the primary functions and how
they work on the devices. Some final thoughts
and the appendices conclude the report.
Please note: This is
not an exhaustive report, in the sense that all functionalities of each device
are fully explained and explored. The
absence of mention of a device in a section should not lead the reader to
conclude that that functionality is not supported by that device. This report is not intended to serve as a
substitute for the documentation available for each device.