HumanWare press release

Greetings. After reading the following press release, I'm left wondering why HW waited a month or so to put it out. Nonetheless, it confirms that the new age of digital talking books is here for NLS readers. Though I've heard of the new Talking Book players that are starting to be sent to NLS patrons, and though it sounds great and interesting, I'm probably not going to get one. After all, on the Stream, I can read and have access to any number of books at one time, which currently is 44. However, with the cartridge from NLS, only one book can fit on it at once. Plus, I get other options that someone using a regular talking book machine might not have, such as being able to play text and rich tex files, listen to music, put audio bookmarks on my various items, and more. At any rate, enjoy the following note from HumanWare. Though the stream is no longer the only player to play digital books, which is good, it was the first, which is pretty nifty.

***

IMPROVED ACCESS TO DIGITAL DOWNLOAD BOOKS FOR BLIND AND LOW VISION U.S. CITIZENS

Longueuil, May 25, 2009

On April 30, the National Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), a division of the Library of Congress in the United States, entered the first phase of its transition to a digital playback system, as well as releasing an upgraded version of its pilot download website. Beginning with the testing of 5,000 digital players by NLS patrons in their homes, NLS is preparing to launch full-scale production and distribution of 26,000 machines per month this year, ensuring continued access to reading materials for more than 500,000 registered users.

New to the NLS program is a state of the art online component, called the Braille and Audio Reading Download (BARD) site. This new site for blind and physically handicapped patrons of NLS now provides better than ever access to digital audiobooks and magazines. The BARD digital books and magazines are in the ANSI/NISO Z39.86 2002 format, the specification for navigable digital talking books. Readers may press buttons on the NLS digital talking-book player and compatible players to jump from chapter to chapter, section to section or page to page. This ability to quickly navigate the book structure, combined with the high-quality human recording, make the new digital NLS download books one of the most significant advancements in the provision of talking books for blind and low vision people.

"The high quality navigable digital books from the new NLS BARD service represent a major advancement in access to books, magazines, and electronic braille for Americans who are unable to read print due to blindness, low vision, or physical disability", says Gilles Pepin, CEO of HumanWare. "With BARD, NLS brings its library into the home of its patrons. Not only do NLS patrons now have access to thousands of digital books but they can find their book of interest and download it in minutes independently and from the comfort of their home computer."

HumanWare manufactures the popular Victor Reader Stream, a DAISY NISO compatible digital talking-book player designed in collaboration with the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), which several thousand NLS patrons already use to play the new digital NISO books. The NLS digital books on the BARD site are protected by encryption and compatible digital book players must be authorized by NLS for eligible patrons to play the books.

The ability to press buttons on the Victor Reader Stream to easily jump between chapters, pages, or magazine articles, like the NLS digital talking-book player, provides a rich audiobook reading experience never before experienced by audiocassette readers. For reference books such as cookery books the user can even enter a page number from the table of contents on the Stream telephone-style number pad and the playback will move immediately to that page. With the NLS player, Victor Reader Stream, and the NLS BARD books, users now have immediate access to thousands of books and can navigate them just like they would navigate the equivalent print book's structure.

The new BARD download audiobook and magazine service is available free of charge to eligible blind and physically handicapped individuals in the U.S. and to citizens living abroad, who have access to a computer and high-speed Internet connection, and who have a free NLS digital talking-book player or own an authorized compatible digital talking-book player such as HumanWare's Victor Reader Stream. To learn more about the new BARD service visit
https://nlsbard.loc.gov

About HumanWare

HumanWare is the global leader in assistive technologies for vision, including products for the blind and visually impaired. HumanWare's products include BrailleNote, the leading productivity device for blind people in education, in business and in their personal lives; the Victor Reader product line, the world's leading digital talking book players; and myReader2, the new version of HumanWare's unique "auto-reader" for people with low vision. For more information visit
www.humanware.com