New Olympus players announced

Greetings. Below is a message that I sent to some of my work colleagues regarding the summer release of some new Olympus digital voice recorders and media players. Blind Bargains has the same information, along with many other sites, but they also have the U.S. prices, which are expected to be $249 for the Olympus D2 and $299 for the Olympus D4. Are the features for either of these players enough to get me to go out and buy one? Probably not since I've already got and am happy with my Booksense from Gw Micro. However, if the Olympus players live up to their billing and if what I speculate below about their ability to perhaps play the DAISY NLS files, then this would truly be a notable development. It could mean that a mainstream developer of technology is really taking an interest in the blind market and attempting to reach out beyond offering one token product for the blind. Given the battery life though, it does present an interesting and thought provoking case for getting these new players. Enjoy.

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The Olympus D4 and D2 have been announced. Among other things, these players include built in voice guidance and text to speech, as well as the ability to play DAISY files specific to the blind and low vision. Though it doesn’t say so directly, since it supports the DAISY files for the blind, I’m assuming that this means it will play the NLS digital talking book files. If this is true, then this is probably the first mainstream off the shelf player that will be able to play these types of files. Read more at the link below:

http://j.mp/aeyK8E