Ron, I have not bought a Booksense but was seriously considering it, and that is why I joined the lists and started researching the performance of the unit. For me, there were four main reasons why I began to consider the Booksense:
1. Form factor. The Booksense is smaller and a lot sleeker than the Stream. The Stream looks like it is from the 1980s, whereas the Booksense looks very modern and nice. 2. The TTS. The Stream uses the Nuance Samantha and Tom voices which are not very good for listening to long text files or non-audio DAISY books. Too many pronunciation errors, and very poor pausing with quotation marks; for example, it is difficult to understand when one person stops and another one starts speaking in a dialog because if there are quote marks, the TTS appears to not pause, even if there are other punctuation preceding the quote marks, such as question marks, periods, etc. Kate is a much more pleasant TTS. While I have not used Kate to listen to anything other than what I have heard on podcasts and using the demo on neospeech.com, it appears that it is a better TTS. As far as pronunciation, however, I really can't comment until I listen to something of any significant length with it. 3. The folder structure. While the Stream supports folder navigation to some extent, it is only possible in certain folders (you can't do it in the DAISY books folder or in the Audible folder). In addition, in the folders that do support subfolder navigation, it is implemented in what I consider to be a clunky, non-intuitive manner. The Booksense's folder navigation is far more intuitive, given it behaves just as any computer would when navigating folders. 4. Additional file types. The Booksense does support quite a few additional file types than the Stream, including the big one for me, Audible enhanced format. The above four were the big ones for me as to why I started looking at the Booksense. Unfortunately, given all the problems and issues reported by so many users (I know not by all; some of you have had no problems, but enough of you have), I have decided to hold off and see how the Booksense behaves after the next firmware before making any decisions. Suleyman http://www.twitter.com/hllf ----- Original Message ----- From: "rs_denis" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 6:33 AM Subject: [GW-Booksense] Re: GW-Booksense or the Victor Stream This is not an invitation to a flame war, but all the recent messages have made me very curious. For all who are switching back to your streams, why did you give them up in the first place? Unless you are richer than I, not a difficult state to achieve I'm told, you would not have bought a second reader just for the fun of it. What led you to acquire a BookSense? Ron Denis ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Barbour" <[email protected]> To: "George B" <[email protected]> Cc: "'Keith Gillard'" <[email protected]>; "'Rich Ring'" <[email protected]>; <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 7:42 PM Subject: Re: [GW-Booksense] Why I have switched back to the Victor Stream >I disagree with this. It comes up and rarely gets challenged. > > I had the original victor reader stream, and it was definately missing > many features I wanted, but there were definately fewer bugs. > > Certainly, the stream never lost my position within books. > > I'm really hoping the new firmware will fix these bugs. > > Jim > > On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 03:56:13PM -0800, George B wrote: >> apperantly you do not remember if you had the first version of the victor >> stream. it was loaded with issues like the booksens so just remember that >> the stream has been out for 4 years and the b s for5 month >> >> > -----Original Message----- >> > From: Keith Gillard [mailto:[email protected]] >> > Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 14:17 >> > To: Rich Ring; [email protected] >> > Subject: Re: [GW-Booksense] Why I have switched back to the Victor >> > Stream >> > >> > Hi, >> > >> > I am two steps behind you sir! >> > >> > I am, however, prepared to wait for the upcoming firmware relaese >> > before I >> > give up completely and chock er up to a bad experience! >> > It will be nice to explore the added features but if the bugs arn't >> > fixed. >> > Or, the new feature set doesn't work as advertised. And; if new >> > features >> > break programming that currently works, Mine will be up on EBay faster >> > then >> > you can say Sucker, have I got a deal for you LOL! >> > >> > Keepin my fingers crossed....KG> >> > >> > >> > ----- Original Message ----- >> > From: "Rich Ring" <[email protected]> >> > To: <[email protected]> >> > Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 12:24 PM >> > Subject: [GW-Booksense] Why I have switched back to the Victor Stream >> > >> > >> > Greetings all: >> > I received my Booksense at the NFB convention in early July. Until >> > last >> > Wednesday, November 11, I have used it exclusively for all of my >> > reading >> > needs. I love its form factor. I love its navigation structure. I >> > love >> > the fact that it has a clock. I love its text to speech voices. >> > However, I >> > have simply been too frustrated by other issues to continue using the >> > device. I shall name them here. >> > 1. The device will not keep its place in any NLS book. If I load an >> > NLS >> > book, navigate to a chapter heading, read for a few minutes and then >> > subsequently close that book, when I open the book again, I am always >> > taken >> > back to the beginning of the book, and this is frustrating. Certainly, >> > I >> > can find my place, but this behavior should not be. >> > 2. Suppose I am reading an NLS book, and I turn the device off. Now, >> > I >> > turn it back on, and press "play" to start listening to the book. What >> > often happens is you get this incredible machine gun noise. You can >> > correct >> > the problem by changing the navigation level, but again, this should >> > not be. >> > 3. My Booksense will never save bookmarks. >> > 4. My Booksense is not honoring headings in Audible books. >> > The reason I finally gave up on the unit is that I downloaded "Under >> > the >> > Dome" from Audible last week, and when the Booksense kept taking me >> > back to >> > the beginning of a part of the book, I'd simply had enough. >> > I truly love this device, but until the firmware update is released, I >> > will >> > use the Stream, because it always holds my place, and it honors Audible >> > headings. There is only so much frustration I can deal with, but I >> > sincerely hope that these problems are addressed in the new firmware, >> > and >> > when that firmware is released, I'll update my machine as soon as I >> > can. >> > The trouble is, the Booksense used to keep its place in NLS books, why >> > it no >> > longer does is a mystery to me. I even reinstalled the firmware that >> > came >> > out in August, just to make sure. I have done more than one reset, >> > even the >> > reset where you depress the reset button and hold down the number 4 >> > key. >> > At this point in time, unless someone has a great need to use the >> > device to >> > read computer generated text, I cannot recommend this unit at all. I >> > hope >> > that with the next firmware update that I will be forced to change my >> > mind. >> > Thank you all. >> > >> > >> > If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original >> > sender >> > only. If your reply would benefit others on the list andyour message >> > is >> > related to GW Micro or the BookSense, then please consider sending your >> > message to [email protected] so the entire list will receive it. >> > >> > If you wish to unsubscribe from this list, send a message to >> > [email protected] and include leave gw-booksense in the body of the >> > message. >> > >> > If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original >> > sender only. If your reply would benefit others on the list andyour >> > message is related to GW Micro or the BookSense, then please consider >> > sending your message to [email protected] so the entire list >> > will receive it. >> > >> > If you wish to unsubscribe from this list, send a message to >> > [email protected] and include leave gw-booksense in the body of the >> > message. >> >> If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender >> only. If your reply would benefit others on the list andyour message is >> related to GW Micro or the BookSense, then please consider sending your >> message to [email protected] so the entire list will receive it. >> >> If you wish to unsubscribe from this list, send a message to >> [email protected] and include leave gw-booksense in the body of the >> message. >> > > If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender > only. If your reply would benefit others on the list andyour message is > related to GW Micro or the BookSense, then please consider sending your > message to [email protected] so the entire list will receive it. > > If you wish to unsubscribe from this list, send a message to > [email protected] and include leave gw-booksense in the body of the > message. > > > __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus > signature database 4618 (20091118) __________ > > The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. > > http://www.eset.com > > > __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 4618 (20091118) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender only. If your reply would benefit others on the list andyour message is related to GW Micro or the BookSense, then please consider sending your message to [email protected] so the entire list will receive it. If you wish to unsubscribe from this list, send a message to [email protected] and include leave gw-booksense in the body of the message. If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender only. If your reply would benefit others on the list andyour message is related to GW Micro or the BookSense, then please consider sending your message to [email protected] so the entire list will receive it. If you wish to unsubscribe from this list, send a message to [email protected] and include leave gw-booksense in the body of the message.
