For now it sells for $299, but it wouldn't surprise me if they raised that price to retail cost at some point. AS for me, there's nothing that the Bookport does currently that I can't do with my Booksense. I suppose there's something to be said for some of the recording features, but I don't do a lot of recording. The one thing that I haven't heard anyone mention yet is the battery life. On the BP Plus, you get 8-10 hours between charges, and around 4 hours to charge the battery. I'll stick with the Booksense's battery life and charge times. the other thing is the built in Wi-Fi. We'll see what they end up doing with that. For now, I'll stick with the Booksense. Oh and, I don't want to take notes on my portable book player. Interesting idea, but isn't that what the recording functions and individual ntoetakers or other computers are for?
Jmt, Wayne On 3/10/10, Peter Torpey <[email protected]> wrote: > The Bookport Plus sells for $299. > > --Pete > > -----Original Message----- > From: Kim Lingo [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2010 3:43 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [GW-Booksense] first impressions of the Bookport Plus > > Hi everyone, > > I've just listened to the Main Menu presentation on the Bookport > Plus. I haven't actually had a chance to get my hands on one yet, > and I might not, unless someone else I know buys one. > > Overall, it sounds like the Booksense is a better product--at least for now. > > One thing that BP Plus does that the Booksense does not at the moment > is that it can read PDF files without conversion to some other > format. That's very convenient, but not a major selling point--at > least to me. It can record in MP3, and and PCM formats. The > navigation method through files is more like the original bookport, > in that certain keys will do specific things depending on whether you > are actually listening to the file, or going through it a bit > (character, word, paragraph, or page, at a time). > > It also plays NLS books much faster than the Booksense, even though > they fixed that a little in their last firmware release. I think > they should fix it more. If I only listened to NLS books, I might > buy one just for that. > > It supports MP3, WMA, (the unprotected type), and OGG files for play > back. At present, it doesn't play the I-Tunes format, but the > presenter said that could be added if there was enough demand. You > can mark up files while you are recording them, just like with the > Booksense. You also have the option of turning on automatic gain > control if you wish. You can also change the bit rate, just like > with the Booksense. > > I liked my Bookport until it died. I liked the note-taking > capability, and at sometime in the future, A:PH. says they are going > to add that with the ability to use something called "thumb > braille".. I'm wondering if that might be more trouble than it's worth. > > They also are talking about adding "wi-fi" capabilities in the > future. That just might get me to buy one then. > > The main reason that I'm not interested in one right now is because > of the text-to-speech situation. The Bookport Plus uses the same > firmware as the Plextalk Pocket. What I noticed is that the voice > that takes you through the menus is even more human-sounding than the > one for the Booksense. However, that's all you get. When you're > reading something that isn't an actual recording such as Audible, or > NLS, the voice is not nearly as ;pleasant to listen to; although it > is better than the Double-talk used by the Bookport I don't know if > there are any pronunciation problems with this TTS voice, but I'll > take a few linguistic difficulties from Paul and kate any time > because of the overall clarity of the voices. > > In conclusion, it sounds like the Bookport Plus would be a good > product, and perhaps may surpass the Booksense someday, but it > doesn't now, as far as I am concerned. No price for the unit was > mentioned on this presentation > > Just one man's opinion. Listen to the presentation on Main Menu for > yourself. I'll keep my Booksense. They can always fix _that_ > too--maybe tweak is the word I'm looking for. > Kim Lingo > > 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. > > To manage your subscription to gw-booksense, visit: > > http://www.gwmicro.com/listserv > > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2734 - Release Date: 03/10/10 > 02:33:00 > > 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. > > To manage your subscription to gw-booksense, visit: > > http://www.gwmicro.com/listserv > > -- Follow me on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/wcmerritt My blog: http://wayneism.blogspot.com My websites: www.wayneism.com www.whitecaneday.org 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. To manage your subscription to gw-booksense, visit: http://www.gwmicro.com/listserv
