I would almost accept the battery life as is, but my main issue is that it takes nearly 4 hours to charge the thing. Sure, the Stream takes that long, but the Stream also has longer batterly life. I guess I've gotten spoiled by the short charge time of the Booksense. The battery life and charge time of the Bookport Plus reminds me of the old heavy desktop 4-track players-recorders that APH had at one point. They may still have them, but since I don't use 4-track tapes, I'm not sure. Anyway, seems like I was charging that thing all the time to get the few hours of freedom where I could carry it with me.
Wayne On 3/10/10, Jamie Kelly <[email protected]> wrote: > > The 10 hour battery life on the pocket is questionable. I find I'm having to > charge after 4 to 5 hours and as the book port plus is the same hardware > different firmware I don't expect any difference. Agree the recording is a1, > note when recording you are creating a daisy book and you can not give the > book a title. If you want the file you need to copy it from the book folder > created. > > Jamie > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Wayne Merritt [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Thursday, 11 March 2010 11:13 AM > To: [email protected] > Cc: Kim Lingo; [email protected] > Subject: Re: [GW-Booksense] first impressions of the Bookport Plus > > 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 > > -- 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
