Many of us who scan books for Bookshare really like the Opticbook flatbed scanner. I have not found the Opticbook's software accessible, but I typically only scan from within Kurzweil or using the scanner wizard built into Windows. I believe the price is often around $200, but people have talked about getting it for half of that at times. I think I bought mine on PCnation. The main selling point to this scanner is that it has what they call a book edge, which means that one edge of the scanner has very little plastic and such so that you can put the crease of a book on that edge and get a cleaner scan. I also found it pretty fast and accurate.
At work I have an Epson Perfection, but not sure if those are still made. It works well. It doesn't have that book edge, but I rarely need to scan a book at work. I also was told the CanoScan LIDE was a good one, but I had mixed results and, since I scan mostly books, this wasn't a good option. It's a bit slower. The selling point to the CanoScan is that it only weighs 1 pound and runs off USB, so you can take it with you. I have one I barely used and was just about to post on Craigslist for cheap, so let me know I this might interest you. They normally cost around $79 to $90 new, but I saw lost used online for much less. If you do use Kurzweil 1000, you'll just need to be sure the scanner you pick has TWAIN 5 drivers. I'm not sure what the alternative drivers are called, but know tha Kurzweil only works with TWAIN driver based scanners. Robin From: Ted Larson [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 2014 3:58 PM To: [email protected] Subject: somewhat off topic: scanners Dear List: My flatbed scanner no longer works. I was told that scanners now come as a printer and scanner combined. Should I still be able to find an inexpensive stand-alone scanner? Thanks for any thoughts on this. Regards: Ted Larson This communication may contain privileged and/or confidential information. It is intended solely for the use of the addressee. If you are not the intended recipient, you are strictly prohibited from disclosing, copying, distributing or using any of this information. If you received this communication in error, please contact the sender immediately and destroy the material in its entirety, whether electronic or hard copy. This communication may contain nonpublic personal information about consumers subject to the restrictions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. You may not directly or indirectly reuse or redisclose such information for any purpose other than to provide the services for which you are receiving the information. 127 Public Square, Cleveland, OH 44114 If you prefer not to receive future e-mail offers for products or services from Key send an e-mail to mailto:[email protected] with 'No Promotional E-mails' in the SUBJECT line. If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender only. If your reply would benefit others on the list and your message is related to GW Micro, then please consider sending your message to [email protected] so the entire list will receive it. GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo. You can manage your list subscription at http://www.gwmicro.com/listserv.
