From: Curtis Chong [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Greetings and felicitations:
I have been asked to post the following message on behalf of Tom Wlodkowski, Director of Accessibility for America Online (AOL). Mr. Wlodkowski does not bring good news, I am afraid; however, in his favor, he is doing his best to provide us with advance notice and a promise to work to make things better. He and I have worked together for several years on accessibility issues pertaining to America Online, and I believe him to be a man of integrity and a person who is deeply committed to ensuring access to AOL's services by all people with disabilities. Should you wish to contact Mr. Wlodkowski directly, his email address is [EMAIL PROTECTED] Here is Mr. Wlodkowski's message and the original post to which it refers: Cordially, Curtis Chong ------------------- The player Mr. Roderick references in his original GUI Talk post below is one built by AOL. While there were some compatibility issues between the AOL Radio player and JAWS due to the use of javascript, it was generally usable. Regrettably, this player will no longer be available as of June 9. In fact we will take some significant steps backward as we transition to the use of a third party player. We apologize for the inconvenience and plan to work with our partner to improve usability of our new player in subsequent releases. Beginning on June 9, the AOL Radio product will be powered by CBS Radio. The necessity of this new business model was driven by the dramatic increase in the music royalty rates paid for Internet Radio. This action by the record labels left AOL no choice but to look for an alternative way to stay in the internet radio business. Given the business demands and accelerated transition, there wasn't ample time for us to effective address the major usability issues with the CBS Player. The AOL Radio team is aware of the accessibility barriers presented by this transition, and is committed to addressing the issue with CBS Radio once the new player interface launches on June 9. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns. As you know through the recent release of the accessible webmail product, AOL Instant Messenger and other products, we're committed to ensuring the usability of our products and services with screen access software. There are times however where business needs put us in a situation where we regrettably cannot deliver an accessible interface when a product is first launched. This is the case with AOL Radio. We will certainly look to you, Mr. Roderick and others to test the accessibility of the new player interface once the team is a bit further down the path of implementing the necessary usability improvements. Best, Tom Forwarded message from Rick Roderick [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [gui-talk] AOL radio To: NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List [EMAIL PROTECTED] I am trying the new version of AOL radio. Unfortunately, some of the keys are not working. I am using Internet Explorer and JAWS 9. When I get to the categories, it says that a particular category is off and to press open it. When I press Enter, I simply hear the same message, and the category remains closed. I go into a selection of all stations, and not all the stations come up. I am able to choose a category from this area, however. When I do so, I then select a station. Everything works fine. However, when I hit Alt-Left-Arrow to go back to the list, I can't get out of the current station. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance. Regards Steve Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Windows Live Messenger: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Skype: steve1963 Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... http://www.pc-audio.org To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
