A couple of things here. I got a VR Stream - First Generation - in 2009, 5 years ago.
At the time I was warned about the VR Streams dreadful speaker but - given the size and not knowing any better - I defended the VR Streams speaker, after all it seemed its better to have a speaker than not have one as my previous player - Bookport - didn't have one. So 2009 rolled on and we came to December 9 when I took delivery of an iPhone 3GS and this proved to be an eye opener. Not only did the speaker of this device sound ten times as good, the device had 100 times the functionality of the VR Stream as I was soon to discover. Now yes, the VR Stream is a Daisy/Audio player but the iPhone did all that soon and it wasn't long before I started using the iPhone to play Daisy Books and so forth with, not only that I had the benefits - even then - of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi technology so I could stream my material and even listen to Internet Radio stations in much the same way as those who use the current generation of the VR Stream do so really, the VR Stream is offering absolutely nothing that we don't already have if we choose to look around. On the other hand, Hims Inc are breaking new ground with their new offering and we find - yet again - that Human Beware are on the catchup roundabout and still trying to tell us all in their marketing stuff that they know the market for the visually impaired? What they actually mean is that they know their own loyal market. On 7 Jun 2014, at 1:04 am, Adrien Collins <adriencollins22...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Dane > > Yes I see where you are coming from, I don't have much use > for bluetooth regarding an mp3 or daisy player such as the > vr stream but to have built in bluetooth for earphones would > have been nice, I was one who requested it but I think I was > in a minority. I do use bluetooth on my mobile phones, for > pairing the phones etc and have unsuccessfully tried to link > a bluetooth keyboard but have ordered a different one so > don't give up that easily. I think humanware should give us > the choice, whether they will incorporate bluetooth into a > future product is anyone's guess, they will have to do > something good otherwise they will lose out to the market > again, when the vr stream was first released there was not > many similar players but now you have many more and some of > them are better in their own way but it depends on what you > require. I think they had to bring out the new stream mark 2 > rather quickly to keep the market otherwise many people > would have gone away from humanware products in favour of > say I devices or similar gadgets which can do much more in > their own way. Again it is personal choice. What will come > after stream mark 2 has gone the whole way as it will > inevitably do in perhaps 5 or more years time, there will be > much different demand. It is good that stream mark 2 has the > wifi so there is several options as to what they can put > that to use with. So far it is just internet radio for me in > the uk and Europe and some book services in the states but > of course for me they are not available. They will add more > features in time. > > Regards > > Adrien > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On > Behalf Of Dane Trethowan > Sent: Friday, June 06, 2014 4:38 PM > To: PC Audio Discussion List > Subject: Different Roads For Humanware and Hims Inc > > Hi Adrien, I've changed the subject line to better suit the > discussion. > > I didn't know that a survey was done so thanks for pointing > this out. > > I can see how a lot of people wouldn't have rated Bluetooth > as being critical to them but really that does illustrate > more than anything to me just how Human Beware actually > work, that company doesn't really want to market to people > in the real world it seems. > > For example, those of us who have been using mobile phones > over the last 10 years now take Bluetooth for granted thus > we buy the appropriate equipment such as speakers, hands > free kits, keyboards, headphones and the like to take full > advantage of it. > > Hims Inc obviously want to market their products far and > wide to help those who need good accessibility live as > independent life as is possible and - wherever possible - > integrate into a full working environment and use - wherever > possible - all the tools that are available in the > mainstream. > > I don't have any problems with the approach that Human > Beware takes but its not what I want, I want to move ahead > and make things as smooth and as uncomplicated as is > possible whereas - with the other approach Human Beware > takes - doing surveys and just making products specific to > survey needs for their blind clients - means some isolation > from the real world of changing technology, again its up to > the user what road he/she chooses to travel. > > > On 6 Jun 2014, at 11:54 pm, Adrien Collins > <adriencollins22...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Hi Dane >> >> I don't know if you know, last year sometime humanware did > a >> survey of what the users of the vr stream wanted, I think >> there was more demand for wifi than bluetooth, I think >> bluetooth would mean another hardware up-grade, I am not >> sure. I think bluetooth would have been great but as we > can >> use an adapter for listening to bluetooth earphones, it is >> not much of a problem, not for me in any case. >> >> Regards >> >> Adrien > > ********** > > Dane Trethowan > Skype: grtdane12 > Phone US (213) 438-9741 > Phone U.K. 01245 79 0598 > Phone Australia (03) 9005 8589 > Mobile: +61400494862 > faceTime +61400494862 > Fax +61397437954 > Twitter: @grtdane > > > > I use BullGuard to keep my computer clean. > Try BullGuard for free: www.bullguard.com > > > > ********** Dane Trethowan Skype: grtdane12 Phone US (213) 438-9741 Phone U.K. 01245 79 0598 Phone Australia (03) 9005 8589 Mobile: +61400494862 faceTime +61400494862 Fax +61397437954 Twitter: @grtdane
