I believe the first NLS casette content was released late 1960's, 68 or
69, if memory serves. I know I believe I got my player in 1970 or 1971.
As for portable players, there were mainstream portable casette players
adapted for NLS playback in the mid to late 1980's at least. Note these
were
I doubt Humanware or NLS assume all patrons are seniors. I wouldn't be
surprised though if statistics show that a large population of NLS
patrons are seniors though. Many conditions affecgt eye sight as people
age, plus the RLF outbreak after WW II mean there are a large number of
blind adults
The one thing I heard over and over again from humanware when they created
the new digital players for NLS is seniors.
They assumed that all patrons were older, something I thought was goofy
since I have been a member going back to age 7.
In fact that is part of why I am so surprised by all
I'm not sure this is a safe assumption. Sure, when you're on a list like
this, it seems that everyone has a mobile device, but how many Talking
Book subscribers fall into this category? Talking Books are for everyone
and not just tech savvy people. I think the NLS places a premium on ease
of
Nice thing about this, besides the size is that with a patch chord I can
copy the contents of my scanner on to a tape.
My reading edge has a port for this with the AFB handi-cassette recorder
having a line in jack.
Just sharing,
Kare
"No one is born hating another person because of the
Assuming those for whom big buttons etc. is an advantage are a minority
perhaps there is a good compromise.
If there were to be a pad containing al the large controls and a speaker
which can attach to a pocket size device using headphones which is the
actual book reader; all needs could be met?
APH used to sell a 4-track player/recorder. It also had the 2 speeds and
analog VSC (variable speech control) as well.
I also seem to recall that there was another one called the talkman.
I actually owned the APH one.
kp
On Wed, 13 Sep 2017, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:
I
I still have one of those cassette decks, and compared to that, the
cartridge player is downright tiny. That said, while I think it a
shame there was never(at least to my knowledge) a walkman-style
cassette player capable of playing single tracks or adjusting playback
speed, those yellow bricks
Remember the Talking Book Player caters to a lot more then mobile device
toting patrons. The cassette player we used to have was a tank compared
to Walkmans and the like. I'm OK with the design of the current player,
and I'm glad they put ease of use and durability at the top of the
Yeah, this has gotten quite far from the original topic. Does anyone
know if NLS, APH, Perkins, or any of the other organizations dealing
in alternative formats have their own mailing lists or even just
newsletters? My gmail is mewtamer if anyone wishes to forward me
information on such off list.
If we need to continue this conversation, I should just get your e-mail address
so we don't clutter this listserv.
Daisy books typically encode their audio in MP3 at bitrates of 32 kbps or
higher. FLAC probably averages around 300 kbps (I haven't checked this lately)
for monophonic audio.
NLS
I'm one of those who like the big buttons and the decent speaker of the
NLS digital player, but you make a good point about the value of a
device you can put in your pocket.
Al
On 09/11/2017 08:22 PM, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:
My apologies if it sounded like I was
You don't necessarily need a cart slot.
the stream uses a SD card and internal flash memory,
phones use there own internal memory.
Some of them also use sd cards as well.
Commercial devices like phones get there key to play books when the user
logs into the service.
the stream gets its key when
I'll admit part of the problem is ignorance. Until reading the
description for the cartridges Perkins is selling on Amazon, I didn't
know any cartridge players other than the NLS player existed, and
those descriptions only name drop two players I didn't know about and
warns one doesn't support
You can fit a player in your pocket, it just costs you to purchase it.
The stream fits nicely in your pocket and plays NLS books.
Also, you can use your smartphone to listen to NLS books and it fits in
your pocket or on your belt.
I think the range of offerings should be good for anyone.
You
I find the claim that most could fit their entire library on a 16GB
cartridge funny considering my own fairly modest library of audiobooks
and eBooks takes up 66GB in my home directory not counting the stuff
in my Unread folder. Granted, most of the audiobooks saved on my
computer are flac rips
My apologies if it sounded like I was complaining. I'm actually
pleasantly surprised the players are Linux based as opposed to
something custom or even Windows based, and honestly, sticking to a
working model for a decade is actually kind of refreshing compared to
the mainstream electronics
Here's the announcement I was referring to earlier. I saw it posted on
the NFB in CS list, but it was forwarded to that list from another list.
I had some trouble with the cutting and pasting, so hopefully the
formatting comes through.
Perkins Library Product Sale Program
The Perkins
I think this is one of the side affects of using open software. If the
Talking Book Player had used custom firmware, no one would be
complaining about the code used in the firmware unless it resulted in
bugs or a lack of features. I don't have a problem that the Talking Book
Player is using an
The cable is standard, in that it's a standard USB cable with standard
uSB male and female connectors. What you need to watch for though is
that the female end will fit into the cartridge. Not all USB cables have
a female end with a thin enough profile to slide into the space allowed
by the
There have been player firmware updates. The latest available on our website is
version 2.1.7, from late in 2011. There are other updates that address minor
issues. One of them is 2.1.8, which treats magazine cartridges in a somewhat
different manner.
Switching major Linux versions would have
After figuring out how to get Amazon to show me everything being sold
on the Amazon Marketplace by Perkins, I found that they offer a Belkin
USB extension cable. Given the context, I'm assuming this particular
cable either lacks the usual guard on the female end, has a guard thin
enough to fit the
The cartridges are typically formatted as FAT32.
A cable doesn't come with a cartridge, and as you discovered, it's not quite
standard.
I think it will be a few extra weeks before a 16 GB cartridge becomes available.
The NLS player has a second USB port on its right side, behind the headphone
Cables are standard. I don't recall what the female connector end is
called, but it's a standard USB extension cable type of connector, i.e.
you can plug one end of the cable into the other.
Perkins sells the cables on line, as ell as 4Gb NlS-style cartridges. I
believe LS and APH also sell them.
Okay, I'v managed to find Perkins branded Digital Cartridges on
Amazon, but there doesn't seem to be any listings for the cables. Does
anyone know if the cartridges include the cables? Either way, I'm
tempted to pick up a 16GB cartridge as a stop gap for playing the
encrypted files if I can't
Probably off topic,
APH and NBP were selling blank NLS cartridges and a cable. If you have
that cable, you can copy any regular NLS cartridge and play it on an
authorized player. Or you could download it from the NLS web site.
On 9/7/2017 12:51 PM, Linux for blind general discussion
Thank you, Lloyd, for your informative reply. I have submitted a
request to be mailed an application, and find myself hopeful that BARD
will prove more accessible than commercial digital content services.
As most of my old cassettes are newer than the time frame you mention,
I'm hopeful I'll be
I'll answer at least some of your questions.
First of all, you can save yourself a lot of aggravation by setting up an
account on BARD, the NLS Braille and Audio Reading Download service. Magazines
recorded by NLS since about 2007 are all available on the site. Books that
originally were
Ok, I know that there is a kind of cable that works with those digital
cartridges. I guess that the drives just have a regular file system on
them. The NLS digital book player is linux based and there should be no
reason for the file system to be different.
The files on there are .3gp
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