Though I have never tried it, with my Plextalk Pocket (first generation), it should be possible to listen to Audible books. It further is possible to download and listen to Podcasts, though I find the feature not to be fully fledged. And should I want to, I can play Librivox files. Even I can stream radio stations directly from the net. Only thing is, I have to set up certain of it all, on my computer, and copy it to the memory card, before inserting it into the player. Not a big deal I find, for the usage I need.
Further, I do second the point about keys to push. Many users find it far more sufficient, and I would be one of them. True, I do have a modern cellphone, wiht touch-screen, and YES, i have tried listening to different kinds of audio material on it. Yet, I do find it slow to "search" my way around the screen, just to find the Pause-button, and then having to tab it. How much quicker it is, to simply push a physical button. At least, the buttons on my Plextalk stays where they are, and do not move around - depending on the mood of the app developer, or any new updates, fancy blinking icons, unspoken controls, or any of the other stuff we so often are discussing on this and similar lists. The day your app developer decides to change his layout, or the day he simply stops developing, my Plextalk, or the Victor Stream, or any other physical-buttoned equipment, will still have their physical design. You have no such guarantee, comes to your Apple, Android, Windows, Linux or whatever based tool. Just a friendly question in here. If a user were to go for all that touch-screen based stuff, why would he buy an IPod, or IPad of any kind? I mean, I can do all that was described, directly on my Android phone. So why even bother to carry around YET ANOTHER unit, for any of your listening projects? If you are concerned about battery life, get a battery pack, and it will make you listen to whatever intertainment, as well as chatting away with your grandma for a whole week in length, all directly on your phone. Since I have never had my hands on any of the Apple players, what is it they offer, that cannot be offered on the cell phones, now aday? In general, when this kind of questions comes up, might it be an idea to not only write all the praising of the great features of a unit, or product line, but even to include some of the drawbacks. A clear-cut black/white presentation - giving one product all credits, deeming the others down - usually does help the one asking rather little. Sure, the one product might be all that much better, but that does never mean completely perfect. And what suits one, might be what bugs the other. As a short note, I know Plextalk came out with a second generation pocket players, a couple of years ago. They should have far more advanced features for online listening, what I was told. Sorry, I don't remember, but they were called something differently, but I could check it up and get back, should such be desired. Further you might want to check out the Electronics section, on the homepage of FutureAids.com. They do have a player, specially designed for visually impaired ones, with loads of features. It seems to be based on the Vocalizer line of voices, which should give you certain humanlike reading of textfiles. It does have somehow limited support for certain file formats, but it all depends on what your needs are. And since I have never held one in my hand, I am unable to elaborate more on the product. Yet, they do have friendly and fast customer service, so drop them an Email if you have any questions. Prices are affordable. On 6/7/2018 8:50 PM, Butch Bussen via Talk wrote: > Yep, but isn't this a touch screen? Not everyone can work those things. > Give me buttons to push any day. > 73 > Butch > WA0VJR > Node 3148 > Wallace, ks. > > > On Thu, 7 Jun 2018, john schwery via Talk wrote: > >> Russ, I'm not saying that the second generation Stream is better than >> the Ipod Mini but with the Stream, one can search for, download and >> read Nls books and books from bookshare. One can also subscribe to, >> download and listen to podcasts. >> >> At 09:15 AM 6/7/2018, Russ Kiehne via Talk, wrote: >>> I took a lot of time thinking about if I should buy a commercial >>> one such as the second generation >>> victor reader stream. I ended up buying a ipad mini. Here's why: >>> It has more volume and better sound than my ipod touch, victor >>> reader stream >>> booksense and plextalk pocket. It does everything I would do with a >>> specialized player. With being able to lock the screen while >>> playing audio content, I get much more play time than with my >>> specialized >>> players. >>> >>> With the bard mobile app, I can read nls books on it. Books can be >>> directly >>> downloaded to the ipad mini. This can't be done on my specialized >>> players >>> I currently own. >>> >>> With the audible app, I can read books from audible. Books can be >>> directly >>> downloaded to the ipad mini. I can't do this with my specialized >>> players I >>> currently own. >>> >>> With the Kindle app, I can read Kindle books from Amazon. I can't >>> do this >>> with my specialized playrs. >>> >>> With the voice dream reader app I can read books from bookshare, >>> unprotected >>> epub, listen to old time radio shows. >>> Supported File Formats PDF, EPUB (DRM free), DAISY 3.0 text-based >>> eBooks, >>> DAISY 2.02 audiobooks, Zipped MP3 files, such as LibriVox, Plain >>> Text, Rich >>> Text Format (RTF), Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, Apple >>> Pages, Apple >>> Keynote, HTML. >>> What's nice about voice dream reader, you can download books from both >>> bookshare and Project Gutenberg directly to the ipad mini. >>> I bought the optional neospeech voice to make it sound just like a >>> booksense >>> when reading any text based file. I can switch between Acapela and >>> neospeech. I can't see buying a second generation victor reader stream >>> inorder to download books from bookshare to it. With the >>> specialized players >>> I currently own, I can't download books from bookshare to them. >>> >>> With the LibriVox Audio Books Pro provides free access to over 15,000 >>> audiobooks and thousands of radio dramas with no ads. Each >>> audiobook can be >>> streamed over the internet or downloaded for later use. >>> >>> Audiobooks from LibriVox are free thanks to the dedicated work of >>> hundreds >>> of volunteers who record, edit and distribute the books. New >>> releases are >>> prepared daily, and the entire catalog spans the breadth of world >>> literature, including novels, history, biography, short stories, >>> poetry and >>> more in both fiction and non-fiction. >>> >>> The LibriVox Audio Books app makes it easy to search for free audio >>> books, >>> as well as classic radio dramas. You can browse by title, author or >>> genre, >>> look at new recordings, or search by keyword. Because the books are >>> free, >>> you can listen to as much or as little of a book as you like with no >>> cost. >>> The app remembers your position, so when you return to a book later, >>> you can >>> start listening at the place where you left off, and includes a >>> sleep timer >>> for your convenience. >>> >>> To see the LibriVox catalog on the web, visit >>> http://librivox.bookdesign.biz >>> >>> With the downcast app, I can download podcasts directly to the ipad >>> mini. I >>> can subscribe and unsubscribe to podcasts on it. With my plextalk >>> pocket, I >>> can't subscribe and unsubscribe to podcasts on it. With the other two >>> specialized players i currently own, I can't download podcasts to them. >>> >>> My ipad mini is now my favorite device for reading books, >>> downloading and >>> listening to podcasts and old time radio shows. >>> >>> -----Original Message----- From: BK via Talk >>> Sent: Wednesday, June 6, 2018 8:25 AM >>> To: gw micro >>> Cc: BK >>> Subject: OT about digital book players >>> >>> Hello, I have a digital book player from NLS, but I would like to get a >>> commercial one. Can anyone recommend a good, sterdy, player for not >>> more than 400 dollars? All help is appreciated. >>> >>> Butch >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of >>> the author and do not necessarily represent those of Ai Squared. >>> >>> For membership options, visit >>> http://lists.window-eyes.com/options.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com/russ94577%40gmail.com. >>> For subscription options, visit >>> http://lists.window-eyes.com/listinfo.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com >>> List archives can be found at >>> http://lists.window-eyes.com/private.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of >>> the author and do not necessarily represent those of Ai Squared. >>> >>> For membership options, visit >>> http://lists.window-eyes.com/options.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com/jschwery%40centurylink.net. >>> For subscription options, visit >>> http://lists.window-eyes.com/listinfo.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com >>> List archives can be found at >>> http://lists.window-eyes.com/private.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com >> >> John >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the >> author and do not necessarily represent those of Ai Squared. >> >> For membership options, visit >> http://lists.window-eyes.com/options.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com/butchb%40shellworld.net. >> For subscription options, visit >> http://lists.window-eyes.com/listinfo.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com >> List archives can be found at >> http://lists.window-eyes.com/private.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com >> >> >> > _______________________________________________ > Any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the > author and do not necessarily represent those of Ai Squared. > > For membership options, visit > http://lists.window-eyes.com/options.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com/trailerdavid%40hotmail.com. > For subscription options, visit > http://lists.window-eyes.com/listinfo.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com > List archives can be found at > http://lists.window-eyes.com/private.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com > . > _______________________________________________ Any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Ai Squared. For membership options, visit http://lists.window-eyes.com/options.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com/archive%40mail-archive.com. For subscription options, visit http://lists.window-eyes.com/listinfo.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com List archives can be found at http://lists.window-eyes.com/private.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com
