As a Braille note user since early 2001, I cannot say enough about the product itself. Despite a few issues I have had regarding SMAs I won't give up either of my Braille notes, one is at the hospital now for its transplant, the next will go after the new year I hope.
Why two, because one normally resides on my desk or in my desk at work, the other is at home and also because it is the 18-cell and lighter, travels with me if I am on a trip. Having them is the best thing that has happened in my life probably since I left my school library behind in 1971. For those who do not know, I saw the Braille Note in 2000 and the competitor's product was not working at all. I played with the one on display for about five minutes loved what I saw and did all I could to scrape up the funds to buy an 18-cell. I don't regret it in the least. Do I use every feature, no, I don't use the e-mail unless I have no other choices, I am more comfortable with my Outlook. I use the internet some, and at this point I seldom use the media player, I use the calculator for basic functions, the scientific functions I guess are nice but I don't have a clue what they would be used for. I use the word processor for personal notes, the planner all the time, the address book and the most used feature is the book reader. I have literally hundreds of books and articles at my fingertips, maybe even more than my school library had in 1971, I don't know. I use the BN at work, at home, carry one about everywhere I go, although since I bought a Book port, sometimes the Braille note does stay at home provided I know for certain I won't be using the planner or need to be taking extensive notes. Book port does have limited note taking capability, but it is not something I would use for more than a name and phone number or a one to two line note. However, I have to say that if I expect the document I am working on to be used by the print world I work in Microsoft Word instead if Keyword. I had a real mess trying to transfer a Keyword document in the past and since I am very comfortable in word I don't have a problem doing it this way. Conversely, I transfer Word documents to the BN on a very regular basis so I can have the content under my fingers. I use both the display and the speech depending on the circumstances, if it is technical or I am at work I turn off all speech, if it is pleasure reading it depends on my location, as to whether I use the speech or the display. I am thankful for the Braille Note technology every day, I don't think one day has gone by since January 23, 2001 that I have not used a Braille Note for something. So I thank Pulse data and now HumanWare for giving me such a useful product and wish them a happy holiday season. Rose Combs [EMAIL PROTECTED]
