Jim, Good luck getting connected. Stacey and Amigo [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: "James Aldrich" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Braillenote List" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, September 05, 2005 12:48 PM Subject: Re: [Braillenote] My M-power Observations thus far
> Hi Stacy, > > I can't seem to get the dial up working but I'm probably not putting in the proper information. The Modem works in the M-power but am not able to connect to my dial up service. I'll keep you posted. > > Jim > > > ----- Original Message ----- > >From: "Stacey Robinson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >To: "Braillenote List" <[email protected] > >Date: Sun, 4 Sep 2005 13:44:06 -0500 > >Subject: Re: [Braillenote] My M-power Observations thus far > > >Jim, > >If you have any kind of dial up access, could you try downloading email with > >that and see how long it takes? > >We don't have wireless yet. > >Stacey and Amigo > > >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >----- Original Message ----- > >From: "James Aldrich" <[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >To: <[email protected] > >Sent: Sunday, September 04, 2005 12:35 PM > >Subject: [Braillenote] My M-power Observations thus far > > > >> Hello all, > > >> Here are my M-power observations since I received it on Friday, September > >2nd. I'm writing this with the M-power so anyone wishing to evaluate how > >this EMAIL may look once it reaches the list can feel free to analyze how > >well this works as they wish. Just don't analyze my poor writing (grin > >smile)! I hope what I say will ease some of the concerns about this product > >on this list. > > >> My wife Dar thought the M-power was lighter when she first saw it out of > >the box. We both were impressed with the newer braille display. The > >intensity of how the dots come up can be adjusted in the braille display > >menu. I haven't seen much difference in the settings of the display so I > >keep it on the default of 5. One can hardly tell whether the display is > >functioning or not. One doesn't notice the thump thump on this newer > >display as the dots change position as one does with the older displays. Of > >course, new is always better than the old but this truly is a sharp display. > >It is a pleasure to read with it. It is a far better display than the > >immediate competition, there is no contest! The M-power display may not have > >the wear and tear of the older displays because of its smooth operation but > >time will tell. > > >> I think the speech is clearer perhaps better pronunciation. The speech > >voice is much the same as it was but I think the M-power speaks more > >clearly. It may or may not make a difference to anyone depending on hearing > >loss. I'm more pleased with the speech on my M-power than my 32 BT even > >though I still say the speech on my older unit is quite good! Ear buds and > >headphones work so much better on the M-power. One doesn't need to > >drastically set the volume higher for headphones. I rarely set the volume > >between the speaker and headphones with the M-power. > > >> I charged the battery twice since I received this unit. The battery gage > >went to a hundred percent both times and stayed at a hundred percent once I > >disconnected the AC adapter. It went down to 99 percent soon after the > >charger was disconnected and the battery seems to last quite a while between > >charges thus far. On the second time of charging, I noticed that the gage > >was at 94 percent after two hours. I left the M Power plugged in much > >longer and once I got home from church, it was at 96 percent. The > >percentage was the same when I disconnected the adapter. I kept it plugged > >in till the gage reached 100 percent. I think the gage may have calibrated > >this time around which accounted for how long the battery took to charge. I > >didn't get much notice once the battery reached zero percent. I'll know > >more in time about the battery life but I'm not complaining thus far. > > >> Kathy Williams take note! I downloaded 133 messages with both BN units. I > >left the messages on the server. The BN 32 BT took 6 minutes and 16.6 > >seconds according to the M-power stopwatch to download all 133 messages. > >The M-power took 2 minutes 7.18 seconds according to the BN BT stopwatch to > >download the same mail. Emptying the trash and clearing database space is a > >snap! One barely has a chance to breathe and the process is done! This unit > >is quick! I'm keeping messages on the server for a while longer so I hope to > >update you on how much quicker the M-power is than my older BN BT. Of > >course, one must consider the limited disk space and the processor speed > >when comparing the two units ability to download EMAIL. I like the way the > >M-power turns wireless on automatically when one wishes to go on the web or > >download EMAIL. One still must turn wireless off after being on the web or > >downloading EMAIL. I neglected to say I'm on a wireless DSL connection here > >.. > > >> Being able to listen to streaming audio on a portable device is truly > >nice! I would say the M-power works well on the "free streams". ACB Radio > >was the first stream I tried. It was a snap to get to and listen. I also > >listened to a MONTANA Radio Station stream, and some other streams on Bill > >Sparks dot com as well as radio-locator dot com. I tried to get into the XM > >Radio site, listen at XM Radio dot com. I got into their web site okay but > >when I tried to receive a stream, I was told by their site in no uncertain > >terms that I needed to update my web browzer since my present browzer > >couldn't support the new features in their player. I got such a kick out of > >what I heard, I tried it again! One can get their site as I described it > >above and one must write it together, or one can go to wwwddxmradioddcom and > >select "listen now". One can get a three day trial on their programming > >otherwise one pays $7 a month to get the stream or close to $14 a month if > >one has one of their receivers. > >> WSM Radio is another site which became a "pay site" so doubt it is > >available to the M-power. This is why I say the M-power probably works best > >on the "free streams". > > >> Passing files from my PC to the M-power is so much faster now through the > >network. I was able to get both MP3 and wav files to my M-power and play > >them with no difficulty. I was pleasantly surprised to find how quickly I > >was able to copy these files and play them with no difficulty whatsoever. I > >may have found one file that wouldn't play but it wouldn't play on my PC > >either. The playback on the wav file player is very good. I'll have more > >to say about it later. I went to Voice of the Nation's Blind dot org to > >listen to a particular file. I could hear one file from that site with no > >problem but I couldn't hear the file I wished to listen to. I kept hearing > >something about unfamiliar media so couldn't hear what I wanted to hear. > >This morning, I was able to hear the introduction of the May Humanware > >Newsletter on the humanware site. I'll listen to more of it when I have > >time. I can see that I have a wonderful world of streaming audio waiting > >for me when I wish to hear new info > >> rmation or music. I'm looking forward to being a part of this new world > >with my M-power. > > >> The most disappointing feature to me on the M-power is the Memo Recorder. > >Perhaps I don't understand digital recording very well! This is the first > >digital recorder I have used at length. The memo recorder plays back wav > >files very nicely provided they were recorded or created elsewhere. Based > >on how my unit operates, this memo recorder is good for voice only whether > >it is on the low quality settings or the high quality settings. One can > >record their audio memos if they aren't too far from the microphone. One > >doesn't have to hold the M-power or external microphone to their face > >though. The default factory setting for recording with the internal > >microphone is level 12. When I attempt to record at this setting, my > >recording is faint and the recording is weak with a fuzzy distorted sound as > >if I were talking through wax paper. The speech is not intelligible and the > >speech is intermittent! Level ten seems to give me the best recording > >quality but I hear a degree of white noise and > >> a slight frying sound in the background of my recording. Speech from the > >notetaker comes in very well for obvious reasons if I happen to leave my > >unit in record and attempt to operate other functions with my M-power. The > >memo recorder in my unit is adequate for memos and I might send voice > >attachments in an EMAIL or two, but I don't think it would record music very > >well especially that piano recital. There are other devices on the market > >which would better serve such a purpose. I think a $20 to $40 cassette > >recorder could do as well or better for a recital than would my particular > >M-power unit. There might be some kind of component breakdown inhibiting my > >unit from recording properly, I really don't know! To my knowledge, the memo > >recorder isn't stereo either. I could be wrong about this conclusion > >though. I can safely say my unit doesn't support levels 11 through 15 with > >the internal microphone. I placed the level with an external microphone to > >35. I couldn't hear anything > >> at all from that attempt to record. I could hear the external microphone > >when I set the record level to a lower setting. I may need to check the > >battery in the microphone perhaps. The playback is fine with my memo > >recorder but I question whether the record feature is working properly in my > >unit. I'll be happy to send anyone interested attachments when recording at > >level 10, 11 and 12. This should show what I'm talking about. > > >> Web braille seems to be working better on the M-power. I can now reach > >the listing of braille books at the end of the web page. I can again get > >into the list to download volumes once again. My older BN BT was able to > >get that page as well so maybe NLS fixed the problem, I really don't know! I > >haven't downloaded any books lately so that is for another EMAIL. > > >> I haven't interfaced my M-power with my Juliet braille embosser but I hope > >to accomplish that soon! I haven't tried the bluetooth feature so that is > >something I'll look forward to. > > >> I'll be happy to try web sites when I can to see how accessible they will > >be for the M-power if that would be helpful to anyone. > > >> As I wrote this EMAIL, I noticed the speech cut out for no apparent > >reason. I turned the speech to on request to off and back on again and > >everything was fine. This happened three times while I wrote this post. > > >> Thanks for reading! > > >> Jim Aldrich > > >> ___ > >> To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to > >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >> To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit > >> http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote > > > > >___ > >To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to > >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit > >http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote > > > > ___ > To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit > http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote >
