I am not sure why people think that the new MPower weight is less than the
classic Braille-notes.
if you look at the documentation, the weight is the same.
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Standen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Braillenote List" <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, September 05, 2005 9:27 AM
Subject: re: [Braillenote] My M-power Observations thus far
Hi Jim,
I can't comment on the braille display, but I agree with you about the
speech, the weight and the speed in the mPower, compared to my older
Voicenote QT.
I was also able to listen to the Humanware May 2005 newsletter, but
noticed on some of the links that the speech kept pausing, then continuing
from where it left off. I wasn't too concerned about this, as I know this
happens on regular pc's as well. I also listened to Jonathan's audio tour
of the mPower without a hitch, as the speech came through quite clearly.
I was very impressed indeed.
I have charged my mPower 3 times since the arrival of my unit and twice
the unit got to 100%, and the battery reached 99% on the other occasion.
The battery has also gone right down to 0%, and thank goodness I have not
had to perform the dreaded reset.
David
----- Original Message -----
From: "James Aldrich" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [email protected]
Date: Sun, 04 Sep 2005 11:35:14 -0600
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 he!
a!
r 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 whit!
e!
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 hea!
r!
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
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