erik burggraaf
A+ sertified technician and user support consultant.
Phone: 888-255-5194
Email: [email protected]
On 4-Jun-09, at 10:06 AM, erik burggraaf wrote:
Hmmm, I'm afraid I have to disagree with you here. Or at least I
have to say that for the price point, many products like the stream
and the id mate in particular are well worth looking at off the
shelf alternatives.
The Iriver 340 and what is it... I think the Iaudio r2 and r2+ but
I just started looking at these units so can't be absolutely sure.
For the price point they have larger capasity, easier control
surfaces, voice output in the case of the iriver and coming soon the
r2. The only thing the iriver has that the stream doesn't is ebook
and nls compadibility. Only a very small fraction of people need
nls compadibility though, sorry US siticins, you are actually a bit
of a niche market compaired with the rest of the world who has no
use for the feature what so ever. Ebook support would be nice, but
I prefer to read in braille using a refreshable display anyway.
The ID mate is big and clunky, and while I have to agree that it
does a marvelous job at it's function, I have to think the what,
$1400 price tag is a bit high compaired with something for $200 or
less off the shelf. I am going to start looking into this very soon
actually it's going to be a new pet project for me since I got my
new I-Paq. There has to be a cheeper alternative than the ID mate
that is just as effective as that particular unit.
GPS is a noteable exception, although there are much cheeper and
just as effective solutions, such as mobile geo 1.5 for off the
shelf pda's. By the software, and then never have to pay for a gps
again. If you get tired of your pda or your pda gets tired of
living, scrap it for a new one, transfer your licenses, and off you
go for a 4th the cost of a new trekker maestro.
Plus you get options for braille and magnification support on mobile
speak/geo which you don't have with trekker. That's odd too, you
would think their solutions would at least support their own braille
displays, especially since braille displays are one of the few
things humanware really does well, thanks to baum.
If you can afford it, then there's a very definite confidense factor
in buying "the barcode reader for the blind", "the GPS navigater for
the blind", and "the mp3 player for the blind", but if you can't
afford it, and government funding won't help you, what do you do?
Well most people really and truely just sit at home and do nothing,
but I tried that approach for a while and it chafed on me.
Best,
erik burggraaf
A+ sertified technician and user support consultant.
Phone: 888-255-5194
Email: [email protected]
On 4-Jun-09, at 9:37 AM, Chip Orange wrote:
Mostly I agree with this; but I think we should remember a few
exceptions such as the Victor Reader Stream, or the Trekker, or the
I.D.
Mate barcode reader. all of these items just do things so well for a
blind person, that mainstream equivalents just can't compete.
Chip
------------------------------
Chip Orange
Database Administrator
Florida Public Service Commission
[email protected]
(850) 413-6314
(Any opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not
necessarily reflect those of the Florida Public Service Commission.)
-----Original Message-----
From: Darren Harris [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2009 4:53 AM
To: 'Bryan Peterson'; 'GW Info'
Subject: RE: The Voice Sense is it worth it?
hi,
personally i'd stick to the mainstream route every time. at
least with a normal laptop or netbook the moment something
goes wrong with it, it's not that difficult to get it sent
off to be sorted out if it comes to that. with specialest
devices quite honestly when they go wrong it's nothing but
hastle. also there's no restrictions with mainstream devices
like there is with specialest devices. my honest opinion is
to save your money and get a laptop or netbook personally.
they will run faster, can do more, and have far more storage space.
-----Original Message-----
From: Bryan Peterson [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 04 June 2009 04:53
To: GW Info
Subject: The Voice Sense is it worth it?
Hi all,
I've been going back and forth with myself for a
while about whether I should post this. I've read all I could
find on the GW Micro site about the Voice Sense and listened
to all the demos I could find. Although I can't deny that
it's an extremely intriguing piece of technology I still have
the question of whether or not it's worth trying to save up
for if someone already has a laptop. Now right off the bat I
can see quite a few major pros. As portable as they are,
carrying a laptop around with you even in a carrying case can
get quite cumbersome sometimes, especially if you have a
limited amount of space to work with. Then of course if the
laptop goes on the blink you have a backup device with most
if not all of the same functions and features, which you can
use while the laptop is being repaired. Even so though I
can't help wondering if it's really worth the price. Last I
heard it was upwards of 2000 dollars, and it would probably
be hard if not impossible to offer a payment plan for the
Voice Sense like what's available for Window-Eyes. I suppose
what I really ought to do is find an agency somewhere that'll
send me a unit to evaluate and see if it might be worth
trying to save up for. But I'm curious about any opinions
from folks who have or have used these machines, if they are
indeed worth having along with a laptop or regular computer.
I'd appreciate any insights you can give me. This has
intrigued me ever since I switched from FS to GW Micro. I
never particularly cared for the FS Notetakers, and while I
do own a BrailleNote it's not one of the newer models with
wireless capability, and anyway I really don't like the
synthesizer they used for its voice. So I'm tryin to learn as
much as I possibly can about the Voice Sense to see if I
might not benefit from owning one.
Gabba gabba hey!
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