We're starting to see a trend in the development of third party access solutions designed for one program, I. e. iTunes, Twitter, and Pandora, to name a few. These access solutions usually work well for a time, but programs like iTunes are constantly updated, and often when this happens, the access solution is broken. This happened recently with Hope, the 3rd party access solution for Pandora. These access solutions are generally developed by one person operations, and because some of them are free, I would imagine that the developer has a day job, so when the product has to be updated, the person has to try to do it in their spare time. In the case of iTunes, the frustration comes more from the fact that iTunes is a powerful program that can do a lot of things, and has a learning curve involved with using it. Using iTunes is frustrating for sighted folks as well. iTunes is the program that people love to hate. I have never talked with anyone who likes iTunes. Rather than seeking out another access solution, and God forbid, paying for one, you should expend the effort and time to learn how to use it. National Braille Press has two books that deal with iTunes. One is written primarily for iPod users, and the other, for iPhone users, but both give much info about using iTunes. Also, FSCast 49 and 50 from FS are almost an iTunes JAWS tutorial.
Andy -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John Justice Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2011 1:30 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [JAWS-Users] REPORT ON AFTER MARKET I TUNES PRODUCTS NAVIGATING I TUNES WITH SUPPORTING SOFTWARE BY, JOHN JUSTICE Before deciding to spend up to $100 on things like JTunes or loading the fre software called Blind Tunes, I decided to contact Freedom Scientific to make sure that the information used for these after market software programs is current. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and personal observations made by Freedom Scientific personnel. They are not necessarily the opinions of Freedom Scientific or its management. For the record, Freedom Scientific has had no influence in the production of either product. JTunes: Software produced in the UK and sold locally by a company called Next Generation. Due to the continuous upgrading of Apple software, this product is often out of date and, for that reason, provides less than satisfactory results. JTunes is one of the more expensive products, costing somewhere around $100 US. The company does try to keep in step but both Freedom Scientific and Apple have been making so many updates recently that the current version is not up to speed and might not be worth the price of admission. BLIND TUNES: This is a freewear program and has been tested by Freedom Scientific representatives. The opinions expressed are those of individuals. Again, the software is out of date and even when a timely version can be obtained, there wasn't enough improvement in the operation of ITunes to make it worth using. "We tried it and it made no real difference in how ITunes worked." It might help to some extent but my contacts both believe that it is better to try to learn ITunes and use it without enhancements of any kind. The current version of Jaws 12, does provide adequate support to make ITunes navigable without additional software. Although some people have experienced partial success with JTunes, it is, in the opinion of this author, not worth the investment. John and Linda Justice With guide dogs Jake and Zachary PERSONAL E-MAIL: [email protected] For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit: http://www.jaws-users.com/help/ For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit: http://www.jaws-users.com/help/
