John Carter wrote: > So I was speaking to Granny (who lives on The Far Side of the Planet), > and I discover she can no longer read or watch TV. (Macular Degeneration) > > The cassette player talking books seem to have reached end of life / > becoming hard to get. > > "Easy", says I, I will buy her a large mp3 player, fill it to the brim > with content and mail it to her. > > Surely this must be one of the most solved problems in the world. > > So I go to DSE, hmm. All the players have tiny screens, crowded menus, > unreadable fonts, (even to me). > > None have tactile deducible controls. (ie. Can feel, braille like, > which control it is.) > > All have way too complicated UI's for an elderly visually impaired not > very technically able lady. > > Way, way too complicated. (Maybe a Creative Zen stone, perhaps I'll > revisit that one, trouble is a tiny black thing might be rather hard for > her to find. Perhaps if I attach it to a Big Bright lanyard....:-)) > > Anyway, try to start finding content. Copyright,copyright,copyright, > oo, some gutenberg books under creative commons. Any bittorrents? Nah! > That one didn't work, nor that one, why is this all so hard, gee, I'd > really really hate to be visually impaired and trying to do > this... which reminds me, I must find where I put my reading glasses > again) > > Ok, this must be a solved problem. > > It is. There is something called the Daisy Consortium that seems to > have a standard for audio books. Hmm. This is what Open Source was > made for... surely there is a Daisy Reader package under Ubuntu, she's > is staying with brother who runs Ubuntu. Nope, doesn't seem to be > available. Anyway, that's a side issue. > > Ah, yes, there is a supplier around here. Hmm. Seems to have more > buttons than I'd expect. > > Bah! no ruddy price! Why are they so shy / embarrassed about their > pricing that they make a consumer phone for it? Anyhoo, phone up, over > $500, only a 1gb sd card, with no content on it. > > But why no content on it? Legal issues too complicated. > > Surely you don't expect the visually impaired to start learning a new > device by navigating the maze of inaccessible websites and copyright > restrictions to find content? > > Why can't you find a collection of creative commons licensed stuff and > preload that? Nope, we don't do that. > > Why only a 1gb card for a $500 device? It's a complimentary 1gb > card.... > > Can you really get extract enough revenue out of visually impaired > people to make it worth enforcing copyright over audiobooks? That's > just plain sick. This civilization is sick. > > Hmm. I wonder how hard it would be to make up something using embedded > Linux, festival and sox. I mean the UI needs to be hideously simple. > > > > John Carter Phone : (64)(3) 358 6639 > Tait Electronics Fax : (64)(3) 359 4632 > PO Box 1645 Christchurch Email : [EMAIL PROTECTED] > New Zealand > > > This might be what you are looking for http://www.plextalk.com/in/ptn1pro_top.html. It has been designed with the blind in mind. Robert
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begin:vcard fn:Robert Melchers n:Melchers;Robert org:Tait Electronics;R&D adr:P O Box 1645;;175 Roydvale Ave;Christchurch;;;New Zealand email;internet:[EMAIL PROTECTED] title:Mr tel;work:+64 3 357 0271 tel;fax:+64 3 359 4632 url:http://www.tait.co.nz version:2.1 end:vcard
