On Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 1:58 PM, sajan venniyoor <[email protected]>wrote:
> Dear Krishnakant, > > I agree with you that mp3 players are extremely cheap and handy, and mp3 > files are easily replicable compared to audio cassettes, (and for all I > know, many DAISY compatible digifiles are in mp3 format). > Even if they aren't, it is the simplest of jobs, and may not take more than a few seconds, to convert them. > > As far as ease of rewinding and advancing the tape are concerned, that's > largely subjective. I personally find tracking audio files on my cellphone > not just tedious but well nigh impossible. The cues are almost all visual. > Dedicated DAISY players don't come cheap -- the Buddy assistive media player > from Bisquare <http://buddy.bisquare.com/>, India (marketed by Saksham > Trust?) costs Rs.4500. > I agree that it is a tragedy that the electronic hardware industry has done so little to put DAISY capability into home entertainment machines. But it should be a relatively easy job for a well-heeled audio entertainment company, especially one owned by a European government (hint! hint!) to pay for a hardworking Indian developer to develop a cross-platform app for smartphones. You seem to be a good candidate for someone to test such an app, by a curious stroke of good fortune. > > Which reminds me, why do audio books cost so much, when they are so much > cheaper to replicate than paper books? And why are audio versions of Indian > books virtually non-existent? In fact, why are audio-books of any sort > practically impossible to buy in India? Pretty much no book-store carries > them (I haven't tried Planet M, though), not even in Delhi. > They cost more because they usually involve the work of paid artistes to do the reading. For obvious reasons, this should be a crowdsourced activity, but due to the industry lobby that ceaselessly pleads for the continuance of unhealthy copyrights (copyleft is a healthier alternative, but oddly enough not even the pharma industry backs it) through unhealthy means (one such body was found distributing viruses on torrents, an activity that should have got the worthies hefty jail sentences in Tihar, where they could rub shoulders with other eminent personalities, but hasn't), it is probably not cost-effective to do so openly ie without paying copyright costs. > I just checked out Julian Barnes' "The Sense of an Ending" (shortlisted for > the 2011 Booker Prize): the hardcover costs Rs.374, the audio version by BBC > Audio costs Rs.952 (both after discount) on Flipkart. Considering that audio > books are mostly used by visually handicapped people -- not the wealthiest > demographic -- this is more than unfair. > otoh, they are also used by elderly people, some of whom are not without the odd penny or two left over, even as their lights grow dim. > There are some audio books in the public domain -- you can source them at > LibriVox, Project Gutenberg etc -- but this essentially means that the > author has to be dead for 50 years. Assuming that the author didn't kill > himself shortly after writing the book, we are looking at books that are 80 > or 90 years old at the very least. > A classic summation. Since you mention Project Gutenberg, may I take a moment aside for the list to salute the founder, Michael S. Hart, who passed away this month. > Vickram writes, > >> I have not looked for audiocassette players that can handle digifiles, and >> indeed it rather surprises me that pure analogue playback machines are still >> being made. > > > It would surprise me immensely if audio-cassette players could handle > digifiles. (The original posting mentioned only audio cassettes). And why is > it surprising that 'pure analogue playback machines are still being made'? > Analogue audio has some very obvious -- and some equally obscure -- > advantages compared to digital playback. > So what if the original post only mentioned audiocassettes? As a matter of fact, one elderly person I knew had to go to great lengths to ensure the home audiocassette player was kept in working condition, as it was the only available source of book content. I do not think it was a very cost effective alternative. Certainly, it is many years since I possessed a working audiocassette player, out of what were once several different types, and I would hate to have to chase after one now, unless there was absolutely no other choice. > OT, here's an obscure > one<http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/07/21/cassettes-still-a-mu.html> > . > > As far as prisons go, and it is curious you mention them, since that is where so many of our notable captains of industry belong, in return for their ceaseless efforts to destroy all innovation in the country, I wonder if the hardworking prison authorities mentioned in the article have ever heard of SD cards? Last I heard, it is quite difficult to make a deadly shiv from one. MicroSDs, even more difficult. Hmmm.... prison authorities and Karnataka state administration - similar ability to keep up with technology. What else do they have in common? > Sajan > > On 26 September 2011 12:46, Krishnakant Mane <[email protected]> wrote: > >> ** >> Dear Sajan, >> If not daisy we can at least have mp3 files made available which can be as >> good as cassette tapes. >> They are not just portable but ultra portable. >> An mp3 player like the transend Tsonic are very very cheep, at times >> cheeper than tape players. >> Most blind people carry mobile phones where they can again play mp3. >> Infact most mobiles now even play ogg. >> Secondly it is also very difficult to learn from a tape because reading a >> certain passage again and again needs precise rewinding and forwarding. >> With the tapes it is not just inaccurate but also spoils the quality of >> the tape and is tedious as well. >> Happy hacking. >> Krishnakant. >> >> >> On 26/09/11 12:11, sajan venniyoor wrote: >> >> On 26 September 2011 11:55, Vickram Crishna <[email protected]> >> <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> >> If audio cassettes were distributed, has there been any attempt to source >> DAISY compatible digifiles, or to create relevant source material using >> DAISY? Are the Trustees of Bangalore University aware that the GoI has >> signed a global commitment to ensuring digital access for persons with >> disabilities >> >> >> There are actually some very sound (pun not intended) reasons for using >> audio cassettes and not digifiles. For instance, you can switch your tape >> between a cassette player at school or work, on the move and at home without >> losing your place in the text. I am sure DAISY compatible digifiles can be >> bookmarked, but I think it needs some fairly specialized hardware and/or >> software. Cassette players are still very cheap and plentiful. >> >> Sajan >> >> >> >> >> (by 2012, as I understand it, so as good as already in the dustbin), and >> that this is not Somebody Else's Problem, it is a problem for all of us to >> work to solve together? Simply showing up at IGF will not sort out issues >> such as this (OT - and maybe nothing else either). >> >> Just fyi, contributors to WIkipedia have developed apps for visually >> impaired persons to access (read and edit, and this is not trivial) in >> Malayalam. Work is on to extend this to other languages - in fact, it may >> already have been done for some other languages. Of course, browser access >> is not the same as screen reading, and I am reasonably well aware of the >> differences, but it is a big deal. >> >> On Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 9:54 AM, Krittika <[email protected]> >> <[email protected]>wrote: >> >> >> ** >> http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/article2483818.ece >> >> Bangalore University reached out to 150 visually impaired students from 25 >> of its affiliated colleges on Saturday by way of distributing free Braille >> textbooks and audio cassettes to them. The beneficiaries appreciated the >> move because all these years they had to depend on volunteers who would read >> out the textbooks for them. Some of them would travel long distances to take >> the help of non-governmental organisations which would format the reading >> material using Braille for them. >> >> Besides distributing Braille textbooks, Vice-Chancellor N. Prabhu Dev >> announced steps they would initiate to encourage more number of visually >> impaired students to pursue their studies in the university. >> >> *The university will start a computer training and resource centre in >> December. Under the project, computer training will be imparted free of cost >> to the visually impaired students. JAWS Screen Reading software will be used >> for the purpose. Once trained, students will be able to work on the Internet >> and also use MS Office. * >> >> The other initiatives include establishing a help desk for the visually >> impaired besides starting an electronic reading centre equipped with >> text-reading machines, screen magnification software and video magnifying >> units, and a Braille book production centre. . >> >> “In the next phase, we will have a career counselling and job placement >> unit as well as distance education centre for the visually impaired,” >> according to Bangalore University Vice-Chancellor N. Prabhu Dev. >> >> Mr. Prabhu Dev said that the soft copy of the Braille books were made >> (mostly) by the Canara Bank Relief and Welfare Society (each page of the >> master copy costs Rs. 25), while the hard copies were processed by the All >> India Confederation of the Blind, New Delhi. >> >> Each textbook has been printed in two or three volumes. Bangalore >> University funded the entire project. Students like Shilpa. S was both >> delighted and relieved. Ms. Shilpa, a second-year B.Com student who scored >> 74 per cent in her second semester, said Braille meant independence. “In my >> first semester, I was in tears as I got my study material a week before my >> exams. Thanks to my lecturer (Prasanna Udipikar, who is also the convenor of >> Bangalore University's Braille Resource Centre), who recorded the material, >> I managed to pass. ” >> >> Susheel Kumar, who is pursuing MA in Sociology, reiterated Ms. Shilpa's >> views. “Life is much easier for us now as we will find the Braille books in >> our library,” he said. >> >> -- >> >> -- >> >> *Krittika Vishwanath* >> Research Associate >> IT for Change >> In special consultative status with the United Nations >> ECOSOCwww.ITforChange.net >> Skype id: krittika85 >> Tel:+91-80-2665 4134, 2653 6890. Fax:+91-80-4146 1055 >> Mobile: +91 9535321980 >> >> Read our Teacher's Communities of Learning project's blogs, lesson >> plans and discussions here: http://bangalore.karnatakaeducation.org.in/ >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> network mailing list >> [email protected]http://lists.fosscom.in/listinfo.cgi/network-fosscom.in >> >> -- >> Vickram >> Fool On The Hill <http://communicall.wordpress.com> >> <http://communicall.wordpress.com> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> network mailing >> [email protected]http://lists.fosscom.in/listinfo.cgi/network-fosscom.in >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> network mailing >> [email protected]http://lists.fosscom.in/listinfo.cgi/network-fosscom.in >> >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > network mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.fosscom.in/listinfo.cgi/network-fosscom.in > > -- Vickram Fool On The Hill <http://communicall.wordpress.com>
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