Hi David This really is a strange decision in view of the fact that a very large percentage of Audible's customers are visually impaired, and that is by their own admission. I suppose then, the only thing to do is, if Audible.com is steadfastly refusing to cooperate with the visually impaired, to vote with your feet, so to speak. If customers were to close their Audible accounts in sufficient numbers, sighting this decision as the major factor behind the closure, perhaps the company may be brought to its senses. Like every other commercial entity, Audible relies upon its customers to generate income. If that income were to stop in sufficient quantity, perhaps their executive personnel might be made to understand that they cannot push people around like this. Actually, they may also be guilty of discrimination under UK law. As I'm sure you're aware, there is legislation in place now which prohibits commercial and public organisations from discriminating against disabled groups an d other minority bodies. Perhaps if somebody were to have a look at this from the legal prospective, there may be grounds for action if one of the larger support organisations were to follow it through on behalf of the visually impaired.
Personally I don't use Audible any longer because they don't stock the books I would have bought. However, in the light of this decision, I would definitely not consider doing so at any time in the future unless it were reversed. I have no plans to purchase a Victor Reader Stream or any other book reader. However, looking beyond my own personal circumstances, I believe this is a pretty disgusting decision. Why should one be penalised just because one happens to be disabled and is, by definition, unable to access the original printed material. There was a time when I believed that the life-span of DAISY material was limited owing to the time-consuming production processes. However, I now believe the contrary to be true. DAISY production has advanced beyond all my expectations over the last couple of years and I now believe it to be the medium of the future for visually impaired and those with learning difficulties. I sincerely hope that, in the light of this and other developments in the field of literary distribution the popularity of DAISY continues to grow at its current rate. My future employment will involve the production of DAISY material for use by young visually impaired students. As a personal note to those who know me, I am shortly going to embark on a base level teaching qualification course and, if I achieve that objective, I'll find myself working professionally in the field of education, teaching as a specialist in the visually impaired education field teaching Braille and also I.T skills. AS s omebody who always believed himself to be a dreadful teacher, this is quite a turn-around for me. But back to the point. I hope that Audible lives to regret this decision. Gordon On 1 Feb 2013, at 21:25, David Griffith <[email protected]> wrote: I hope it is OK to raise this. I am not sure if people on this list are aware that audible is apparently preventing Humanware from allowing Audible books to be played on the New version of the Victor Reader Stream. They appear to be trying to restrict the number of devices that support Audible devices for reasons best known to them. I have also seen on another list that they have indicated that they will be doing this for any further visual impairment designed products. I believe that this is a very bad decision by Audible. I personally have written to them tonight to express my concern over their attitude to visually impaired customers using devices designed for easy tactile usage. . if you agree that Audible support for new and future book players for visually impaired people is important I suggest that you inform them of this. You can call the UK branch on 0800 496 2455, email them on [email protected],. ======================================= The Techno-Chat E-Mail forum is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and worm-free To modify your subscription options, please visit for forum's dedicated web pages located at http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/techno-chat You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Techno-Chat group at either of the following websites: http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/techno-chat/index.html Or: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> you may also subscribe to this list via RSS. The feed is at: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml> ---------------------------------------
