RantWoman is debating whether to post a long item about severe limitations of the Kindle as far as functionality blind and low vision users are used to being able to expect and rely on from other players. In the meantime, new of a really cool-sounding device called The Curtain Player. RantWoman heartily endorses this effort and enthusiastically encourages people interested to let the developers know atthe contact information provided below.
The Curtain Player is a low cost open source hardware Daisy digital talking book player developed at the Curtain Centre for Accessible Technology and the Association for the Blind of Western Australia and Tape Aids for the Blind of South Africa. It is designed to be produced for under $100. It offers these features:
. Support of DAISY 2.02, DAISY/NISO 2002, DAISY/NISO 2005
. Support for audio, text only and full text full audio DAISY books.
. Playback support for a wide range of audio formats.
. Support for reading text, RTF and Word documents
. Support for reading text PDF documents with discovery of document structure
. USB connectivity for drives, memory cards, etc.
. Sound input via USB
. Self-voicing controls
. Control of playback speed
. Information key announcements: book title, time elapsed/remaining, total pages, etc.
. Visually contrasting tactile keypad
Because the player is being developed for use in developing nations it can be powered by a range of external power options including mains power, battery packs, solar and hand cranked generators and so on.
We are attempting to gage the interest in this device as we move towards production of units. If you or your organisation would be interested in the Curtain Player please contact either:
Dr. Iain Murray
Curtin University Centre for Accessible Technology
Building 204:216
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering Curtin University of
Technology
Kent St Bentley PO Box U1987 Perth 6845 WA, Australia
Work +61 8 9266 4540
Fax +61 8 9266 2584
Email: i.murray@curtin.edu.au
Or
Gregory Kearney
Manager Accessible Media Association for the Blind of WA -
Guide Dogs WA
PO Box 101, Victoria Park WA 6979
61 Kitchener Ave, Victoria Park WA 6100
Tel: 08 9311 8246
Fax: 08 9361 8696
www.guidedogswa.com.au
Tel: 307-224-4022 (North America)
Email: greg.kearney@guidedogswa.com.au
Email: gkearney@gmail.com
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Article 19 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights
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