Category: Geeks r Us
Does anyone know of a reading software where in you can put any reading material whether it be textbooks, magazines, paper, or just about anything with writings and then it would read it's content to you? I just want to know if there was some device to make things a little easier for me. Thanks.
there is something called kerzwiel 1000 which is high end scanning software. it's very good. it is also a text editor, news reading service, and a thousand other things. warning! it's about gbp £750 though, but in my view worth every penny of that.
I've used a galileo machine when I was at my old college and thought it was really helpful. It's a talking scanner where you put what you want to read under the lid and face down on the glass. You might have to change the colukmn mode thing on it, but it lets you save what you've scanned as well. I know it's only on a floppy disk that you can save it, but you can read it later if you've got a computer with a floppy disk drive. The only annoying thinkg is that it can't read handwrting and if only they invented something to turn the pages so you don't have to keep lifting the lid up every 2 minutes! Hahahaha!
There are several options out there. Kurzweil 1000 is my personal favorite. Cost is about $1000 in U.S. there update policy is kinder than most companies in that I think its about $100 to update the software if you want to. Its competitor is OpenBook. Both offer similar features. If you want to go less expensive considerably, look at Text Cloaner. It isn't as faeture rich as the other programs I mentioned, but I've heard good things about more recent versions of it.
Lou
Nice suggestions, I d probably need to save more money for these software. I don't know though which is the best cause i know that it's always different for everyone, so, I'll try to compare prices as well as the quality, and then hopefully by next year i could get one. Well, that is if i get lucky with my savings. Any other suggestions?
Write or call the manufacturers and see if there are any sales repsin your area so you can see the products. Also, try and check out some product reviews. the NFB archives the Braille Monitor on line, and I'm betting that the ACB does the same with the Braille Forum. You can also check out Access World from the American Foundation for the blind at www.afb.org. If you have a chance to check out the various software, bring some of the material you want to read with you to see how it handles it. etter yet, bring material you are familiar with so you can catch the kinds of mistakes it makes, and it will make mistakes.
Lou