Category: accessible Devices
I don't know if anyone else knows about this, but I'm puting it here in case anyone is interested. This software program is specifically designed for the blind to use with music files and MP3 players and speaks all menus and functions. I'll put the article on it below. I found it at:
http://www.braillebookstore.com
and then go down and click on the link for the "computer center"
This will bring you to Marvelsoft home page and in the first blurb of text you will see the link for the "Digital Jukebox".
If anyone has this, please let me know.
Digital Jukebox
Manages Your Music, Loads Your MP3 Player and More
Item Number: 3165
Picture
This powerful software package is so loaded with features, so fast and easy to use, and just so fun besides - that it's difficult to know where to begin!
But in a nutshell, Digital Jukebox is an all-encompassing talking digital audio management solution put out by MarvelSoft Corp. (the makers of such highly-acclaimed
software packages as Talking Typing Teacher and Talking Toolbox). Our self-voicing, user-friendly software programs are used around the world in homes,
businesses, schools, nonprofit training centers, and government agencies by blind and visually impaired students, professionals, and computer users of
all ages and abilities. And now, at long last, we are adding an exciting new offering to our product line.
So what's all the fuss about? Plenty, to be sure! Digital Jukebox is a powerful multimedia package that gives low-vision and totally-blind people full control
over their music library. All from inside this single, intuitive, fully-narrated program, you can play and organize audio CD's, copy music to and from
your MP3 player, create playlists of your favorite tracks, sign up for and download podcasts - past or present, listen to Internet radio stations, and
a whole lot more. Your new high-tech jukebox allows you to import music from audio CD's, a portable MP3 player, the world wide web, or even from albums
you may have already stored elsewhere on your computer's hard drive. Of course, you can collect, store, organize and play a virtually unlimited number
of CD's, songs, and other audio tracks. Then, sit back and listen to your favorite tunes in front of your computer, while enjoying simple controls, state-of-the-art
skip and search features, and the ability to zap a song in seconds. Or take your music with you by copying it onto your MP3 player, burning it on a CD,
or exporting it so it's small enough in size to Email to a friend or colleague.
But it doesn't stop there - oh no. Adding music to your talking jukebox is just the beginning. You have the ability to create as few or as many folders
and sub-folders as you wish in order to keep your ever-growing audio library well-laid-out. With just a few keystrokes or clicks of the mouse, you can
move, rename, copy, edit, delete, or manipulate one track, a whole CD, or even an entire batch of CD's. Numerous navigation hotkeys and functions are also
found within your Jukebox, making it a breeze for you to skip ahead a few seconds, several minutes, or even for a designated amount of time - not to mention
the handy Quickmark feature, which remembers the last file you were listening to and where exactly you were in that file. A couple other noteworthy features
include the option of adjusting your music volume separately from your master volume (meaning you can have your music playing quieter than your screen
reader); and a special Hide function which will cause the program screen to disappear (even though your music continues to play). For the more advanced
computer guru, Digital Jukebox also provides plenty of technical options, such as allowing you to choose your preferred Wave, MP3, and WMA encoding format,
the ability to convert files on the fly, and a whole host of other advanced options which enable you to configure the program precisely how you want.
Unlike other media players out there, Digital Jukebox isn't just somewhat or mostly accessible; it's totally and completely usable! True to MarvelSoft style,
this program was built from the ground up with the needs of blind and visually impaired people in mind. Every function, from simply playing or pausing
a song, to the more advanced area of creating a project and burning it to a CD, is easily accomplished with a few hotkeys or menu selections. Furthermore,
our MarvelTalk Speech System is once again employed throughout the product, giving you that winning blend of pre-recorded, digitized human speech for all
menu items and options, and clear, concise synthetic speech for varying information, like album and track names. Digital Jukebox is the first and only
player of its kind - and makes the portable music revolution as fun and easy for blind folks as it is for their sighted peers!
System Requirements: The Digital Jukebox software program doesn't need a whole lot of CPU power to run effectively. All that's really required to use the
software is a PC running Microsoft Windows (every version from Windows '98 all the way up to XP and Vista is supported). The program files take up less
than 100 MB of storage space on your hard drive, and your computer will need at least one USB port in order to load music onto your MP3 player - which
is the norm these days. And speaking of MP3 players, our software is compatible with any make or model of player, as long as it can be accessed through
an actual drive letter once connected to your computer. Note that Digital Jukebox cannot load music onto the Apple iPod player - which is of little consequence
to blind or visually impaired folks, as that device isn't at all accessible anyhow!
There is one other quick point we ask you to kindly keep in mind. Digital Jukebox is not sold or licensed for the unauthorized duplication of copyrighted
works. In other words, you should only use the software to copy your own CD's or music - not those which belong to anyone else. Thank you for helping us
protect the rights of all our favorite artists by cutting down on music piracy!
Price: $49.95
There's certainly nothing wrong with supporting blind programmers, and this is probably a very cool application, but there's nothing in there that I couldn't do with Winamp or Foobar and Windows Explorer, oh and CDEx for ripping CDs, and all of these are freeware programs.
So it's cool they've made a player like that, but just be aware that if you know Windows well you can download Winamp and do all those things, also the ad did not mention support for M4a, Flac or Ogg format audio files, which are all formats that are getting more and more popular.
Flac especially is a brilliant format with about 50 to 60% compression over Wav without loss of audio quality.
So, while I am definitely not dizzing this product, it may work for some and it could be great, I would personally not go with something written specifically for the blind when freeware that is accessible enough does the same things.
Still, thanks for posting this. Let us know how it works for you if you purchase it.
Cheers
-B
I just thought it was an interesting idea and thought some one might be interested in it. I probably won't spend the money to get it, but it's a neat idea.
Oh, I totally agree, thanks for posting it.
It is good. For the people who might not want to take the time to mess around with sometimes inaccessible programs. Or for people who might not know how to use a computer. It is not a bad idea but there are other programs out there. That can do as much if not more then what this program can do. And as post two said for free.
I want to think that the author of this board thinks that this program will work to make MP3 players accessible. It won't. It says that you can load songs onto your MP3 player, but once it's there, you are still having to navigate the MP3 player. I don't believe that this program helps in this matter.
Well I'm rather comfortable with ITunes and the IPod at the moment. I find them very accessible.
Ipods not accessible? Right, have they not tried the 4th gen nanos, or the iphone 3gs? 40 bucks? Bit expensive as B said their are freeware programs that do all that and more. But I'm sure it'd be good for some one.
i M assuming that sales pitch/ad copy was written a long time ago before the newer iPods. Still wouldn't use one of those as my media player though unless it fell into my lap, then again i would probably sell it and buy something else.
I like my IPOD. I used to use XPlay with it, but for whatever reason Xplay isn't working. I think Itunes and jaws ten are becoming more and more friendly, so the jaws/Itunes issue should be more settled now. Nah, I prefer my Ipod! You can't get much better than 80 or 160 gigs.
you know there are other mp3 players that give you those capacities for less money and without requiring the use of special software to load it right? oh wait think that point has already been made.
ITunes Accessible? I have Jfw 10 and I still can't seem to get the damn program to work. Ipods scare me. Does anyone know of a program I can put on my Samsung mp3 player that's accessible? It's not absolutely necessary, but It would still be nice. Besides Rockbox, which I'm a bit leary of trying, what other speech programs work with regular ol' mp3 players? I hate idea of having to load special software like you have to do with the Ipod.
iTunes works fine for me withjaws 10. And i used rockbox with my sansa without a problem, so i wouldn't worry about it too much.