Category: book Nook
Hi All,
I was listening to a review of the companion for the Stream, just to get a feel for what it can do, since I might be getting one. The reviewer mensioned RNIB, which I promptly looked up, but then discovered that it is in the UK, and the Reviewer was from Canada, and I don't understand how he could have gotten books from there. Do any of you know about this RNIB? Is it like Bookshare?
Best Regards,
Matthew
RNIB equals royal national institute for the Blind. Throw it in to Google, you'll get tons of info. I am guessing, since I'm not all that familiar with services in the UK, that the RNIB has a service similar to what NLS offers in the US or CNIB in Canada.
Thanks for the info. I'm in the US, and I now realize that the reviewer must have said cnib instead of Rnib. My Mistake.
Matthew
I just got and open library account and was trying to ownload a protected daisy book onto my braillenote. I used my bard password, but it told me I needed a key. I'm alreadcy a bard member but I want a key so I can books on my BrailleNote apex. Does anyone know how I can get this key?
There's a link on the bard website to authorize a new player. I'm not sure if the Apex is one of the supported players but all the info is on the Bard site. Basically, you fill out a form with BARD, they send the info to the manufacturer of your player, the manufacturer contacts you to get your player's serial number then they send you an authorization key... or something like that. The whole process takes a couple of days and I may be remembering the order wrong but that's basically it. It's all explained on BARD.
If you've got a Pod or a Pad or an iPhone, get the app Library Books for $2, then go to your regular public library, or at least one from a nearby city if you're in a small town, and get a card. I'm doing this: anybody can, nothing tweaky and weird like having to go through a specialized anything: you get the books when all the libaries do, not six months later when NLS does.
You use iBooks to read the books with, from what I understand, and as it uses the VoiceOver you can review text rather than an audio production like a tape.
Plus, if you ever can spring for a Braille display, these devices work with them, so you don't just have to use the voice. Then with one book you would have both options.
Just sayin'.
Thanks all for the info. I actually figured stuff out with BARD but HumanWare haven't given me the key yet. I do not have a pad nor a pod, nor an Iphone, but Library Books sounds interesting. Are all the print books the library has given digitally to you via your IPOD?
Actually the best app is Overdrive for which you will need an Adobe ID which is free and a somewhat pain in the ass but no captcha at least if you use the Safari Web Browser.
And skip the Pod / Pad / Phone see if Overdrive exists for your device.
Publishers have released certain content as eBooks and MP3 files, all of which you can get.
I went to my local library last night, got a card just as my wife and daughter already have, and have set up Overdrive.
Now, here's what happens: just like in the library, they may have the book but the book may be checked out. I'd assume just like in real print books, they have multiple copies. I remember the Blind library days when you got them big boxes of Braille books the mail carrier wanted to curse you for, and of course books could have been on hold in that instance also.
Anyway, I just use the device and search for books: it launches the browser from the app, you log in, and add them to a virtual cart. You can browse by subject matter, or do like the Web Braille site and just search titles, or similar to that NLS magazine, you can look at what the new releases are.
I imagine under the hood it's just a matter of an auditing application that manages how many licenses are issued, and lease time per license.
Also, unlike your print or Braille library, any public domain books you check out do not count against your limit. The limit is whatever your local library imposes, and of course, you turn the book back in, it's not on the limit. So it's not a monthly limit like Bookshare, though that limit was ridiculously huge: 100 books in a single month?That's around 4 per day.
Anyway, I haven't explored it all yet, but let me tell you:
Go to Overdrive.com unless you're on a shiny brick of an iPod/Pad/Phone in that case go to the App store and look for Overdrive.
Anyway whatever device you want to use, I would say even the special blind readers if they can, use their wi fi / browser and go to overdrive.com as it redirects to the site that matches your device. I'd assume the blind readers are all either Winblows Mobile or some variant of a Linux/Unix/BSD kernel with a browser that emulates either Firefox, Safari, or of course for WM it would be IE. The website will just redirect based on the class of browser.
Do all the work from there. No syncing through iTunes or whatever.
Anyway, damn! it's all just a luxury for me, getting books, but if you're in school this is unbeatable: if your library has it in eBooks, you can get it. Way superior to what we had, and as it's for the masses and not just a shrunken market that is us, you'll get access to everything your Nook-wielding fellow swaggering hipster of a friend does.
It's all in ePub format which is read by a myriad of devices. Except, of course, anything that is MP3.
Thanks so much Leo, I'l check Overdrive out. I just signed up for open library aand got my self a calvin and hobbes comic because I thought it was accessible. I spent two hours authorizing my braillenote to read BARD books, and I finally got it to work, only to discover that I couldn't read the book because it looked like giberish with ^s and s everywhere. I couldn't see many of the words, and pictures were not decribed like on some of the magazines I read. E.g Picture 1: Robot: (sitting in chair) How are you?
Picture 2: Elephant (blowing his trunk into a tissue) I have a cold. Etc.
It was really frustrating because I was really hoping to get my hands on an comic strip in an accessible format.