Category: the Rant Board
So:
I joined this bookshare.org thing-a-ma-bob.
Maybe you've heard of it?
They have every book under the sun in audio format.
My problem is that Bookshare's version of the player is garbage.
You are all better off using the r f b and d version that you buy.
This just goes to show you:
If it's to good to be true well it's a pipe-dream.
get the brf format instead. that reader wasn't good to start with, plus the brf are better anyways
I don't use book share because of the fee they charge.
actually I just unpack the books and save them as html and then read them with MSIE.
I have a book port and I wouldn't trade my membership to bookshare for anything. 100 books per month is well worth the $50 a year. They get them a whole lot quicker than the nls does and I don't have to wait for them to be delivered either.
Actually to the last poster there is a service that nls offers called web btraaille. Youu just contact your library and give them your email address, a user name, and a password. It takes about 24 hours for your membership to become active. And you jut donwload a book and you can keep it. If you are interested just call your library or visit www.loc.gov and click on braille and audio matterials.
Every blind person in the USA who uses a computer and reads anything should be using Bookshare! As far as the fee, well, it is quite reasonable and there's never a free lunch, my friends. Go out there and get a job already!
Yes, I agree with the lazt poster. Bookshare is great. It has the books quickly, and they have a big variety of books.
Bookshare is great. I read on average 5 newspapers a day through the newspapers and periodicals section along with a bunch of books I would otherwise wouldn't have access to. Not to mention, I'd rather pay $50 a year for an incredible amount of books than $30 or more per book on CD. Bookshare has got to be one of the better resources for the blind that has come around in the last years. To complain about the yearly fee is really just lazy and sortsighted.
Oh, I too just use the html version to read.
bookshare rocks. $50 is pretty reasonable to me.
I have sold out and gotten a subscription to bookshare, but, I still disagree with the fee.
As long as libraries are free, so should bookshare be.
Bob
Well, Bob, the people that scan those books in got to get paid.
To Darrell Shandrow, I would love to be able to take advantage of web braille, however, due to neuropathy in my fingertips I have an extremely difficult time reading braille. Besides, since I have bookshare I don't usually have to look anywhere else for books. Once in awhile they won't have a specific book and then, and only then, I turn to the NLS.
I have read so many new authors that I had never even heard of before simply because the synopsis of a book sounds interesting. I always had a list of favorite authors that was at least half a mile long. Now that list has grown to be a mile long since I have found these new authors. and, before anyone says anything, I was speaking figuratively, of course. grin
I wouldn't give up bookshare for anything unless I had no money but then again I volentier so ya it helps. As for the fee I think it is reasonable. The difference between this and a library is these books you can keep. You can't keep lybrary books.
To kennynaranjo, for the most part, the people who scan those books are volunteers who do so to reduce the bookshare fee.
To Damia, bookshare doesn't give you the book it gives you a copy of the book. They've lost nothing when you copy the book. Most libraries make copying machines available for patrons to do this with minimal costs to cover ink, paper, and the initial cost of the copier. Bookshare has none of these expenses when you copy a book.
I agree that it's a wonderful service, I love the fact I can discover an author and almost always go find books by them on bookshare. I just think there is something inherently wrong with the idea that a person can't read a book because of cost or because they happen to live in the wrong part of the world.
Bob
I gave an answer to the last post (about it being wrong that other people in the world can't use it), on another board, but I'll drag it out again.
The reason bookshare can't make it available to other countries has very little to do with them, and very much to do with copyright law. They are providing the service they do becauseof a very special acception in *US copyright law. However, being that that is only US copyright law, the laws in other countries are very different, and keeping them all happy would likely be a legal nightmare.
I think everyone who uses bookshare, and everyone at bookshare would love to have it available to more people, but to remain totally in the clear legally, at this time it's unfeasible, at least until there is a common copyright agreement across countries, or a worldwide copyright law is made(that last part is just my thinking. I don't know how that would or could come about.)
As to the people complaining about the fee: yes, it is a bit high. However, you have to remember that's helping keep things working there at bookshare. IT's nonprofit. I don't remember how many employees they have, but they do have some working there. You have the cost of the equipment that they have there (the computers, servers, I know they have at least one highspeed scanner that can go through books very quickly.) You also have the internet they have. They have to have a decent connection for all the people that go there for their books.
Another thing for those that are interested. If you're a student (both in college, or still in primary/secondary schooling), you can often times get your membership paid for, if you make a decent case to them. I know when I was in HS, after I got bookshare I was able to find several of my books for english classes on there. Often you can get your school district or DVR to pay for it. Oh and for those in the technical field, there's one publisher of technical books (I think it's O'Ryley, don't shoot me for misspelling please), that makes their books available on bookshare. And those ar the publishers official copies, not scans. Just a few things to think about.
I don't have bookshare, but I've got a friend who does. I really don't do much reading. This friend downloaded me a book about windows vista, a must read for the computer user. I know of one document that I couldn't put down was a braille note users manual. That's my kind of book.
Actually, that is a manual, not a book.
You're right.
Yes, I know I am right.
Download, you are a geek. lol
I personally found the reader itself hard to use, so I do the same like Post 2 to read the file at first. And then I delete all the downloaded stuff and copy-paste the book in an RTF file if I really like and plan to keep the book.
I prefer the telex
Even though I qualify for having my membership fee waived, I still choose to pay for a membership since it's for a good cause. In an ideal world, everyone in the world could access everything freely and without strain. That means a retarted deaf-blind individual with neropathy who never learned to read in the first place and has no basic understanding of any language can now read complex textbooks. But since an ideal world doesn't exist, neither will a copyright law that satisfies every country in the world. To Bob specifically, it's not like bookshare is taking your money and making a profit on it. On the contrary actually. They use the money to pay for server costs, bandwidth, harddrive space, and also many books. For example, the books on the New York Times best seller list. This is why I will continue to pay the membership fee unless my financial situation becomes such that I can not aford it.
Yup, it's worth the fee.
kc8pnl, I have to admit you have a point. I have enjoyed the site ennormously since I joined, and I think it's a really good service.
I wish it were free--but it isn't. I wish it were international--but it isn't.
I guess that's where idealism and reality come together. The world isn't what we wish it were, it is what it is.
So, how do I look with egg on my face? Does it go with this shirt?
Bob
Well, I don't read books, just manuals I can find. They're so captivating and informative. I once read a braille lite manual in less than a day. I was waiting on my boss to show up, and I read a good portion of a braille embosser owner's manual. I've even read keysoft upgrading instructions just to pass the time.
technically, those are books.
<lol>
Technical books.