All seven devices performed admirably. No one device appeared to be clearly,
substantially superior to the other six along such lines as design,
functionality, and value. Overall the
initial set-up of each device was relatively easy—at least for a fully sighted
person. To improve the initial setup by
blind and visually impaired individuals, the manufacturers should think
step-by-step how a print-impaired person would proceed from opening the
shipping box to successfully initializing the device. Documentation and users guides generally were
well-designed and easily accessible in a variety of formats.
Of the seven devices reviewed, at least three lineages are
discernable. The Victor Reader Vibe, Telex
Scholar, and Soul Player are descendants of portable CD players that have been
on the consumer market for years. Their
hardware and software designs have been enhanced to make them more accessible
by and useful to print-impaired users.
The
These devices display great ingenuity in the use of
position, arrangement, differing materials, differing shapes, and protruding or
recessed numbers, letters, or symbols on the buttons to aid navigation by the
blind and visually impaired. One would
think, however, that a standard (official or de facto) practice in this area
would emerge fairly quickly. For
end-users who will interact on a regular basis with more than one portable
assistive technology, a standard scheme for buttons would be a boon, reducing
the cognitive overload of needing to remember and reorient one’s self to each
separate button configuration and tactility, regardless of how ingenious each
one happens to be.
The text-to-speech (TTS) functionalities of the
One potential downside to the flash memory devices is that
they rely more on file management and file transfer software loaded on the
“mother ship” PC. The added hassle and
cognitive load of learning both the device functionality and the transfer
software commands on a PC may dissuade or discourage some users of these
devices.
Although by the general expectations of today’s end-users
both the size and the weight of the Victor Reader Classic Plus are near the
upper limits of acceptable portability, the simplicity, ruggedness, and
self-contained nature of the Classic Plus are very attractive. The buttons are large, well-spaced, and
well-differentiated by shape, color, and embossed icons. The separate, single-function keys for
raising and lowering the tone, volume, and speed of playback are much
appreciated.
The PTR1 is far more expensive than the other six devices
reviewed in this report. As expected, it
contains a wealth of functionality. The
PTR1 is as much a recording device as a playback device. Each individual must decide if the additional
functionality is worth the added cost. One
downside: the English language version
of the printed user’s guide appears to be a poor, garbled translation from
another language.
Feedback
from Actual User: The
relationship between features and price for the PTR1 is not very
attractive. The PTR1’s recording features
are excellent, but as a playback device it is not exceptionally good. One needed improvement is to increase the
speed with which the PTR1 recognizes a new CD or memory card and navigates
through the content.
The Victor Reader Vibe is sleek, attractive, lightweight
playback device. It offers much value
for the price. The three clamshell CD
player devices—Vibe, Scholar, and Soul—seem to be in the most competitive
category.
The Scholar is a
little larger and less sleek than the Victor Vibe, but it works well.
At $150, the Soul
Player from Soulmate certainly is attractively
priced, but don’t assume this is some stripped down, denuded device. The Soul Player contains a rich set of
functions, including some functions not found on the other devices reviewed in
this report. Like the Vibe and Scholar,
the Soul Player is a clamshell type portable CD player. A couple of downsides: It cannot play DAISY books, and it provides
few audible clues about what it is doing.
The
Feedback from Actual User: The tradeoff between price and
functionality for the
The BookCourier is one of the smaller and lighter devices
reviewed. The use of flash memory and the
absence of moving parts make for a quiet device that turns on and off
immediately. Although the keypads of the
The thorough user
guides for both the device and the transfer tool software that resides on the
user’s PC are very well-organized and useful.
The fast forward and rewind functionalities of the BookCourier
seemed more usable than similar features on the other devices reviewed. The one time this reviewer was able to cause
the device to malfunction (something about a memory overload),
the audio voice went on an incessant tirade that continued until the device was
reset.
It is impossible to recommend one device over the other six. The decision depends on what the end-user
wants, needs, and can afford. If the
end-user does not like using ear buds or headphones, the Victor Reader Classic
Plus seems like a good choice, although several other models reviewed can be
hooked up to external speakers. If you
want or need to navigate and search through e-texts and digital audio files,
the
When the apparently reasonable question is asked, “Of these
seven devices, which is the best?” the three different
lines of designs and development become a challenge. Although overall the Victor Reader Vibe
appears to be a better CD player than the Telex Scholar and the Soul Player,
and although the Book Port seems to be a better and more versatile flash memory
audio device than the BookCourier, and although the
PTR1 is a top of the line device compared to the more reasonably priced Victor
Classic Plus, it is nearly impossible to meaningfully judge between the three finalists
out of the pack of seven: PTR1, Victor
Vibe, and Book Port. It is more
difficult than the judgment of
All of the devices reviewed are good playback devices. Each device seems to spring from a different
line of technological development. Two
are portable cassette players updated for CDs.
Several are portable CD players that have been DAISYfied
and made more accessible. A couple
devices are flash memory devices that have been customized for audio playback and
TTS. At least one focuses on recording
audio as much as ion playing the audio back.
Several have included a smattering of functionality from PDAs.
It is unfortunate that the three basic designs have not
intermingled more. A hybrid device that
incorporates the best features and functionality of the cassette player redux, the CD player for the print-impaired, and the flash
memory audio player would be welcome and useful to print-impaired users. Additional functionality commonly found on PDAs and increasingly on cell phones also could be
useful. Several of the devices reviewed
allow users to take audio notes and hear the current date and time, but many of
the features and functionalities of current PDAs are
missing from these devices.
Although we seem to be living in an era of pluralistic
designs for consumer electronics, an era in which no single device dominates in
the way that the black, rotary telephone once did, there may still be value in
advocating some convergence in these designs.
In the
The collocation onto one portable device of various
functionalities and access to a myriad of file types and information sources
should be a boon to many print-impaired persons. Simply being able to listen to
work/study-related information, leisure reading, and music on one portable
device more closely matches the daily information use habits of most people
than did previous technologies for the print-impaired.
We should not overlook or underestimate the obvious fact
that these devices also are capable of playing music as well as voice audio recordings. This multi-aural functionality should be
welcome to many end-users.
It is regrettable, however, that
two of the currently more popular file formats for digital documents and
digital audio recordings—the file formats used by Adobe and Audible.com—evidently
cannot be played by any of these devices.
Regardless of who is at fault, the end-users confront either a
diminished universe of available content or a more arduous route for accessing
this content. It appears that this
situation is about to change for the better, as Audible.com continues to expand
the number of devices capable of playing its content.
De facto standards for the design of the keys and the
underlying functionalities would be welcome.
Most of the devices reviewed seemed to vaguely follow the basic layout
of the numeric keypad on a telephone.
The Telex Scholar, Victor Vibe, and Soul Player, however, took a clue
from the circularity of the CD disc and configured their buttons in a circular
pattern. The size of the buttons, their
tactile nature (especially in comparison to the background surface), their
concavity, convexity, raised and indented symbols, colors, and visible markings
all vary widely from device to device.
This reviewer sees no reason why, similar to how all windows-based
applications tend to follow the same basic interface model, with variations on
that basic theme, the design of keys for portable digital devices for the
print-impaired could not adopt a basic theme and set of best practices, with
variations on that basic theme. This
would shorten the learning curve for everyone.
Two limitations of the present review are: the reviewer was sighted, and the reviewer
was using the devices only for the purposes of evaluation. We need to hear from actual, daily users of
these devices.
A small, informal attempt to glean comments and suggestions
from actual users of these devices was made.
In March 2004 a six question survey was sent to several email lists and
discussion groups. Three responses were
received. These comments and suggestions
from actual users of these devices have been made anonymous and inserted at
appropriate places within the report.
For sighted readers of this report, the phrase Feedback from Actual User has been
highlighted in gray to draw your attention.
For readers who have the ability to search for keywords in their browser
and/or screen reader software, the word feedback is used only in this
context.
The six questions posed in the emailed survey were:
1. What is the primary quality, function, or feature of one or more of these seven devices that you would like to see added or improved?
2. What is the most disappointing or annoying quality, function, or feature of one or more of these seven devices?
3. How important for you is non-linear navigation through a book? For example, do you review the table of contents then jump to the chapter or section of particular interest? Describe situations and types of books where non-linear navigation is particularly helpful for you.
4. Do you prefer to have the device provide an audible clue to each function it is performing? If yes, would you like the device to pause and have a voice announce what function is being performed, use a set of distinctive tones to announce what function is being performed, or not pause playback and have a voice or sound quickly announce what is happening?
5. What do you particularly like or dislike about the design of the buttons or keys on one or more of these seven devices? Aspects of key design include such things as the size, shape, tactile feel, arrangement, spacing, concavity or convexity, multi-function keys, and tangible marks on or near the keys, such as bumps, letters, and numbers.
6. How important is price in your decision to
purchase one device rather than another?