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National Library Service Plans Next-Gen Audiobooks
The New York Times (as carried here by CNET, registration-free) is reporting on what seems like an overdue update planned by the adminstrators of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, which -- thanks to a copyright exemption -- can provide audiobooks without paying royalties. The Library Service will switch from 4-track tape players to audio devices based on flash memory. The article does not mention what sort of codec might be chosen, but does mention a couple of reasons (fragility, and diffculty for use by the blind) to not simply use CDs bearing some compressed audio format. The amount of listenable audio that can be squeezed into readily available pocket-sized storage these days is incredible, at least if you consider listenable things like the 32kbps recordings of old radio shows that the Sherlock Holmes Society of London makes available. (I wonder why small hard drives weren't chosen, though; they seem to bear up pretty well.)
the storage requirements are even smaller than you estimate: consider that these would be pure speech files, so a CELP-derived codec would be appropriate.
remember, Speex is intelligable at 6kbps, decent at 8kbps, and functionally excellent at 11 kbps.
Phus. Sysiphus.
It doesn't really matter if flash or hard drives are used, as once the data is in this format it will be easy to move between the technologies. I suspect flash is being used because it's much cheaper (for a device that still holds plenty of audio) and more rugged than a hard drive based unit.
The real question is, although this material is being produced thanks to a copyright exemption for the handicapped, doesn't any citizen have a right to the information once it is produced? And why do the blind get all the good parking spaces?
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
So they'll have a friend copy it to a usb flash card keychain.
Not everyone has a friend, espeically when you also have a disability.
I've only known two blind people in my life, and both of them seemed pretty focused on the concept of self-sufficency, rather than asking friends to do piddly tasks for them all the time. They want to live like anyone else does, and (aside from my mom asking me to wire the house for cable TV) that generally means doing thing on their own.
World's tallest building rises in the desert
Mod Parent up.
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Audio tapes are cheap, relatively easy to mass produce, and big enough to label with enough braille so that you can work out what that tape in the pile of 20 on your desk is. A typical book will easily take a dozen tapes, so finding tape 7 of 18 of your book is useful. The more sophisticated players can also bookmark tapes by recording low-frequency tones on the tapes that are audible when the tape is fast-forwarded or rewound, but not audible when the tape is played at 'normal' speeds (which for a blind person may be a lot faster than you expect - it sounds like Mickey Mouse on helium)
CDs can't be labelled in braille easily, if at all.
Flash cards *need* to be big enough to be labelled in braille. They are also considerably more expensive than audio tape.
Oh - and the braille on drive-in ATMs question? It's asked so often, it's not funny any more. See here:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_010.htm
When did you last think about making something accessible for
(a) you
(b) you after the accident
(c) your parent who still can't work out how to program the video, but can follow a recipe
(d) your blind grandparent who can't read braille
(e) you when you are older
You won't be young, fit and have full mental acuity all the time - and some people never had all three.