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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.)
I'm not too sure that it would that much easier for the blind to have to use these small flash cards. It's probably little bit easier for them to locate and handle a CD than a tiny card.
Whatever format is chosen, it had better withstand the test of time. I'm sure solid state storage or something else suitable can make the data survive for a long time, but will the secret to decoding the data be buried along with the company that championed it? Seems to me that there would be a major advantage to sticking to pure PCM WAV or AU, maybe Ogg Vorbis / FLAC... the point being, there's no way the data should be put into RealAudio format or something proprietary like that.
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.
> I wonder why small hard drives weren't chosen, > though; they seem to bear up pretty well. Drop a hard drive (even in a good case) and it's often not too well afterwards. This has been a problem for me - so is likely to be a problem for the blind or partially signed, as I know from my late grandfather. Basically, removable media needs to be as robust as possible especially for use in a public service.
Blind + Linux = BLINUX
"The purpose of BLINUX project is to improve usability of the LINUX operating system for the user who is blind"
It also turns out that the Command Line Interface is better for blind users than a GUI:
Unfortunately, almost all modern applications present information in a two-dimensional format, and most employ graphical icons that have no meaning for the blind. Since it is impractical to rewrite all these applications, the blind community has been forced to perform a rather awkward retrofit, using various adapters. We should recognize that this is not the ideal solution. Pasting a screen reader on top of Netscape makes it accessible, but the result is hardly efficient. Over the past decade a small minority of blind users have discovered Linux, a free, text-based operating system for the home computer. Linux applications rarely employ graphics, and most of them are already linear, just like the mode (speech or braille) that is our Karma. All other things being equal, Linux is the best operating system for a blind user.
Interesting to say the least...and Open Source makes it possible for (non profit) institutions closely acquainted with working with disabled people to adapt the software as necessary.....rather than relying on the perception and motivations of a (profit minded) corporation(s).
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
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.
Or, print the CD information in (slightly raised) braille on the label side.
Unless you're a complete idiot, you should be able to figure out taht the side iwth the bumps goes up. (Of course, this may lead to fingerprints on the wrong side of the CD, but a disc cleaning cloth an take care of that.)
The CDs I have are mostly pretty easy to tell top from bottom by feel, simply because of the silkscreened or otherwise applied label (the exceptions are mostly manufacturing mistakes, like a CD single with both sides equally shiny, only one of which actually holds music). Players will also generally not play upside-down disks :) I don't know if attempting to play disks wrong-side-up is harmful to the players, but I have, uh ... "tried" it, with no evident harm to the player.
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
Feel the CD's case, once the case is open you know how the disc lies there (label up, data surface down). Pick up the CD and go to the CD player. Provided the CD player is itself in a predictable orientation, you will have no probles putting the CD in the player with the correct orientation.
Can't mention libraries with out mentioning this:
Librarian Action Figure
He who knows not and knows he knows not is a wise man. He who knows not and knows not he knows not is a fool.
Unless you're a complete idiot, you should be able to figure out taht the side iwth the bumps goes up.
Have you actually tried this?
I'll extend the experiment, and my work with the blind and my own native curiosity about things has led to me try it myself:
Tonight, turn out all the lights in the house, now put a good blindfold, and leave it on for half an hour while you try to go about your normal business.
It's an, ummmmmmmmm, eye opener.
KFG
You could just as easily put braille information on a flash drive
Philosophy.
Around the center of a CD, on the data side, is a raised plastic ridge. Once you realize it's there, it becomes quite simple to tell the sides apart.
Linky
My other Beowulf cluster is... er...
Who will do the actual reading of all these books whose copyrights expired? And, under what terms will these reading performances be distributed?
Even if the text they read is public domain, the rights to the performance of the reading belong to the performer, and can be bought and sold if the performer chooses. He or she can also choose to release the performances into the public domain with a copyleft license. Obviously, this is what I would prefer. Then, the controversies of storage would be less pressing. There would need to be a fail-safe central archive of the recordings at maximum quality (maybe losslessly compressed, or not at all), and then the libraries would "loan out" compressed versions of these files in whatever format makes sense at the time. These days I'd say it's mp3; in the future, the format with the widest playback possibilities will hopefully be something better.
What I'm worried about is that the libraries will get commercial companies to do proprietary performances, so they will be much less free to distribute them according to the needs of their patrons. This is a real shame. For a long time I've wanted to have an open-source project to read certain classics in English whose copyright has expired. I've actually gotten started; see here. I think that if the libraries of the english-speaking world asked nicely and pooled their resources, they could get a whole bunch of the classics read by excellent performers, and released to the general public. I'm in the middle of listening to Ian McKellan reading The Odyssey and it's incredibly moving and entertaining. This isn't just for the visually impaired, you know.
Anyway, if libraries are going to do this, they have to do it right, because they won't get a chance to re-do it. I think they are setting themselves up for hardship if somebody else owns the rights to the stuff they distribute, even if it makes a few things easier at the start. So let's stop bickering about file formats and concentrate on the important stuff.
Even though the Archos mp3 players have screens, the open-source personal jukebox software Rockbox recently implemented a Talking Menu system that can announce directories and playlists. It's useful for non-visual operation, and it proving to be a hit with blind users. Rockbox is being ported to some of the iRiver players...
The last time I wrote about this it was marked down as Troll, probably by some iPod-happy blind-person-hating fanboi. If you're reading this then you are a grade A wanker.
Da Blog
Why are they bothering even making these people cart themselves to the library? Why not just let them download the books online? I understand this brings into question copyright problems, but seriously... what's the difference between taking home a flash key and then saving it to your desktop or just downloading it from their website? This is just an unnecessary step in the process.
"Simplify, simplify, simplify!" Thoreau
Why not just get them all iPods?
Can an iPod do talking menus or run an audio feedback UI?
Da Blog
Why not just get them all iPods?
Then they'll have to go to Duke.
Seriously, iPods have a visual interface. Their device has to be usable with at most static Braille text.
The service provides audio books and players for the blind and disabled. You might try offering your ultra cool palm sized mp3 player to someone with a neurological disease like MS and see how well they manage.
This is a ridiculous waste. Why don't they just use regular CDs, with regular CDDA audio, and have special CD players with Braille "displays" and big buttons? The media doesn't have to be special; all their blind/disabled audience requirements can be met with special players, which aren't that expensive. And the rest of us can share the media on existing devices. I smell corporate welfare, cloaked in sympathy for the "disabled", who will be served worse by having their own audiobook ghetto that doesn't benefit from the economies of scale, and social interactions, of integration with the general population.
--
make install -not war
I dont understand why they dont let you download ebooks and cd's from some super library. They could make some program that would make sure people would "return" (delete the material) after the due date and can only be checked out by 1 person at a time. Currently you can check out a cd from a library or blockbuster and rip it and return it... if their program was encrypted well enough to block people from grabbing the media out of it, it would be even more secure than a current book/cd check out currently is... I still do not know how libraries and blockbusters are allowed to loan out media like books/movies/cds. It would seem that opening a lan for people to bring their external hard drives and laptops to copy the media would be just as illegal as a blockbuster or library. Do library's and rental stores have to pay extra to be able to distribute their content? A regular citizen should be able to donate any book/cd/dvd to a library right? Why is there not a big movement for everyone to donate 1 unqiue cd/dvd to a library to create the largest sharing ever. Also are you allowed to bring Laptops into blockbuster and librarys? if so what is stopping people from copying till their hard drive is full each visit.. One of my friends has the block buster unlimited rental plan for a month and said he would feel bad if he rented movies over and over all day within smaller time limits than it would take to watch them. (rent - bring to car and rip - return - rent - bring to car and rip ...)
Would other people feel bad for doing this? Do you think block buster would take action to this?
I work for an open channel radio reading service for the blind and print impaired. We are limited to making four copies of a reading in order to maintain our copyright exemption.
Most radio reading services are closed channel on a sub carrier, and the listeners have to be provided with specialized gear to pick up the signal. These radios are free, but they must be physician-authorized. Some services also stream via the internet, but the sites are password protected.
I presume that talking libraries are limited to the number of copies they may distribute, as well. The current four track casette accomplishes two things: 1) maximize media storage 2)prevent ready distribution to non-vision impaired persons.
A proprietary audio file format is just an extension of the closed formats of sub-carrier frequencies and four-track casettes. Government will most likely subsidize hardware cost for playback devices, or codecs, as it does already with the special radios and tape decks.
The main goal is to prevent casual piracy in order to maintain this copyright exemption for the benefit of the vision impaired.
On a side note, I wish companies would begin releasing entire books on a single MP3 cd, but I guess they want to put as many steps in the chain to discourage casual pirates.
... to someone with a neurological disease like MS...
/. too long when you read the above as a Microsoft slam.
You know you've been reading
That's funny. Back in the 70's I knew a blind girl who was getting really sick of stupid people at bars asking to see her driver's lisence for proof of age (this was before states started issuing alternate ID's for people who didn't qualify for driver's licenses). So she did some research and found out that although she couldn't get a driver's license, they only did the vision test as part of the actual driver's test. So she got her learner's permit, and had great fun showing it to the people at bars who asked for her driver's license.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
It's not just about usability; it's also about durability. CD's aren't exactly durable. A library, especially of the magnitude of NLS, has to worry about a lot of factors when developing their collection. The durability of the collection is one of those concerns. I think it is probably also a consideration for them because of the changing nature of what it is to be blind. More and more blind people rely on technology to live and work. With more people that are blind becoming tech literate, the electronic formats will probably be more desirable as well.
So wait...what exactly is the legal definition of blind here? Could I just squint really hard and pretend?
Seriously, they should start a free online bittorrent system and let all of the blind people with an internet connection (wink wink.....oh god, that was doubly bad) download these audiobooks free of charge. Without of course checking to see if they're really blind or not...you know, just taking them on their word.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
Although I think the best point I've heard so far isn't the side differences but added chances for scratching the CD while trying to get it into the reader.
I wanted to point out the fact that labels on CDs have been known to spin poorly and ruin many players, bubbles in the lables can cause them to oxidize in those spots, and addhesive sometimes comes off in the machine making the CD stick. So... sounds like unbalanced braillem stuck-on labels with glue would be a problems waiting to happen.
At Kendall College of Art and Design (michigan) our semester project was sponosred by the Library of Congress to design a new digital talking book for the blind. My design involved a booklike metaphor to protect components such as buttons and batteries and could also angle the speaker toward the listener. The winning design came from another school though, and was actually booklike in nature. Here is some text about the unfortunately named "dook", sorry no other links or pictures could be found. It did look neat though when pictures were available.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS UNVEILS DIGITAL TALKING BOOK The Library of Congress has put the winning entry in its digital talking book contest on display--a hinged device that folds closed like a book and when open, reveals two thick "pages" encasing speakers flanked by a series of buttons that the user pushes to move forward (or backward) in the text, insert bookmarks, or search for a passage. The device, which will be available in three to four years, will replace the bulky plastic tape readers used for today's talking books. Over the next three years, the library plans to spend $75 million to convert about 30,000 titles, mostly standard works and best sellers, to the new technology. After some technical details of the new system are worked out, bids will be sought to manufacture the first 50,000 "dooks," as they're called. The library hopes to begin offering them to patrons sometime in 2008, and slowly phase out the tape players over the following 10 years. The dooks will be offered free to those who need them, just as the current tape players are. (AP 22 Oct 2002)
Neil is that you? Yeah yeah, it's me... Neil...
Why are they even bothering with this system of sending out audio books by mail. Why not set up a private P2P network for the blind and let thme dl the books to whatever device they want to use. Wouldn't that cost less/be more efficient? For those with slow connections/no connections to the internet provide them with a subsidized computer (running linux of course) and high speed connection. They can then also use the internet for whatever other services. Doesn't this seem a bit more advanced?
Heh, they could make an assistive technology version called the noEyesPod.
He who knows not and knows he knows not is a wise man. He who knows not and knows not he knows not is a fool.
Are the libraries transmitting works digitally between libraries?
Are the libraries allowing themselves a certain number of copies per work to be in circulation?
If so, are there restrictions on becoming a library?
And how about a similar system for the non-handicapped?
Two minutes after seeing this story I picked up an old copy of New Scientist magazine from August 21-27 2004... on page 22 (of the US edition) there's a reference to a CD player designed specifically for the visually impaired : "Symphony Radio" from Roberts.
h tml
I googled for the website, and found it here https://secure.virtuality.net/blindorg/catalogue.
It has an audible radio tuner, and keeps bookmarks for CDs. The downside is that it's not at all cheap by today's prices, especially for US consumers having to deal with the poor exchange rate with the British Pound. Also it would have been nice if it played MP3s too. Still, I expect that many visually impaired folks would find this a big improvement over regular players.
Let's hope that in future there will be an improved version of this that plays MP3s and also allows flash memory cards to be plugged in.
Disclaimer : I'm not in any way involved with Roberts Radio, The British Wireless for the Blind Fund, or any other interested parties.
Blind persons whose visual acuity, as determined by competent authority, is 20/200 or less in the better eye with correcting lenses, or whose widest diameter of visual field subtends an angular distance no greater than 20 degrees.
That All May Read
Other physically handicapped persons are eligible as follows:
Persons whose visual disability, with correction and regardless of optical measurement, is certified by competent authority as preventing the reading of standard printed material
Persons certified by competent authority as unable to read or unable to use standard printed material as a result of physical limitations.
Persons certified by competent authority as having a reading disability resulting from organic dysfunction and of sufficient severity to prevent their reading printed material in a normal manner.
______
Distribution of audio books and players to the blind began in 1934.
Players were custom-made wind-up phonographs and radio-phonographs, books were recorded at 33 1/3 RPM. Distribution has never been in a consumer-audio format. The last flexible-disk audio books were recorded at 8 1/3 RPM.
The last time I wrote about this it was marked down as Troll
Or maybe you are just as much of a dick in your other posts as in this one, in which case a troll mod was completely inappropirate. Flaimbait is much more applicable.