Hello from Fledchen!

Fledchen · 12-20-2008, 07:37 AM

I've made a few attempts at reading ebooks over the past few years, and was never able to stick with it. I finally purchased a dedicated screen-based ebook reader (Sony PRS-505) on Tuesday this week, and I know I finally made the right choice.

I am legally blind, due to problems with the reflexes and muscles that control my eye movements and focusing. While some people might complain about the small screen size of the PRS-505, it's wonderful for me because the less my eyes have to move around the page, the less likely it is that they'll go all screwy and make it impossible to read.

Most of my "reading" over the past few years has been through audiobooks. In addition to the audiobooks I can get from the public library, I'm fortunate to be able to have access to the Library of Congress National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, from which I can get both downloadable audiobooks and downloadable braille files. I don't have a braille display device, but I do have a program on my computer that I can use to convert the books to plain text. Because of copyright laws, I can't share these books, they're only for registered print disabled people, so please don't ask. I am also a member and volunteer for Bookshare.org, which is a nonprofit that makes scanned books available to registered print-disabled people (blind, dyslexic, etc.). I've tried listening to text books on my pocket-sized text-to-speech device, the VictorReader Stream, but it's just too difficult to distinguish between different sentences and paragraphs, and while the synthesized voice sounds very good, it pronounces so many words incorrectly that it's distracting. So, I mostly use the Stream for audiobooks, and now I have a device I can use for text books.

MickeyC · 12-20-2008, 08:41 AM

Hi Fledchen and welcome to the Forum. Very glad to hear the Sony works well for you. Enjoy!

Elsi · 12-20-2008, 04:58 PM

Hello Fledchen. Welcome to MobileRead. In addition to the government services for the blind, the publishers at Baen books will entitle you all their SF and Fantasy books. See https://www.webscription.net/news.aspx?showarticle=2 for information on how to apply for this service.

Although I have no problems with print books, I found that trying to read books on my computer was a significant challenge, so I'm enjoying the dedicated readers that I have purchased.

We hope you hang around here at MobileRead and tell us all about the books you like -- and even those you don't. There are thousands of eBooks available in the library here at MobileRead. And, while those same titles are available elsewhere, in most cases you'll find that the ones uploaded here are much higher quality.

Fledchen · 12-20-2008, 07:47 PM

I'm aware of the Baen subscription service for people with disabilities since it was announced two years ago, but unfortunately I've never been able to figure out how or where to apply. There don't appear to be any links to the application form, and the link to the site that processes the forms (ReadAssist) has been dead for over a year.

12-20-2008, 07:37 AM	#1
Fledchen Guru Posts: 663 Karma: 84658 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Minnesota, USA Device: PB360+, Sony950, VR Stream, iPod Touch, iPad	Hello from Fledchen! I've made a few attempts at reading ebooks over the past few years, and was never able to stick with it. I finally purchased a dedicated screen-based ebook reader (Sony PRS-505) on Tuesday this week, and I know I finally made the right choice. I am legally blind, due to problems with the reflexes and muscles that control my eye movements and focusing. While some people might complain about the small screen size of the PRS-505, it's wonderful for me because the less my eyes have to move around the page, the less likely it is that they'll go all screwy and make it impossible to read. Most of my "reading" over the past few years has been through audiobooks. In addition to the audiobooks I can get from the public library, I'm fortunate to be able to have access to the Library of Congress National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, from which I can get both downloadable audiobooks and downloadable braille files. I don't have a braille display device, but I do have a program on my computer that I can use to convert the books to plain text. Because of copyright laws, I can't share these books, they're only for registered print disabled people, so please don't ask. I am also a member and volunteer for Bookshare.org, which is a nonprofit that makes scanned books available to registered print-disabled people (blind, dyslexic, etc.). I've tried listening to text books on my pocket-sized text-to-speech device, the VictorReader Stream, but it's just too difficult to distinguish between different sentences and paragraphs, and while the synthesized voice sounds very good, it pronounces so many words incorrectly that it's distracting. So, I mostly use the Stream for audiobooks, and now I have a device I can use for text books.

12-20-2008, 08:41 AM	#2
MickeyC Grand Sorcerer Posts: 16,732 Karma: 12185114 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Florida Device: iPhone 6 plus, Sony T1, iPad 3	Hi Fledchen and welcome to the Forum. Very glad to hear the Sony works well for you. Enjoy!

12-20-2008, 04:58 PM	#3
Elsi Wizard Posts: 2,366 Karma: 12000 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Texas, USA Device: Kindle; Sony PRS 505; Blackberry 8700C	Hello Fledchen. Welcome to MobileRead. In addition to the government services for the blind, the publishers at Baen books will entitle you all their SF and Fantasy books. See https://www.webscription.net/news.aspx?showarticle=2 for information on how to apply for this service. Although I have no problems with print books, I found that trying to read books on my computer was a significant challenge, so I'm enjoying the dedicated readers that I have purchased. We hope you hang around here at MobileRead and tell us all about the books you like -- and even those you don't. There are thousands of eBooks available in the library here at MobileRead. And, while those same titles are available elsewhere, in most cases you'll find that the ones uploaded here are much higher quality.

12-20-2008, 07:47 PM	#4
Fledchen Guru Posts: 663 Karma: 84658 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Minnesota, USA Device: PB360+, Sony950, VR Stream, iPod Touch, iPad	I'm aware of the Baen subscription service for people with disabilities since it was announced two years ago, but unfortunately I've never been able to figure out how or where to apply. There don't appear to be any links to the application form, and the link to the site that processes the forms (ReadAssist) has been dead for over a year.