More Kindle Access for the Visually Impaired

daffy4u · 03-21-2009, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Accessible Navigation on Kindle
9:34 AM PDT, March 19, 2009
We've heard from many of our blind or vision impaired customers who are excited about Kindle 2's text to speech technology. Some of these customers have asked that we make Kindle even easier for them by adding navigation accessible to the blind. We want to let those customers know that this is something we are working on and we look forward to making it available in the future.
--The Amazon Kindle Team

Some kind of TTS navigation would be cool.

catsittingstill · 03-21-2009, 06:52 PM

Yes, it sure would!

S.Canton · 03-21-2009, 06:54 PM

That's pretty impressive, and I think it's great that they are catering to that "niche". I'm sure those people will greatly appreciate it.

desertgrandma · 03-21-2009, 06:59 PM

Are you listening, Dixie Gal?

jeremy81 · 03-21-2009, 08:47 PM

Another thing is they should make text-to-speech(even those books with txt-speech disabled) available to customers with impairments. I can understand disabling it for people without impairments but people with visual problems should be able to bypass it. I know cellular companies make special data/text plans available for those with speech impairments.

kevindorsey · 03-22-2009, 12:55 PM

This is good.

TallMomof2 · 03-22-2009, 03:49 PM

Considering how bad my vision is TTS is looking (ha, ha) to be a good idea.

zadriel · 04-11-2009, 06:40 PM

Whose hacked the DRM to be able to keep access to TTS? Has anyone come up with an easy way to make sure this stays available to us? If so please email me through the system here, or shoot one to trickstands AT aol DOT com. I don't want to advocate piracy here, and I am not interested in a discussion of piracy. What I want is to be able to 1. keep hearing my tts... which the copyright office says I have a right to. AND 2. be able to take my books to another device should i leave kindle 2 behind. thanks for your advice!
z

wallcraft · 04-11-2009, 08:24 PM

The python script mobidedrm circumvents the encryption on MOBI and AZW ebooks. The result is a DRM-free MOBI ebook, which is readable on the Kindle. I don't know if this on its own allows TTS, but if not you could format shift the MOBI to ePub and then back to MOBI using Calibre. That would definitely remove all TTS flags.

It is most likely trivial to circumvent the TTS flag without otherwise removing the DRM. I base this on Amazon's previous attempt at updating MOBI DRM for the Kindle, but perhaps they tried harder this time. Since Amazon itself says that copyright holders have no basis for objecting to TTS, you might think that they would not go after a TTS flag circumvention tool. However, the author might be best served by maintaining anonymity and posting any such script to a site outside the US. I am not aware of any such tool, and at a minimum its author would need access to Kindle ebooks that had TTS disabled.

A small fraction of Kindle ebooks are in the TOPAZ format, and its DRM has not been circumvented.

daffy4u · 12-07-2009, 11:19 AM

I'm bumping this up because there is new news on this front from Teleread.

Quote:

To make Kindle more useful for the blind, the Kindle team is currently working on an audible menuing system so blind and vision-impaired readers can easily navigate to books unassisted, in addition to listening to books as they can already do today with Read To Me. In addition, a new super size font will be added to Kindle, increasing the number of font sizes from six to seven. This seventh font size will be twice the height and width of the current largest font. These new features are scheduled for release by the summer of 2010.

Does this mean an update to K2 or that K3 will hit in the summer? Time will tell.

03-21-2009, 06:52 PM	#2
catsittingstill Guru Posts: 638 Karma: 551634 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Kindle 1.0.8, iPod Touch, Kindle Keyboard	Yes, it sure would! __________________ Cat

03-21-2009, 06:54 PM	#3
S.Canton Groupie Posts: 174 Karma: 12 Join Date: Jan 2009 Device: Kindle 2	That's pretty impressive, and I think it's great that they are catering to that "niche". I'm sure those people will greatly appreciate it. __________________ "There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge. -Bertrand Russell"

03-21-2009, 06:59 PM	#4
desertgrandma Enjoying the show.... Posts: 14,221 Karma: 7720386 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Arizona Device: A K1, Kindle Paperwhite, an Ipod, IPad2, Iphone and an Ipad Mini.....	Are you listening, Dixie Gal? __________________ How To Join Our Happy Family! -- What is "Karma" and How Does it Work? What is Our Wiki. -- How to Start a Poll The "Introduce Yourself" Thread and Why You Should Use It How to use the MobileRead Patricia C. Clark Memorial Library

03-21-2009, 08:47 PM	#5
jeremy81 Enthusiast Posts: 37 Karma: 1180 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Oklahoma Device: Kindle Fire & Kindle 3	Another thing is they should make text-to-speech(even those books with txt-speech disabled) available to customers with impairments. I can understand disabling it for people without impairments but people with visual problems should be able to bypass it. I know cellular companies make special data/text plans available for those with speech impairments. __________________ "The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbours, kindle it at home, communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all."

04-11-2009, 06:40 PM	#8
zadriel Member Posts: 14 Karma: 30 Join Date: Apr 2009 Device: kindle 2	anyone hacked drm to allow tts or book migration? Whose hacked the DRM to be able to keep access to TTS? Has anyone come up with an easy way to make sure this stays available to us? If so please email me through the system here, or shoot one to trickstands AT aol DOT com. I don't want to advocate piracy here, and I am not interested in a discussion of piracy. What I want is to be able to 1. keep hearing my tts... which the copyright office says I have a right to. AND 2. be able to take my books to another device should i leave kindle 2 behind. thanks for your advice! z

03-22-2009, 12:55 PM	#6
kevindorsey Evangelist Posts: 488 Karma: 258 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: kindle	This is good.

03-22-2009, 03:49 PM	#7
TallMomof2 Kindlephilia Posts: 1,951 Karma: 1041343 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Snowpacolypse 2010 Device: Amazon K4, Fire, Droid 2	Considering how bad my vision is TTS is looking (ha, ha) to be a good idea.

04-11-2009, 08:24 PM	#9
wallcraft reader Posts: 6,979 Karma: 5183568 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Mississippi, USA Device: Kindle 3 and Fire	The python script mobidedrm circumvents the encryption on MOBI and AZW ebooks. The result is a DRM-free MOBI ebook, which is readable on the Kindle. I don't know if this on its own allows TTS, but if not you could format shift the MOBI to ePub and then back to MOBI using Calibre. That would definitely remove all TTS flags. It is most likely trivial to circumvent the TTS flag without otherwise removing the DRM. I base this on Amazon's previous attempt at updating MOBI DRM for the Kindle, but perhaps they tried harder this time. Since Amazon itself says that copyright holders have no basis for objecting to TTS, you might think that they would not go after a TTS flag circumvention tool. However, the author might be best served by maintaining anonymity and posting any such script to a site outside the US. I am not aware of any such tool, and at a minimum its author would need access to Kindle ebooks that had TTS disabled. A small fraction of Kindle ebooks are in the TOPAZ format, and its DRM has not been circumvented.

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