Quote:
Originally Posted by tracings
Quite a few responses here, so this may already have been mentioned, but Listening Books is a UK organization that provides audiobook library service by mail and internet to physically disabled readers: http://www.listening-books.org.uk/why-join.aspx. This American was surprised that there's an annual fee, (similar US services are free), and you'll need to choose whether to borrow a player from the organization (for a fee) or purchase one. The mail option is one that works for a lot of folks without computer access here in the US. An added bonus is the ability to call the library and speak to a real live human being about your next reading selection.
The books are in MP3 format, so will play on a variety of players, though the ones by mail appear to come on CD. I'm US-based, so I don't know more than what the website mentions, but you can contact Listening Books at 020 7407 9417 or by email at info@listening-books.org.uk for more details.
Of course, the appropriateness of this depends on whether your friend is interested in audiobooks. However, if she is interested in audiobooks, you might look into purchasing the BookSense XT, which can be controlled by VOICE RECOGNITION. It will play MP3s, along with DAISY (a special international standard for digital talking books for the print disabled), as well as txt, rtf, doc and html files (using synthetic speech). The device uses SD cards, which you could load up and mail to your friend since she's unable to access the net. I'm pretty sure they sell to the UK, as the company did an event with the Royal National Institute for the Blind in 2010. You can take a peek at the BookSense XT here: http://www.hims-inc.com/products/booksense-xt. |
Isn't this a service for blind or nearly blind people?
The devices they are using are petty expensive.
There is speech recognition, which would be useful only if someone cannot use finger or hands any more ...