[Dtb-talk] RECORDING FOR THE BLIND & DYSLEXIC AND HUMANWARE SUPPORT NEW PORTABLE PLAYERS FOR AUDIOPLUS ® BOOKS

[David Andrews]

>
>
>RECORDING FOR THE BLIND & DYSLEXIC® (RFB&D®) AND HUMANWARE SUPPORT NEW
>PORTABLE PLAYERS FOR
>AUDIOPLUS® BOOKS
>
>Version française disponible à :
>http://www.humanware.ca/web/fr/NewsGetFile.asp?file=20070523.html
>
>Princeton, New Jersey and Longueuil, Quebec, May 23, 2007
>
>Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic® (RFB&D®), America's educational library
>of recorded textbooks for people unable to read print due to a visual or
>perceptual disability, and HumanWare, the leader in assistive technology
>for vision, are pleased to announce that the HumanWare family of
>BrailleNote mPower, PK and Maestro accessible PDA's will have the ability
>to play AudioPlus recorded books from RFB&D as of early June 2007.
>
>HumanWare Canada has long been a supplier of the Victor Reader Family of
>digital audio book players to RFB&D's members, all of whom have print
>disabilities. When played on the HumanWare Victor Reader digital players,
>AudioPlus recorded books can be navigated much like a print book, allowing
>the reader to move from chapter to chapter, section to section or jump
>directly to any page.
>
>"RFB&D's AudioPlus books are an essential learning tool for students and an
>important information source for professionals," says Stephanie Turner,
>RFB&D Product Manager of Market & Product Initiatives. "With Victor Reader
>audiobook players, and now the addition of the HumanWare portable PDA
>products, our members have an even wider variety of tools they can use to
>access our books."
>
>"Since 2001, Victor Reader CD-based talking book players have benefited
>RFB&D members with an enhanced reading experience for the special navigable
>AudioPlus books," says Gerry Chevalier, Victor Reader Product Manager at
>HumanWare. "We are excited to now have the Victor Reader technology
>available on our mPower, PK, and Maestro PDA products so these already
>highly functional devices can now also be used to listen to RFB&D's books."
>
>With the recent addition of tools such as the Oxford Concise Dictionary and
>the Nemeth tutorial, the BrailleNote mPower has become the braille
>notetaker of choice in the educational market. The Maestro PDA, in addition
>to its accessible suite of Windows PDA applications, also hosts the very
>popular Trekker GPS navigation tool to help people who are blind navigate
>independently in their everyday travels.
>
>RFB&D will provide and support the UAK (User Authorization Key) to enable
>playback of AudioPlus books. Users will be required to purchase the
>BrailleNote or Maestro devices directly from HumanWare or through an
>authorized dealer.
>
>About RFB&D
>
>RFB&D serves more than 146,000 students from kindergarten through graduate
>school and beyond with its one-of-a-kind collection of digitally recorded
>educational titles. RFB&D's AudioPlus textbooks on CD provide unprecedented
>navigation, ease of use and proven effectiveness as learning tools for
>students with print disabilities. Students rely on RFB&D's unique
>accommodation to access the printed page and to achieve educational
>success. All of RFB&D's accessible titles are recorded by more than 7,000
>volunteers working in 29 RFB&D recording studios nationwide.
>
>About HumanWare
>
>HumanWare (www.humanware.com) is the global leader in assistive
>technologies for vision, including products for the blind and visually
>impaired. HumanWare's products include BrailleNote, the leading
>productivity device for blind people in education, in business and in their
>personal lives; the Victor Reader product line, the world's leading digital
>talking book players; and myReader2, the new version of HumanWare's unique
>"auto-reader" for people with low vision.
>
>
>
>For further information:
>
>RFB&D
>Mark Zustovich
>tél. : (609) 520-7993
>email : mzustovich at rfbd.org
>Web : www.rfbd.org
>
>
>HumanWare Canada
>Nicolas Lagace
>tel.: (450) 463-1717
>email: nicolas.lagace at humanware.com
>Web: www.humanware.com
>
>
>
>
>Matthew Janusauskas
>Technical Support and Training Manager
>HumanWare USA Inc.
>656 N Kennedy Drive
>Kankakee IL 60901
>Phone:  800-722-3393 Ext. 204
>Fax:    815-939-3194
>E-mail:  matthew.janusauskas at humanware.com
>Internet:  http://www.humanware.com