Player selection for use by the blind...

[mikelt98]

I read about Rockbox a few months ago in MaximumPC magazine. My 13 y.o. daughter is blind, and isn't able to use her current MP3 player to it's fullest extent (Sansa Clip). Can anyone offer suggestions on a MP3 player model for use with Rockbox where she can have easy access via audio commands? I gather the Sansa Clip will run RockBox, but has some issues. With Christmas just around the corner, I thought I may be able to surprise her with a new player and increased/accessible functionality. Note that touch screeens just don't work for her.

I would be particularly interested to learn of another VI (visually impaired) person's experience using this.  Note that I am moderately tech-savvy, but it takes some time for me to get up to speed.

Thanks for any and all input!

Mike

[seani]

Hi Mike,

Just to be certain, you realise that Rockbox doesn't allow your MP3 player to be operated with audio commands, but it will give a substantial amount of audio feedback for navigation etc?

As I understand it, the current stable version of Rockbox (3.4) doesn't work reliably on any currently manufactured MP3 player - you'll need to find a slightly older player as end of line / refurbished / second user. However functionality is coming on apace with some of the more modern players (but no guarantees)

A few questions, where are you based and do you have any sort of budget in mind?

Sean

Eta: also what does she typically use it for (music, audiobooks), is the size/weight/robustness significant, so should it be clip size, and is a recorder / fm radio a factor?

[mikelt98]

seani: What I was hoping for was some audio guidance to assist her in navigating through menus. She's fairly tech-savvy in terms of learning what she needs to do to operate her devices (also the fastest and most accurate typer I know!). But "blind-clicking" buttons and dumbing into functionality is frustrating for her.  As an example, she uses screen-reading software (JAWS) to navigate through her computer main and sub menus via text to speech. Once she opens a program, she then tabs through menus with similar audio feedback, and/or uses hot-keys for additonal levels of functionality in Internet Explorer, Excel, Word, etc...  HTML coding of webpages is a nightmare for screen reading software, yet she manages fairly well when using IE.

In terms of what she'll use an MP3 player for: principally music.  FM radio would be a cool bonus, but isn't a selection criteria. We don't need recording capability, and she has other audio devices for ebooks (Victor Reader). Right now we have so much adaptive technology that my head is swimming!

Eventually we'll probably combine everything onto a Victor, but it is currently furnished by the school district. When we eventually purchase one (i.e.: win the lottery), it will be her main media device.  Until then what I'm hoping to do is enable her to use an MP3 player by getting some audio menu feedback from the device. Based on the article in MaximumPC Magazine's October issue, I was lead to believe that RockBox can "...add voice to menus...".

In terms of size, she can deal with smaller devices - for instance she can manipulate the buttons on her Sansa Clip, but the screen display is obviously meaningless to her.  Her Clip is a 2Gb device running firmware version 02.01.16A.  My initital research led me to believe this is not a real compatible model - but I might be wrong?

Oh - we're in St. Louis, MO too.

Thanks!

Mike

P.S.: Budget = < $200

[Llorean]

That's a ClipV2. It's unfortunately not compatible yet, though work does seem to have progressed somewhat toward it. Impossible to give any sort of time frame though, or even a guarantee anything might happen.

[seani]

Mike, check your email

cheer

sean

[AlexP]

Any of the supported targets will voice menus, and can be set up to spell filenames (or speak them if you create voicefiles).

As for which is best, I'd just go for the cheapest supported one that has the storage you want, given e.g. screen isn't a concern.

I'd probably say an e200 or c200 (version 1 only), but others would also suffice.  The Sansa players also have the advantage of being quite cheap, and often appearing on offer.

[seani]

Mike,

I've given it a spin on my F40 in the vanilla 3.4 build and the voicing works very well IMO.

There are a few other things that help - setting keyclick to "moderate" and keyrepeat to "on" for instance, gives some extra feedback navigating through items.

And there are battery optimisations from the settings that would help; brightness and contrast could be tuned down (although not off in case sighted assistance was called for), button LED's lowered etc.

In fact as all these settings can be stored away as a configuration file, I wonder if there would be some mileage in delivering the standard install with a dedicated "blind" config file?



AlexP,

Is there another source for blind / partially sighted user FAQs / tips aside from the wiki entry? Not a criticism, but it seems there are a few non-technical points that might be worth capturing?

[AlexP]

Is there another source for blind / partially sighted user FAQs / tips aside from the wiki entry? Not a criticism, but it seems there are a few non-technical points that might be worth capturing?

Not that I'm aware of but seeing as it is a wiki then if there is anything that is missing or unclear, please feel free to add/correct it.

[mikelt98]

All: Thank you for the input and the generous offers a few of you made. I'll be researching this with an eye toward purchasing this weekend, and may post a few questions.  Regardless, I'm sure I'll have a bevy of questions once I get to install and configure...

Regards,

Mike