Amazon has published a press release about forthcoming improvements to the kindle. The piece is strangely dominated by quotes from visually impaired users of the device, praising its accessibility, a bit ironic for a device which has been so widely criticized by members of the blind community for the exact opposite effect. Among the promised improvements are a larger font and voice-guided menus. No mention of the possibility of overriding the setting of turning off text-to-speech for a specific book, which could be a dealbreaker. The changes are promised for the summer of 2010.
Source: Go to sourceCategory: Books/Movies/Music
Of course for blind users enhanced size and voice entry of commands is like improving the volume control for a totally deaf person. Somewhat increased accessibility is nice, but to say it is subsequently going to be at all accessible for the blind is another matter. Sad to see so little from a great company.
mf723 Wednesday, 09-Dec-2009 11:36 PM ET:
I'm quite skeptical about this. Particularly since it mentions that authors have the option to disable TTS. Plus...With Bookshare NLS and Bard I don't see any reason to start buying books from Amazon.
DPinWI Thursday, 10-Dec-2009 10:37 AM ET:
This doesn't seem like the right fit as a book reader for many blind and low vision. While it's nice Amazon is trying to increase accessibility, I tend to think of it as a big, "Why?"
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J.J. Meddaugh is an experienced technology writer and computer enthusiast. He is a graduate of Western Michigan University with a major in telecommunications management and a minor in business. When not writing for Blind Bargains, he enjoys travel, playing the keyboard, and meeting new people.
