Standard Player Features

The player pictured is the standard digital model which measures 6 by 9 by 2 inches and weighs slightly over 2 pounds.  Digital technology offers excellent sound quality, and all digital books are on one cartridge only – there is no need to change tapes or sides.  The machine is powered by a rechargable battery that holds a charge up to 29 hours before needing to be plugged in and recharged.

The standard machine has eight controls for the basic operations for listening to a book.  The controls consist of:

The  REWIND, PLAY and FAST FORWARD controls are centered and close to the front edge of the player.  The square green Play button controls stopping and starting playback of the book.  The white triangular Rewind and Fast Forward buttons to the left and right of the Play button move through the book more quickly the more times they are pressed, or held down.  Each key press gives audible feedback about how far ahead or back the user is moving.  

The  POWER, SLEEP and VOLUME buttons are located just above the navigation buttons. The round red Power button turns the player on and off. It is close to the left edge of the player. The white Sleep button, shaped like a crescent moon, will automatically turn the player off in fifteen minutes if pressed once while playing a book. It can be pressed up to four times (15 minute increments) up to an hour. It is centered just above the Play button. The yellow Volume controls are shaped like the halves of a narrow pointed oval pulled apart along its narrow axis, or, less pretentiously, like halves of a football. They are close to the right edge of the player. Just above these controls is a tactile raised line running from one side of the player to the other, demarcating the six most frequently used controls from Tone and Speed (and, in the advanced model, from the Navigation and Bookmark buttons).

The  TONE and SPEED buttons are located above the tactile raised line and on either side of the speaker. Both Tone and Speed are shaped like the Volume buttons, a narrow pointed oval pulled apart along its narrow axis. The Tone buttons are close to the left edge of the player; the Volume buttons are close to the right edge. The Volume, Tone and Speed controls all announce each press of the button, e.g. "tone lower," "tone higher," "tone middle," with similar announcements for the other buttons. Speed will change the speech from 50% to 300% of normal, with no change in pitch.

The Digital Talking Book Machine (DTBM) contains software that allows it to read more than one book on a USB Flash Drive or a digital cartridge – this function is called  BOOK SHELF MODE.  To access the "Book Shelf Function" of your DTBM, insert your USB Flash Drive or digital cartridge into your player, then hold down the Play/Stop button until a beep sounds to put your player into Book Shelf Mode.  Then use the Fast Forward or Rewind buttons, to the right and left of the Play/Stop button, to move from one book to another.  The player will announce the title of each book.

OTHER FEATURES: The white band along the front edge of the player is a pull-out handle.  Above the handle is the opening for the Digital Talking Book cartridge. There is no door to close, unlike the cassette player. On the right side of the player are the  HEADPHONE JACK, with a brightly-colored surround for easy location. Next to the jack is a  USB  PORT for upgrading the player as well as playing a thumb drive holding NLS downloaded books from BARD.

On the back of the machine, as on the back of the cassette player, is a compartment for storing the power cord. On the bottom of the player are four rubber feet, the door to the battery compartment, and two recessed bars for attachment of a carrying strap. There is also plenty of room for identification labels.