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Press Release
RECORDING FOR THE BLIND & DYSLEXIC®
(RFB&D®) AND HUMANWARE
SUPPORT NEW PORTABLE PLAYERS FOR RFB&D'S AUDIOPLUS®
BOOKS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 16, 2007 (Princeton, NJ, and Longueuil, Canada) - Recording
for the Blind & Dyslexic® (RFB&D®), America's
educational library of recorded textbooks for people who cannot
effectively read standard print because of visual impairment,
dyslexia or other physical disability, and HumanWare announced
that the HumanWare family of BrailleNote mPower, PK and Maestro-accessible
PDAs will have the ability to play RFB&D's AudioPlus®
books on CDs 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.
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.
HumanWare is the global leader in assistive technologies for
vision, providing products to people who are blind or have low
vision and students with learning disabilities. HumanWare's many
innovative products include BrailleNote, the leading educational
productivity device in both the business and the personal lives
of people who are blind; the Victor Reader product line, which
constitutes the world's leading digital audiobook players; and
SmartView Xtend, the first fully modular and upgradeable CCTV-based
video magnifier.
For information on RFB&D, volunteering or making a donation,
call toll-free 866-RFBD-585 (866-732-3585) or visit RFB&D's
accessible website at www.rfbd.org. For more on HumanWare,
visit www.humanware.com.
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additional media inquiries:
RFB&D News Desk 1-800-803-7201, press 6
media e-mail inquiries
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