An Interesting New Device: The Booksense

I am always interested in new pieces of technology, especially technology that is incredibly versatile. Recently, a new device called the Booksense caught my attention. It’s a device that plays everything from audio books to iTunes music to text documents.

Besides its diversity, its portability makes it incredibly appealing. It weighs a scant four ounces and can easily be slipped into a pocket or purse. It is also simple to navigate, unlike many of the adaptive technology devices currently available, which can become incredibly complicated. It resembles a candy-bar cell phone. At the very top of the unit are stereo speakers behind a grill.  Further down, there is a button which reports the date and time. Moving down, there is a menu button that controls the major settings for all the applications. Surrounding the menu button are four arrow keys which assist in navigation. Finally, there is a standard numeric keypad, where you enter commands.

It has some navigating options that seem fairly sophisticated. You can move in the standard increments like word, sentence, or paragraph, or you can move in increments of time. This is especially helpful when navigating audio books. For instance, if you know that your favorite scene is about thirty minutes into a book, with a few simple strokes you can set the player to move in thirty minute increments and instantly be at that particular scene. Also, in every file type supported, you can move by percentage.  

Another thing that makes this device appealing to me is that it plays files generated by iTunes. Many of the accessible audio players I know of do not play these files because of their DRM status. However, due to the fact that the manufacturer worked with Apple to ensure that iTunes would be accessible with the next version of their screen reader, they seem to have come to some sort of compromise.