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Harry,

I think you have received many good points on why your suggestion is not 
as straightforward as you thought.

One of the issues why Congress is a bit confused, has to do with their own 
doing.  They say why can't blind people use off-the-shelf technology? 
Well, they have NLS so fearful of copyright violations that NLS has felt 
it necessary to make sure that NLS books cannot be read on off-the-shelf 
technology.  Four track half speed cassettes.

Off-the-shelf tech works for most people but not all.

Even though I am in the technology industry.  Even though I listen to 
synthetic speech eight to ten hours a day, I would rather run a drill 
through my ears than listen to a book via synthetic speech.

As far as the question about the learning curve, I believe the curve is 
output verses effort.  The effort to learn to use a four-track tape 
recorder to listen to a human voice is much less than the effort required 
to learn to use a computer, a screen reader, a scanner, and listen to a 
synthesized voice for the same result, reading a book.

-- 
Blue skies.
Dan Rossi
Carnegie Mellon University.
E-Mail:	[log in to unmask]
Tel:	(412) 268-9081


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