I've been using an ipod for years, it depends, if you want to work with the 
menus, with mine, forget it, just playing music, no problem. I haven't tried 
that new one yet with talking menus but that should be pretty cool.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Harvey Heagy" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, June 05, 2009 11:15 AM
Subject: Re: OT how accessible is an Ipod


>I don't know much about this except what is contained in this post, but
> here's one you may want to consider.  But generally speaking I don't think
> Ipods are that accessible.
> Harvey
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> Subject: fw: [B P T] talking ipod
>
>
>
>
> At last - The talking iPod has arrived Stephen N Plumbton
>
> Apple has released the new iPod Nano in a variety of colours and in 8
> Gigabyte or 16 Gigabyte guises. The menu structure on the iPod can now be
> spoken using a synthetic voice, so now if you can't see the iPod screen, 
> you
> will not be left wondering what tracks you have downloaded or have 
> selected
> to play.
>
> The model evaluated is the Nano Red, which means that Apple donates some 
> of
> the purchase cost towards fighting Aids in Africa. The great news is that
> this is an iPod that anyone can buy and use, not a specialist product or
> needing an add-on for blind or partially sighted people to use. This is 
> the
> first talking iPod to come to the market. You can expect other MP3 players
> to follow suit as Apple is the market leader in this segment. The spoken
> menu feature is expected to be well received amongst fully sighted people
> also because the iPod is an audio device and people will find the spoken
> menu coming through their earbuds.
>
> The spoken interface can be used on a Macintosh or Windows PC but you must
> use iTunes version 8. When the iPod is plugged in the first time, it will
> begin to charge up the battery. Eventually a start up screen appears which
> allows you to choose how you want to set up the iPod. One of the tick box
> options is "spoken menus". Tick this box if you want iPod menus to be
> spoken.
>
> The voice used is a synthetic voice (i.e. computer generated voice) so 
> might
> not be totally clear or understandable. The voice used is the one chosen 
> in
> Speech in System preferences folder on a Mac and the speech folder in the
> Control Panel on a Windows PC. These are text to speech voices that are
> installed on your computers hard drive. The more synthesizers you have
> installed then the greater the number of voices you have to choose from.
>
> The PC used to trial the iPod Nano had Microsoft Sam installed which was
> very basic but quite clear and also Voiceware Kate which is a very human
> sounding voice.
>
> Using the iPod
>
> The iPod has an LCD screen, which is approximately half of the height of 
> the
> device. The screen can be used to watch movies, or photo albums or even TV
> shows that are now available to download from iTunes. The screen also 
> shows
> albums and songs installed on the iPod. Below the screen is a touch wheel.
> This touch wheel is made up of four buttons that can be pressed - so left
> side of the wheel is rewind or backwards but also can be volume down, the
> right side of the wheel when pressed is fast forward or volume up. The top
> of the wheel is Menu and the bottom of the wheel when pressed toggles
> between play and pause. The touch wheel can also be used as a touch
> sensitive scroll wheel. Sliding your finger around the wheel will move
> backwards or forward through the menus. Finally the inside of the wheel 
> acts
> as an on and off button.
>
> To listen to tracks simply move through your menu list of tracks and press
> play on the one you want to hear. If you want to browse for another track
> whilst listening to a song, the iPod fades the music playing into the
> background while speaking the menu contents. Once you finish navigating in
> the menus the song returns to the set volume.
>
> Shuffle the Shuffle
>
> The iPod has an accelerometer built in so it can detect which way it is
> being held up. This is mainly as a feature for sighted users viewing 
> photos,
> movies or downloads. However the accelerometer allows the iPod to detect
> when it is shaken. This shaking is used as the shuffle feature and a track
> is played randomly from the playlist.
>
> Disable touch wheel mode
>
> When the iPod is in your pocket, bag or even on your arm you can set it to
> play then disable to touch wheel functions so that it does not change 
> songs
> or stop playing by accident. Its similar to keypad lock on a mobile phone.
> On the top left of the iPod is a tiny round slide switch. Sliding it to 
> the
> right puts the iPod into keypad locked. To the left, unlock touch pad.
>
> Display and font sizes
>
> The display is small - after all, the device is called a Nano! However 
> there
> is some accessibility built in. In the General folder the backlight,
> brightness, font size can be adjusted. The font adjustment has two 
> settings
> standard and large. Large is approximately 14 point print size. The colour
> scheme appears to be set as black text on a white background. There is a 
> lot
> of adjustment in the Brightness setting if people find the bright white
> background causes glare however contrast does deteriorate if the 
> brightness
> is turned down low. A useful feature is the "clicker", which registers
> movement on the touch wheel by clicking through menu items.
>
> In conclusion
>
> A desirable, great little device that just got even better. Why not give 
> one
> a try and join the iPod generation! -------------- next 
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