I recieved one yesterday and books to read today.  I will describe it and 
then some comments aboutwhat I like and don't like.

It has the same overall proportions as the 4 track player but about 1/3 the 
size.  Many things are a hold over from the tape machine.  It has a pull 
out 
handle in the front and the line cord fits into a nook at the back.  A slot 
roughly in the same place as where tapes are inserted recieves the 
cartridge  holding the memory chip.  Along the front edg are the fast 
reverse, play, and fast forward buttons in that order.  Near the fast 
reverse is a power on and off button.  At other locations are volume, tone 
and speed up and down buttons.  There is a headphone jack on the same side 
as the tape machine but only the 1/8 small format with no other jacks.

With no book inserted one can turn power on and a recorded male voice 
announces power status, if it is plugged iin and the current amount in 
hours of battery life remaining; which was 18 hours out of the box.

It also says that by hitting any of the other buttons its function and 
operation will be spoken.  Holding down the play button for 2 seconds has a 
detailed user guide, the kind that used to come on a tape.

The book chip cartridge is about the size of apack of playing cards but 1/3 
the thickness.  It comes in a plastic mailer the same shape as a tape 
mailer and otherwise works like one, but about 1/4 as thick.  The cartridge 
has a finger hole at one end and it can only be inserted one way, braille 
is on the top.  It starts reading as soon as it is inserted.  Other then 
that I will leave it to the internal recording for operating instructions.

I like that a great deal of thought went into its design.  This includes it 
carrying over familiar shapes and functions from the tape machine.  Using 
it for the first time is easy and intuitive in no small part because of it. 
It operates very smoothly and some effort went into tweeking the 
soundquality from the speaker.  Like a cd and a tape compared for music, 
the digital recording contributes to this sound quality.

Unlike the tape machine the very annoying power supply hum that appeared to 
be very loud at night and came easily through earphones is gone.  It is 
absolute dead silent in operation.

As with the tape machine, it is needlessly large and heavy it seems to me. 
Iyt is the size of a hard cover book and at least a couple of pounds as a 
guess.  In these days when a digital player is held in a shirt pocket this 
seems unwieldy to carry and begs for leaving it when going out; having it 
on a bus for reading would be a chore.  In practical terms it is portable 
in name only.  Having controls anyone can use was no doubt part of this but 
all could have been put on a much smaller and less heavy machine without 
changing button size.  Using a wall wwart for recharging and non-battery 
use would have greatly reduce size and weight.

On balance a good job that will increasebook reading pleasure greatly.


                                XB
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