Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Did anyone happen to see this from AccessWorld? Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi Deborah Kendrick Upon reading a product evaluation I wrote of a stand-alone tabletop DAISY and audio book player , a representative of Shinano Kenshi wrote asking for an evaluation of the PLEXTALK PTN2. First Look The PLEXTALK PTN2 is roughly 9 inches by 7 inches and about one inch high, giving it a footprint very much like the digital talking book player distributed by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). The PLEXTALK PTN2 has 27 buttons (or keys) on the top face of the unit, an external speaker grille in the upper right corner, roughly 2 by 3 inches, and a connector for an AC adapter on the back. On the left edge are slots for a secure digital (SD) card and a USB port in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front edge is a slot for standard CDs; the battery compartment is on the bottom, along with rubber feet for stability. There is no carrying handle; the unit can run on either AC current or battery power. In the box with the unit is an AC adapter, user's guide on DAISY CD, and a snap-on cover with holes exposing only the basic, essential keys. (More about that below.) Initial Test Drive After taking the unit out of the box, it's fairly easy to test it immediately. As is always wise when using any product for the first time, plug it in and press the "Power" button. Anyone familiar with other PLEXTALK products will recognize the charming chimes indicating that the unit is working on the issued command. It immediately chimes once, announces "Please wait" in a clear female voice, and then repeats the PLEXTALK chiming waiting sound for about ten seconds before announcing whatever media is detected onboard. The inclusion of the user's guide on DAISY CD offers a perfect opportunity for acquainting oneself with the product. The sound quality of the PLEXTALK PTN2 is outstanding. Even this writer with a hearing impairment can hear it loud and clear from across the room. The synthetic voices for text-to-speech are the familiar Samantha and Tom and are sufficiently distinct. When playing music or an audio book, the sound quality is excellent. Those 27 Keys At the bottom of the unit is the familiar "Play/Pause" key in the middle with arrow-shaped "Rewind" and "Fast Forward" keys to either side. Directly above this trio is the 12-key telephone-style keypad used frequently for navigation, menu selections, and other functions. In a column to the left of these buttons are four distinctly-shaped keys: the "Menu," "Bookshelf," "Go To" (heading, page, etc.), and "Bookmark" keys. Directly above the telephone-style keypad are three control columns: "Tone," "Volume," and "Speed." Although the user's guide counts these as three buttons, I count them as six since each has an up and down control with a distinct split between them. On the right-hand side of the machine is an "Information" key, a "Sleep" key, the "Power" button, an "Eject" for CDs, and a close pair of title keys ("Previous" and "Next"), which are used when navigating from one media type to another or one folder to another within a given media source. Again, these appear to be two buttons although the user's guide refers to them as one. When first powered on, the PTN2 remembers the last content played and announces that content's source. If that is the material you wish to hear, you can simply press "Play." The "2" and "8" keys will give you information regarding the mark-up available (levels 1, 2, and 3, for instance), and the "4" and "6" keys are used to move backward and forward accordingly. The "Go To" key, depending on the type of content played, allows you to move by heading, page, or percentage within a given file. The "Bookshelf" key is used to rotate among CD, SD card, and USB thumb drive, all of which can be onboard at any given time. Navigating among the various media sources can also be done using the "Title" key on the right. The "Bookmark" key can be used to set up to 10,000 bookmarks. There is, however, no voice or highlight bookmark feature available but, instead, only numbered bookmarks, the numbers for which can either be user defined by entering a number from the keypad or automatically set by the PTN2. Once bookmarks have been set, however, you can access a bookmark list, navigating through your bookmarks with the "4" and "6" keys or by entering the number of a specifically desired bookmark to move directly to it. The Mask The PTN2 comes with a snap-on cover called a mask that is molded to fit securely over the face of the unit with pieces that grip the sides. When the mask is in place, only a few of the unit's keys are available to the user. These include the three keys at the bottom ("Rewind," "Play/Pause," and "Fast Forward"), the five keys at the right ("Power," "Sleep," "Eject," "Information," and "Title"), and the "Tone" and "Volume" controls at the top. One question that immediately arose is why "Tone" and "Volume," but not "Speed," controls have been selected as the most essential to have available to a user with more limited technical ability. That small caveat aside, this may be a useful feature in some situations, such as for teaching or when the unit is used by children or those with limited tactile sensitivity. What Can It Play? The PTN2 can play a wonderful array of file types and formats: DAISY, .TXT, .DOC, HTML, and a variety of audio formats, including WAV, MP3, and OGG. If a file contains both DAISY text and audio, the PTN2 will only recognize one or the other. I loaded the unit with content of every type (a CD, an SD card, and a USB thumb drive all at once) and found the results both impressive and puzzling. While the unit was able to navigate among all three sources, representing a wide array of format types, some content was inaccessible. On the USB drive, for example, there was a folder of audio files and a folder of text files played perfectly. A third folder, however, containing both audio and text files of the same content, revealed only the text. If I hadn't known the audio files were there, I would not have been able to discover them. You can work around this problem by removing the text files from the folder or by placing the audio files in a separate folder, but the initial roadblock is bewildering. Other PLEXTALK products share this particular quirk of requiring all content to be placed in its own folder, and in this instance, even if the content is the same but is represented in more than one format, each must have a folder of its own. Quirks aside, it warrants mentioning that included in the smorgasbord of content loaded for the above experiment were books drawn from three of the most popular sources for readers who are blind or visually impaired (Bookshare, NLS BARD, and Audible.com), and the PLEXTALK PTN2 played all of them beautifully. A Few Special Features The PLEXTALK PTN2 does a few things that competing products do not, and it does them very well. First, as mentioned above, the PLEXTALK plays audiobooks and other materials downloadable from Audible.com . Secondly, although it has no other recording capabilities, the PLEXTALK can backup an audio CD, including commercially available CDs, to an SD card. The process is a simple one but does take some time. To back up a CD with approximately 50 minutes of recording, for example, the process took about 25 minutes. The procedure is completely simple (press the "9" key to begin and "8" to confirm), and the PLEXTALK chiming sounds continue throughout the process to let you know something is actually happening. When finished, the unit announces that the backup is complete. When CDs are copied in this manner, they are placed on the SD card in a folder entitled "PLEXTALK Backup," which is created by the unit itself. On a more random note, the PTN2 does have time and date announcement features, a sleep timer, and an automatic shut-off after 15 minutes when operating on battery. While none of these are likely to be deal breakers for many customers, they are convenient features that warrant mentioning. Conclusions The PTN2 is a compact unit with fabulous sound quality that will meet most listening needs of customers who are blind or low vision. It plays content from CD, SD, and USB sources and can play a wide variety of formats from the most popularly used content sources. In addition to music and audio books, it offers clear text-to-speech capabilities and is, thus, able to play plain text, Word, and HTML documents. It does not have wireless or recording functionality other than the ability to back up a CD to an SD card. Product Information Product: PLEXTALK PTN2 Price: $375 Available from: available from a variety of dealers, including IRTI, Active Forever, Maxi-Aids, and others.
I just hope that people can realize the wunders of this machine by themselves. It just seem to me sometimes that only after a review like this some people actually wake up. I like this woman riting, but she also make me angry. She didn't even mention the fact that ptn2 can use skippable elements wich only a few players can do at present. And the folder is called plex backup, not plextalk backup.She should no that. She is clever enough I am sure. On 04/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Did anyone happen to see this from AccessWorld?
Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi Deborah Kendrick Upon reading a product evaluation I wrote of a stand-alone tabletop DAISY and audio book
player , a representative of Shinano Kenshi wrote asking for an evaluation of the PLEXTALK PTN2. First Look The PLEXTALK PTN2 is roughly 9 inches by 7 inches and about one inch high, giving it a footprint very much like the digital talking book player distributed by
the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). The
PLEXTALK PTN2 has 27 buttons (or keys) on the top face of the unit, an external speaker grille in the upper right corner, roughly 2 by 3 inches, and a connector for an AC
adapter on the back. On the left edge are slots for a secure digital (SD) card and a
USB port in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front edge is a slot for
standard CDs; the battery compartment is on the bottom, along with rubber feet for stability. There is no carrying handle; the unit can run on either AC current or battery power. In the box with the unit is an AC adapter, user's guide on DAISY CD, and a snap-on cover with holes exposing only the basic, essential keys. (More about that below.) Initial Test Drive After taking the unit out of the box, it's fairly easy to test it immediately. As is always wise when using any product for the first time, plug it in and press the "Power" button. Anyone familiar with other PLEXTALK products will recognize
the charming chimes indicating that the unit is working on the issued command. It immediately chimes once, announces "Please wait" in a clear female voice, and then repeats the PLEXTALK chiming waiting sound for about ten seconds before announcing whatever media is detected onboard. The inclusion of the user's guide on DAISY CD offers a
perfect opportunity for acquainting oneself with the product. The sound quality of the PLEXTALK PTN2 is outstanding. Even this writer with
a hearing impairment can hear it loud and clear from across the room. The synthetic voices for text-to-speech are the familiar Samantha and Tom and are sufficiently distinct. When playing music or an audio book, the sound quality is excellent. Those 27 Keys At the bottom of the unit is the familiar "Play/Pause" key in the middle with arrow-shaped "Rewind" and "Fast Forward" keys to either side. Directly above this trio is
the 12-key telephone-style keypad used frequently for navigation, menu selections, and other functions. In a column to the left of these buttons are four distinctly-shaped keys: the "Menu," "Bookshelf," "Go To" (heading, page, etc.), and "Bookmark"
keys. Directly above the telephone-style keypad are three control columns: "Tone,"
"Volume," and "Speed." Although the user's guide counts these as three buttons, I count them as six since each has an up and down control with a distinct split between them. On the right-hand side of the machine is an "Information" key, a "Sleep" key, the "Power" button, an "Eject" for CDs, and a close pair of title keys ("Previous" and "Next"), which are used when navigating from one media type to another or one folder to another within a given media source. Again, these appear to be two buttons although the user's guide refers to them as one. When first powered on, the PTN2 remembers the last content played and announces that content's source. If that is the material you wish to hear, you can simply press "Play." The "2" and "8" keys will give you information regarding the mark-up
available (levels 1, 2, and 3, for instance), and the "4" and "6" keys are used to move backward and forward accordingly. The "Go To" key, depending on the type of content played, allows you to move by heading, page, or percentage within a given file. The
"Bookshelf" key is used to rotate among CD, SD card, and USB thumb drive, all of which can be onboard at any given time. Navigating among the various media sources can also be done using the "Title" key on the right. The "Bookmark" key can be used to set up to 10,000 bookmarks. There is, however, no voice or highlight bookmark feature available but, instead, only numbered bookmarks, the numbers for which can either be user defined by entering a number from the keypad or automatically set by the PTN2. Once
bookmarks have been set, however, you can access a bookmark list, navigating through your bookmarks with the "4" and "6" keys or by entering the number of a specifically desired bookmark to move directly to it. The Mask The PTN2 comes with a snap-on cover called a mask that is molded to fit securely over the face of the unit with pieces that grip the sides. When the mask is
in place, only a few of the unit's keys are available to the user. These include the three keys at the bottom ("Rewind," "Play/Pause," and "Fast Forward"), the five keys at the right ("Power," "Sleep," "Eject," "Information," and "Title"), and the "Tone" and "Volume" controls at the top. One question that immediately arose is why
"Tone" and "Volume," but not "Speed," controls have been selected as the most essential to have available to a user with more limited technical ability. That small
caveat aside, this may be a useful feature in some situations, such as for teaching
or when the unit is used by children or those with limited tactile sensitivity. What Can It Play? The PTN2 can play a wonderful array of file types and formats: DAISY, .TXT,
.DOC, HTML, and a variety of audio formats, including WAV, MP3, and OGG. If a file
contains both DAISY text and audio, the PTN2 will only recognize one or the other. I loaded the unit with content of every type (a CD, an SD card, and a USB thumb drive all at once) and found the results both impressive and puzzling. While the unit was able to navigate among all three sources, representing a wide array of format types, some content was inaccessible. On the USB drive, for example, there was a folder of audio files and a folder of text files played perfectly. A third folder,
however, containing both audio and text files of the same content, revealed only the
text. If I hadn't known the audio files were there, I would not have been able to
discover them. You can work around this problem by removing the text files from the folder or by placing the audio files in a separate folder, but the initial roadblock is bewildering. Other PLEXTALK products share this particular quirk of requiring all content to be placed in its own folder, and in this instance, even if the content is the same but is represented in more than one format, each must have a folder of its own. Quirks aside, it warrants mentioning that included in the smorgasbord of content loaded for the above experiment were books drawn from three of the most popular sources for readers who are blind or visually impaired (Bookshare, NLS BARD, and Audible.com), and the PLEXTALK PTN2 played all of them beautifully. A Few Special Features The PLEXTALK PTN2 does a few things that competing products do not, and it does them very well. First, as mentioned above, the PLEXTALK plays audiobooks and other materials downloadable from Audible.com . Secondly, although it has no other recording capabilities, the PLEXTALK can backup an audio CD, including commercially available CDs, to an SD card. The process is a simple one but does take some time. To back up a CD with approximately 50
minutes of recording, for example, the process took about 25 minutes. The procedure
is completely simple (press the "9" key to begin and "8" to confirm), and the PLEXTALK chiming sounds continue throughout the process to let you know something is actually
happening. When finished, the unit announces that the backup is complete. When CDs are
copied in this manner, they are placed on the SD card in a folder entitled "PLEXTALK Backup," which is created by the unit itself. On a more random note, the PTN2 does have time and date announcement features, a sleep timer, and an automatic shut-off after 15 minutes when operating on battery. While none of these are likely to be deal breakers for many customers, they
are convenient features that warrant mentioning. Conclusions The PTN2 is a compact unit with fabulous sound quality that will meet most listening needs of customers who are blind or low vision. It plays content from CD, SD, and USB sources and can play a wide variety of formats from the most popularly used content sources. In addition to music and audio books, it offers clear text-to-speech capabilities and is, thus, able to play plain text, Word, and HTML documents. It does not have wireless or recording functionality other than the ability
to back up a CD to an SD card. Product Information Product: PLEXTALK PTN2 Price: $375 Available from: available from a variety of dealers, including IRTI, Active
Forever, Maxi-Aids, and others.
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
I just hope that people can realize the wunders of this machine by themselves. It just seem to me sometimes that only after a review like this some people actually wake up. I like this woman riting, but she also make me angry. She didn't even mention the fact that ptn2 can use skippable elements wich only a few players can do at present. And the folder is called plex backup, not plextalk backup.She should no that. She is clever enough I am sure. On 04/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Did anyone happen to see this from AccessWorld?
Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi Deborah Kendrick Upon reading a product evaluation I wrote of a stand-alone tabletop DAISY and audio book
player , a representative of Shinano Kenshi wrote asking for an evaluation of the PLEXTALK PTN2. First Look The PLEXTALK PTN2 is roughly 9 inches by 7 inches and about one inch high, giving it a footprint very much like the digital talking book player distributed by
the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). The
PLEXTALK PTN2 has 27 buttons (or keys) on the top face of the unit, an external speaker grille in the upper right corner, roughly 2 by 3 inches, and a connector for an AC
adapter on the back. On the left edge are slots for a secure digital (SD) card and a
USB port in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front edge is a slot for
standard CDs; the battery compartment is on the bottom, along with rubber feet for stability. There is no carrying handle; the unit can run on either AC current or battery power. In the box with the unit is an AC adapter, user's guide on DAISY CD, and a snap-on cover with holes exposing only the basic, essential keys. (More about that below.) Initial Test Drive After taking the unit out of the box, it's fairly easy to test it immediately. As is always wise when using any product for the first time, plug it in and press the "Power" button. Anyone familiar with other PLEXTALK products will recognize
the charming chimes indicating that the unit is working on the issued command. It immediately chimes once, announces "Please wait" in a clear female voice, and then repeats the PLEXTALK chiming waiting sound for about ten seconds before announcing whatever media is detected onboard. The inclusion of the user's guide on DAISY CD offers a
perfect opportunity for acquainting oneself with the product. The sound quality of the PLEXTALK PTN2 is outstanding. Even this writer with
a hearing impairment can hear it loud and clear from across the room. The synthetic voices for text-to-speech are the familiar Samantha and Tom and are sufficiently distinct. When playing music or an audio book, the sound quality is excellent. Those 27 Keys At the bottom of the unit is the familiar "Play/Pause" key in the middle with arrow-shaped "Rewind" and "Fast Forward" keys to either side. Directly above this trio is
the 12-key telephone-style keypad used frequently for navigation, menu selections, and other functions. In a column to the left of these buttons are four distinctly-shaped keys: the "Menu," "Bookshelf," "Go To" (heading, page, etc.), and "Bookmark"
keys. Directly above the telephone-style keypad are three control columns: "Tone,"
"Volume," and "Speed." Although the user's guide counts these as three buttons, I count them as six since each has an up and down control with a distinct split between them. On the right-hand side of the machine is an "Information" key, a "Sleep" key, the "Power" button, an "Eject" for CDs, and a close pair of title keys ("Previous" and "Next"), which are used when navigating from one media type to another or one folder to another within a given media source. Again, these appear to be two buttons although the user's guide refers to them as one. When first powered on, the PTN2 remembers the last content played and announces that content's source. If that is the material you wish to hear, you can simply press "Play." The "2" and "8" keys will give you information regarding the mark-up
available (levels 1, 2, and 3, for instance), and the "4" and "6" keys are used to move backward and forward accordingly. The "Go To" key, depending on the type of content played, allows you to move by heading, page, or percentage within a given file. The
"Bookshelf" key is used to rotate among CD, SD card, and USB thumb drive, all of which can be onboard at any given time. Navigating among the various media sources can also be done using the "Title" key on the right. The "Bookmark" key can be used to set up to 10,000 bookmarks. There is, however, no voice or highlight bookmark feature available but, instead, only numbered bookmarks, the numbers for which can either be user defined by entering a number from the keypad or automatically set by the PTN2. Once
bookmarks have been set, however, you can access a bookmark list, navigating through your bookmarks with the "4" and "6" keys or by entering the number of a specifically desired bookmark to move directly to it. The Mask The PTN2 comes with a snap-on cover called a mask that is molded to fit securely over the face of the unit with pieces that grip the sides. When the mask is
in place, only a few of the unit's keys are available to the user. These include the three keys at the bottom ("Rewind," "Play/Pause," and "Fast Forward"), the five keys at the right ("Power," "Sleep," "Eject," "Information," and "Title"), and the "Tone" and "Volume" controls at the top. One question that immediately arose is why
"Tone" and "Volume," but not "Speed," controls have been selected as the most essential to have available to a user with more limited technical ability. That small
caveat aside, this may be a useful feature in some situations, such as for teaching
or when the unit is used by children or those with limited tactile sensitivity. What Can It Play? The PTN2 can play a wonderful array of file types and formats: DAISY, .TXT,
.DOC, HTML, and a variety of audio formats, including WAV, MP3, and OGG. If a file
contains both DAISY text and audio, the PTN2 will only recognize one or the other. I loaded the unit with content of every type (a CD, an SD card, and a USB thumb drive all at once) and found the results both impressive and puzzling. While the unit was able to navigate among all three sources, representing a wide array of format types, some content was inaccessible. On the USB drive, for example, there was a folder of audio files and a folder of text files played perfectly. A third folder,
however, containing both audio and text files of the same content, revealed only the
text. If I hadn't known the audio files were there, I would not have been able to
discover them. You can work around this problem by removing the text files from the folder or by placing the audio files in a separate folder, but the initial roadblock is bewildering. Other PLEXTALK products share this particular quirk of requiring all content to be placed in its own folder, and in this instance, even if the content is the same but is represented in more than one format, each must have a folder of its own. Quirks aside, it warrants mentioning that included in the smorgasbord of content loaded for the above experiment were books drawn from three of the most popular sources for readers who are blind or visually impaired (Bookshare, NLS BARD, and Audible.com), and the PLEXTALK PTN2 played all of them beautifully. A Few Special Features The PLEXTALK PTN2 does a few things that competing products do not, and it does them very well. First, as mentioned above, the PLEXTALK plays audiobooks and other materials downloadable from Audible.com . Secondly, although it has no other recording capabilities, the PLEXTALK can backup an audio CD, including commercially available CDs, to an SD card. The process is a simple one but does take some time. To back up a CD with approximately 50
minutes of recording, for example, the process took about 25 minutes. The procedure
is completely simple (press the "9" key to begin and "8" to confirm), and the PLEXTALK chiming sounds continue throughout the process to let you know something is actually
happening. When finished, the unit announces that the backup is complete. When CDs are
copied in this manner, they are placed on the SD card in a folder entitled "PLEXTALK Backup," which is created by the unit itself. On a more random note, the PTN2 does have time and date announcement features, a sleep timer, and an automatic shut-off after 15 minutes when operating on battery. While none of these are likely to be deal breakers for many customers, they
are convenient features that warrant mentioning. Conclusions The PTN2 is a compact unit with fabulous sound quality that will meet most listening needs of customers who are blind or low vision. It plays content from CD, SD, and USB sources and can play a wide variety of formats from the most popularly used content sources. In addition to music and audio books, it offers clear text-to-speech capabilities and is, thus, able to play plain text, Word, and HTML documents. It does not have wireless or recording functionality other than the ability
to back up a CD to an SD card. Product Information Product: PLEXTALK PTN2 Price: $375 Available from: available from a variety of dealers, including IRTI, Active
Forever, Maxi-Aids, and others.
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
I agree with you completely. On 11/4/12, Aidan Maher <aidan.smarttalk@gmail.com> wrote:
I just hope that people can realize the wunders of this machine by themselves. It just seem to me sometimes that only after a review like this some people actually wake up. I like this woman riting, but she also make me angry. She didn't even mention the fact that ptn2 can use skippable elements wich only a few players can do at present. And the folder is called plex backup, not plextalk backup.She should no that. She is clever enough I am sure.
On 04/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Did anyone happen to see this from AccessWorld?
Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi Deborah Kendrick Upon reading a product evaluation I wrote of a stand-alone tabletop DAISY and audio book
player , a representative of Shinano Kenshi wrote asking for an evaluation of the PLEXTALK PTN2. First Look The PLEXTALK PTN2 is roughly 9 inches by 7 inches and about one inch high, giving it a footprint very much like the digital talking book player distributed by
the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). The
PLEXTALK PTN2 has 27 buttons (or keys) on the top face of the unit, an external speaker grille in the upper right corner, roughly 2 by 3 inches, and a connector for an AC
adapter on the back. On the left edge are slots for a secure digital (SD) card and a
USB port in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front edge is a slot for
standard CDs; the battery compartment is on the bottom, along with rubber feet for stability. There is no carrying handle; the unit can run on either AC current or battery power. In the box with the unit is an AC adapter, user's guide on DAISY CD, and a snap-on cover with holes exposing only the basic, essential keys. (More about that below.) Initial Test Drive After taking the unit out of the box, it's fairly easy to test it immediately. As is always wise when using any product for the first time, plug it in and press the "Power" button. Anyone familiar with other PLEXTALK products will recognize
the charming chimes indicating that the unit is working on the issued command. It immediately chimes once, announces "Please wait" in a clear female voice, and then repeats the PLEXTALK chiming waiting sound for about ten seconds before announcing whatever media is detected onboard. The inclusion of the user's guide on DAISY CD offers a
perfect opportunity for acquainting oneself with the product. The sound quality of the PLEXTALK PTN2 is outstanding. Even this writer with
a hearing impairment can hear it loud and clear from across the room. The synthetic voices for text-to-speech are the familiar Samantha and Tom and are sufficiently distinct. When playing music or an audio book, the sound quality is excellent. Those 27 Keys At the bottom of the unit is the familiar "Play/Pause" key in the middle with arrow-shaped "Rewind" and "Fast Forward" keys to either side. Directly above this trio is
the 12-key telephone-style keypad used frequently for navigation, menu selections, and other functions. In a column to the left of these buttons are four distinctly-shaped keys: the "Menu," "Bookshelf," "Go To" (heading, page, etc.), and "Bookmark"
keys. Directly above the telephone-style keypad are three control columns: "Tone,"
"Volume," and "Speed." Although the user's guide counts these as three buttons, I count them as six since each has an up and down control with a distinct split between them. On the right-hand side of the machine is an "Information" key, a "Sleep" key, the "Power" button, an "Eject" for CDs, and a close pair of title keys ("Previous" and "Next"), which are used when navigating from one media type to another or one folder to another within a given media source. Again, these appear to be two buttons although the user's guide refers to them as one. When first powered on, the PTN2 remembers the last content played and announces that content's source. If that is the material you wish to hear, you can simply press "Play." The "2" and "8" keys will give you information regarding the mark-up
available (levels 1, 2, and 3, for instance), and the "4" and "6" keys are used to move backward and forward accordingly. The "Go To" key, depending on the type of content played, allows you to move by heading, page, or percentage within a given file. The
"Bookshelf" key is used to rotate among CD, SD card, and USB thumb drive, all of which can be onboard at any given time. Navigating among the various media sources can also be done using the "Title" key on the right. The "Bookmark" key can be used to set up to 10,000 bookmarks. There is, however, no voice or highlight bookmark feature available but, instead, only numbered bookmarks, the numbers for which can either be user defined by entering a number from the keypad or automatically set by the PTN2. Once
bookmarks have been set, however, you can access a bookmark list, navigating through your bookmarks with the "4" and "6" keys or by entering the number of a specifically desired bookmark to move directly to it. The Mask The PTN2 comes with a snap-on cover called a mask that is molded to fit securely over the face of the unit with pieces that grip the sides. When the mask is
in place, only a few of the unit's keys are available to the user. These include the three keys at the bottom ("Rewind," "Play/Pause," and "Fast Forward"), the five keys at the right ("Power," "Sleep," "Eject," "Information," and "Title"), and the "Tone" and "Volume" controls at the top. One question that immediately arose is why
"Tone" and "Volume," but not "Speed," controls have been selected as the most essential to have available to a user with more limited technical ability. That small
caveat aside, this may be a useful feature in some situations, such as for teaching
or when the unit is used by children or those with limited tactile sensitivity. What Can It Play? The PTN2 can play a wonderful array of file types and formats: DAISY, .TXT,
.DOC, HTML, and a variety of audio formats, including WAV, MP3, and OGG. If a file
contains both DAISY text and audio, the PTN2 will only recognize one or the other. I loaded the unit with content of every type (a CD, an SD card, and a USB thumb drive all at once) and found the results both impressive and puzzling. While the unit was able to navigate among all three sources, representing a wide array of format types, some content was inaccessible. On the USB drive, for example, there was a folder of audio files and a folder of text files played perfectly. A third folder,
however, containing both audio and text files of the same content, revealed only the
text. If I hadn't known the audio files were there, I would not have been able to
discover them. You can work around this problem by removing the text files from the folder or by placing the audio files in a separate folder, but the initial roadblock is bewildering. Other PLEXTALK products share this particular quirk of requiring all content to be placed in its own folder, and in this instance, even if the content is the same but is represented in more than one format, each must have a folder of its own. Quirks aside, it warrants mentioning that included in the smorgasbord of content loaded for the above experiment were books drawn from three of the most popular sources for readers who are blind or visually impaired (Bookshare, NLS BARD, and Audible.com), and the PLEXTALK PTN2 played all of them beautifully. A Few Special Features The PLEXTALK PTN2 does a few things that competing products do not, and it does them very well. First, as mentioned above, the PLEXTALK plays audiobooks and other materials downloadable from Audible.com . Secondly, although it has no other recording capabilities, the PLEXTALK can backup an audio CD, including commercially available CDs, to an SD card. The process is a simple one but does take some time. To back up a CD with approximately 50
minutes of recording, for example, the process took about 25 minutes. The procedure
is completely simple (press the "9" key to begin and "8" to confirm), and the PLEXTALK chiming sounds continue throughout the process to let you know something is actually
happening. When finished, the unit announces that the backup is complete. When CDs are
copied in this manner, they are placed on the SD card in a folder entitled "PLEXTALK Backup," which is created by the unit itself. On a more random note, the PTN2 does have time and date announcement features, a sleep timer, and an automatic shut-off after 15 minutes when operating on battery. While none of these are likely to be deal breakers for many customers, they
are convenient features that warrant mentioning. Conclusions The PTN2 is a compact unit with fabulous sound quality that will meet most listening needs of customers who are blind or low vision. It plays content from CD, SD, and USB sources and can play a wide variety of formats from the most popularly used content sources. In addition to music and audio books, it offers clear text-to-speech capabilities and is, thus, able to play plain text, Word, and HTML documents. It does not have wireless or recording functionality other than the ability
to back up a CD to an SD card. Product Information Product: PLEXTALK PTN2 Price: $375 Available from: available from a variety of dealers, including IRTI, Active
Forever, Maxi-Aids, and others.
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
-- SleepTalk in action
I agree with you completely. On 11/4/12, Aidan Maher <aidan.smarttalk@gmail.com> wrote:
I just hope that people can realize the wunders of this machine by themselves. It just seem to me sometimes that only after a review like this some people actually wake up. I like this woman riting, but she also make me angry. She didn't even mention the fact that ptn2 can use skippable elements wich only a few players can do at present. And the folder is called plex backup, not plextalk backup.She should no that. She is clever enough I am sure.
On 04/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Did anyone happen to see this from AccessWorld?
Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi Deborah Kendrick Upon reading a product evaluation I wrote of a stand-alone tabletop DAISY and audio book
player , a representative of Shinano Kenshi wrote asking for an evaluation of the PLEXTALK PTN2. First Look The PLEXTALK PTN2 is roughly 9 inches by 7 inches and about one inch high, giving it a footprint very much like the digital talking book player distributed by
the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). The
PLEXTALK PTN2 has 27 buttons (or keys) on the top face of the unit, an external speaker grille in the upper right corner, roughly 2 by 3 inches, and a connector for an AC
adapter on the back. On the left edge are slots for a secure digital (SD) card and a
USB port in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front edge is a slot for
standard CDs; the battery compartment is on the bottom, along with rubber feet for stability. There is no carrying handle; the unit can run on either AC current or battery power. In the box with the unit is an AC adapter, user's guide on DAISY CD, and a snap-on cover with holes exposing only the basic, essential keys. (More about that below.) Initial Test Drive After taking the unit out of the box, it's fairly easy to test it immediately. As is always wise when using any product for the first time, plug it in and press the "Power" button. Anyone familiar with other PLEXTALK products will recognize
the charming chimes indicating that the unit is working on the issued command. It immediately chimes once, announces "Please wait" in a clear female voice, and then repeats the PLEXTALK chiming waiting sound for about ten seconds before announcing whatever media is detected onboard. The inclusion of the user's guide on DAISY CD offers a
perfect opportunity for acquainting oneself with the product. The sound quality of the PLEXTALK PTN2 is outstanding. Even this writer with
a hearing impairment can hear it loud and clear from across the room. The synthetic voices for text-to-speech are the familiar Samantha and Tom and are sufficiently distinct. When playing music or an audio book, the sound quality is excellent. Those 27 Keys At the bottom of the unit is the familiar "Play/Pause" key in the middle with arrow-shaped "Rewind" and "Fast Forward" keys to either side. Directly above this trio is
the 12-key telephone-style keypad used frequently for navigation, menu selections, and other functions. In a column to the left of these buttons are four distinctly-shaped keys: the "Menu," "Bookshelf," "Go To" (heading, page, etc.), and "Bookmark"
keys. Directly above the telephone-style keypad are three control columns: "Tone,"
"Volume," and "Speed." Although the user's guide counts these as three buttons, I count them as six since each has an up and down control with a distinct split between them. On the right-hand side of the machine is an "Information" key, a "Sleep" key, the "Power" button, an "Eject" for CDs, and a close pair of title keys ("Previous" and "Next"), which are used when navigating from one media type to another or one folder to another within a given media source. Again, these appear to be two buttons although the user's guide refers to them as one. When first powered on, the PTN2 remembers the last content played and announces that content's source. If that is the material you wish to hear, you can simply press "Play." The "2" and "8" keys will give you information regarding the mark-up
available (levels 1, 2, and 3, for instance), and the "4" and "6" keys are used to move backward and forward accordingly. The "Go To" key, depending on the type of content played, allows you to move by heading, page, or percentage within a given file. The
"Bookshelf" key is used to rotate among CD, SD card, and USB thumb drive, all of which can be onboard at any given time. Navigating among the various media sources can also be done using the "Title" key on the right. The "Bookmark" key can be used to set up to 10,000 bookmarks. There is, however, no voice or highlight bookmark feature available but, instead, only numbered bookmarks, the numbers for which can either be user defined by entering a number from the keypad or automatically set by the PTN2. Once
bookmarks have been set, however, you can access a bookmark list, navigating through your bookmarks with the "4" and "6" keys or by entering the number of a specifically desired bookmark to move directly to it. The Mask The PTN2 comes with a snap-on cover called a mask that is molded to fit securely over the face of the unit with pieces that grip the sides. When the mask is
in place, only a few of the unit's keys are available to the user. These include the three keys at the bottom ("Rewind," "Play/Pause," and "Fast Forward"), the five keys at the right ("Power," "Sleep," "Eject," "Information," and "Title"), and the "Tone" and "Volume" controls at the top. One question that immediately arose is why
"Tone" and "Volume," but not "Speed," controls have been selected as the most essential to have available to a user with more limited technical ability. That small
caveat aside, this may be a useful feature in some situations, such as for teaching
or when the unit is used by children or those with limited tactile sensitivity. What Can It Play? The PTN2 can play a wonderful array of file types and formats: DAISY, .TXT,
.DOC, HTML, and a variety of audio formats, including WAV, MP3, and OGG. If a file
contains both DAISY text and audio, the PTN2 will only recognize one or the other. I loaded the unit with content of every type (a CD, an SD card, and a USB thumb drive all at once) and found the results both impressive and puzzling. While the unit was able to navigate among all three sources, representing a wide array of format types, some content was inaccessible. On the USB drive, for example, there was a folder of audio files and a folder of text files played perfectly. A third folder,
however, containing both audio and text files of the same content, revealed only the
text. If I hadn't known the audio files were there, I would not have been able to
discover them. You can work around this problem by removing the text files from the folder or by placing the audio files in a separate folder, but the initial roadblock is bewildering. Other PLEXTALK products share this particular quirk of requiring all content to be placed in its own folder, and in this instance, even if the content is the same but is represented in more than one format, each must have a folder of its own. Quirks aside, it warrants mentioning that included in the smorgasbord of content loaded for the above experiment were books drawn from three of the most popular sources for readers who are blind or visually impaired (Bookshare, NLS BARD, and Audible.com), and the PLEXTALK PTN2 played all of them beautifully. A Few Special Features The PLEXTALK PTN2 does a few things that competing products do not, and it does them very well. First, as mentioned above, the PLEXTALK plays audiobooks and other materials downloadable from Audible.com . Secondly, although it has no other recording capabilities, the PLEXTALK can backup an audio CD, including commercially available CDs, to an SD card. The process is a simple one but does take some time. To back up a CD with approximately 50
minutes of recording, for example, the process took about 25 minutes. The procedure
is completely simple (press the "9" key to begin and "8" to confirm), and the PLEXTALK chiming sounds continue throughout the process to let you know something is actually
happening. When finished, the unit announces that the backup is complete. When CDs are
copied in this manner, they are placed on the SD card in a folder entitled "PLEXTALK Backup," which is created by the unit itself. On a more random note, the PTN2 does have time and date announcement features, a sleep timer, and an automatic shut-off after 15 minutes when operating on battery. While none of these are likely to be deal breakers for many customers, they
are convenient features that warrant mentioning. Conclusions The PTN2 is a compact unit with fabulous sound quality that will meet most listening needs of customers who are blind or low vision. It plays content from CD, SD, and USB sources and can play a wide variety of formats from the most popularly used content sources. In addition to music and audio books, it offers clear text-to-speech capabilities and is, thus, able to play plain text, Word, and HTML documents. It does not have wireless or recording functionality other than the ability
to back up a CD to an SD card. Product Information Product: PLEXTALK PTN2 Price: $375 Available from: available from a variety of dealers, including IRTI, Active
Forever, Maxi-Aids, and others.
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
-- SleepTalk in action
I have some questions about the ptn2: 1. I see it uses the same tts as the plextalk pocket. Is the tts higher quality than what is on the plextalk pocket? 2. can this player play audio cd's? data cd's with mp3's on them? Daisy cd's? Does it remember your place on each cd? -----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 11:47 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi I just hope that people can realize the wunders of this machine by themselves. It just seem to me sometimes that only after a review like this some people actually wake up. I like this woman riting, but she also make me angry. She didn't even mention the fact that ptn2 can use skippable elements wich only a few players can do at present. And the folder is called plex backup, not plextalk backup.She should no that. She is clever enough I am sure. On 04/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Did anyone happen to see this from AccessWorld?
Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi Deborah Kendrick Upon reading a product evaluation I wrote of a stand-alone tabletop DAISY and audio book
player , a representative of Shinano Kenshi wrote asking for an evaluation of the PLEXTALK PTN2. First Look The PLEXTALK PTN2 is roughly 9 inches by 7 inches and about one inch high, giving it a footprint very much like the digital talking book player distributed by
the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). The
PLEXTALK PTN2 has 27 buttons (or keys) on the top face of the unit, an external speaker grille in the upper right corner, roughly 2 by 3 inches, and a connector for an AC
adapter on the back. On the left edge are slots for a secure digital (SD) card and a
USB port in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front edge is a slot for
standard CDs; the battery compartment is on the bottom, along with rubber feet for stability. There is no carrying handle; the unit can run on either AC current or battery power. In the box with the unit is an AC adapter, user's guide on DAISY CD, and a snap-on cover with holes exposing only the basic, essential keys. (More about that below.) Initial Test Drive After taking the unit out of the box, it's fairly easy to test it immediately. As is always wise when using any product for the first time, plug it in and press the "Power" button. Anyone familiar with other PLEXTALK products will recognize
the charming chimes indicating that the unit is working on the issued command. It immediately chimes once, announces "Please wait" in a clear female voice, and then repeats the PLEXTALK chiming waiting sound for about ten seconds before announcing whatever media is detected onboard. The inclusion of the user's guide on DAISY CD offers a
perfect opportunity for acquainting oneself with the product. The sound quality of the PLEXTALK PTN2 is outstanding. Even this writer with
a hearing impairment can hear it loud and clear from across the room. The synthetic voices for text-to-speech are the familiar Samantha and Tom and are sufficiently distinct. When playing music or an audio book, the sound quality is excellent. Those 27 Keys At the bottom of the unit is the familiar "Play/Pause" key in the middle with arrow-shaped "Rewind" and "Fast Forward" keys to either side. Directly above this trio is
the 12-key telephone-style keypad used frequently for navigation, menu selections, and other functions. In a column to the left of these buttons are four distinctly-shaped keys: the "Menu," "Bookshelf," "Go To" (heading, page, etc.), and "Bookmark"
keys. Directly above the telephone-style keypad are three control columns: "Tone,"
"Volume," and "Speed." Although the user's guide counts these as three buttons, I count them as six since each has an up and down control with a distinct split between them. On the right-hand side of the machine is an "Information" key, a "Sleep" key, the "Power" button, an "Eject" for CDs, and a close pair of title keys ("Previous" and "Next"), which are used when navigating from one media type to another or one folder to another within a given media source. Again, these appear to be two buttons although the user's guide refers to them as one. When first powered on, the PTN2 remembers the last content played and announces that content's source. If that is the material you wish to hear, you can simply press "Play." The "2" and "8" keys will give you information regarding the mark-up
available (levels 1, 2, and 3, for instance), and the "4" and "6" keys are used to move backward and forward accordingly. The "Go To" key, depending on the type of content played, allows you to move by heading, page, or percentage within a given file. The
"Bookshelf" key is used to rotate among CD, SD card, and USB thumb drive, all of which can be onboard at any given time. Navigating among the various media sources can also be done using the "Title" key on the right. The "Bookmark" key can be used to set up to 10,000 bookmarks. There is, however, no voice or highlight bookmark feature available but, instead, only numbered bookmarks, the numbers for which can either be user defined by entering a number from the keypad or automatically set by the PTN2. Once
bookmarks have been set, however, you can access a bookmark list, navigating through your bookmarks with the "4" and "6" keys or by entering the number of a specifically desired bookmark to move directly to it. The Mask The PTN2 comes with a snap-on cover called a mask that is molded to fit securely over the face of the unit with pieces that grip the sides. When the mask is
in place, only a few of the unit's keys are available to the user. These include the three keys at the bottom ("Rewind," "Play/Pause," and "Fast Forward"), the five keys at the right ("Power," "Sleep," "Eject," "Information," and "Title"), and the "Tone" and "Volume" controls at the top. One question that immediately arose is why
"Tone" and "Volume," but not "Speed," controls have been selected as the most essential to have available to a user with more limited technical ability. That small
caveat aside, this may be a useful feature in some situations, such as for teaching
or when the unit is used by children or those with limited tactile sensitivity. What Can It Play? The PTN2 can play a wonderful array of file types and formats: DAISY, .TXT,
.DOC, HTML, and a variety of audio formats, including WAV, MP3, and OGG. If a file
contains both DAISY text and audio, the PTN2 will only recognize one or the other. I loaded the unit with content of every type (a CD, an SD card, and a USB thumb drive all at once) and found the results both impressive and puzzling. While the unit was able to navigate among all three sources, representing a wide array of format types, some content was inaccessible. On the USB drive, for example, there was a folder of audio files and a folder of text files played perfectly. A third folder,
however, containing both audio and text files of the same content, revealed only the
text. If I hadn't known the audio files were there, I would not have been able to
discover them. You can work around this problem by removing the text files from the folder or by placing the audio files in a separate folder, but the initial roadblock is bewildering. Other PLEXTALK products share this particular quirk of requiring all content to be placed in its own folder, and in this instance, even if the content is the same but is represented in more than one format, each must have a folder of its own. Quirks aside, it warrants mentioning that included in the smorgasbord of content loaded for the above experiment were books drawn from three of the most popular sources for readers who are blind or visually impaired (Bookshare, NLS BARD, and Audible.com), and the PLEXTALK PTN2 played all of them beautifully. A Few Special Features The PLEXTALK PTN2 does a few things that competing products do not, and it does them very well. First, as mentioned above, the PLEXTALK plays audiobooks and other materials downloadable from Audible.com . Secondly, although it has no other recording capabilities, the PLEXTALK can backup an audio CD, including commercially available CDs, to an SD card. The process is a simple one but does take some time. To back up a CD with approximately 50
minutes of recording, for example, the process took about 25 minutes. The procedure
is completely simple (press the "9" key to begin and "8" to confirm), and the PLEXTALK chiming sounds continue throughout the process to let you know something is actually
happening. When finished, the unit announces that the backup is complete. When CDs are
copied in this manner, they are placed on the SD card in a folder entitled "PLEXTALK Backup," which is created by the unit itself. On a more random note, the PTN2 does have time and date announcement features, a sleep timer, and an automatic shut-off after 15 minutes when operating on battery. While none of these are likely to be deal breakers for many customers, they
are convenient features that warrant mentioning. Conclusions The PTN2 is a compact unit with fabulous sound quality that will meet most listening needs of customers who are blind or low vision. It plays content from CD, SD, and USB sources and can play a wide variety of formats from the most popularly used content sources. In addition to music and audio books, it offers clear text-to-speech capabilities and is, thus, able to play plain text, Word, and HTML documents. It does not have wireless or recording functionality other than the ability
to back up a CD to an SD card. Product Information Product: PLEXTALK PTN2 Price: $375 Available from: available from a variety of dealers, including IRTI, Active
Forever, Maxi-Aids, and others.
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
The voices are the exact same quality. And yes to all the others. On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I have some questions about the ptn2: 1. I see it uses the same tts as the plextalk pocket. Is the tts higher quality than what is on the plextalk pocket? 2. can this player play audio cd's? data cd's with mp3's on them? Daisy cd's? Does it remember your place on each cd?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 11:47 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
I just hope that people can realize the wunders of this machine by themselves. It just seem to me sometimes that only after a review like this some people actually wake up. I like this woman riting, but she also make me angry. She didn't even mention the fact that ptn2 can use skippable elements wich only a few players can do at present. And the folder is called plex backup, not plextalk backup.She should no that. She is clever enough I am sure.
On 04/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Did anyone happen to see this from AccessWorld?
Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi Deborah Kendrick Upon reading a product evaluation I wrote of a stand-alone tabletop DAISY and audio book
player , a representative of Shinano Kenshi wrote asking for an evaluation of the PLEXTALK PTN2. First Look The PLEXTALK PTN2 is roughly 9 inches by 7 inches and about one inch high, giving it a footprint very much like the digital talking book player distributed
by
the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). The
PLEXTALK PTN2 has 27 buttons (or keys) on the top face of the unit, an external speaker grille in the upper right corner, roughly 2 by 3 inches, and a connector for an AC
adapter on the back. On the left edge are slots for a secure digital (SD) card and
a
USB port in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front edge is a slot for
standard CDs; the battery compartment is on the bottom, along with rubber feet for stability. There is no carrying handle; the unit can run on either AC current or battery power. In the box with the unit is an AC adapter, user's guide on DAISY CD, and a snap-on cover with holes exposing only the basic, essential keys. (More about that below.) Initial Test Drive After taking the unit out of the box, it's fairly easy to test it immediately. As is always wise when using any product for the first time, plug it in and press the "Power" button. Anyone familiar with other PLEXTALK products will recognize
the charming chimes indicating that the unit is working on the issued command. It immediately chimes once, announces "Please wait" in a clear female voice, and then repeats the PLEXTALK chiming waiting sound for about ten seconds before announcing whatever media is detected onboard. The inclusion of the user's guide on DAISY CD offers
a
perfect opportunity for acquainting oneself with the product. The sound quality of the PLEXTALK PTN2 is outstanding. Even this writer with
a hearing impairment can hear it loud and clear from across the room. The synthetic voices for text-to-speech are the familiar Samantha and Tom and are sufficiently distinct. When playing music or an audio book, the sound quality is excellent. Those 27 Keys At the bottom of the unit is the familiar "Play/Pause" key in the middle with arrow-shaped "Rewind" and "Fast Forward" keys to either side. Directly above this trio
is
the 12-key telephone-style keypad used frequently for navigation, menu selections, and other functions. In a column to the left of these buttons are four distinctly-shaped keys: the "Menu," "Bookshelf," "Go To" (heading, page, etc.), and "Bookmark"
keys. Directly above the telephone-style keypad are three control columns: "Tone,"
"Volume," and "Speed." Although the user's guide counts these as three buttons, I count them as six since each has an up and down control with a distinct split between them. On the right-hand side of the machine is an "Information" key, a "Sleep" key, the "Power" button, an "Eject" for CDs, and a close pair of title keys ("Previous" and "Next"), which are used when navigating from one media type to another or one folder to another within a given media source. Again, these appear to be two buttons although the user's guide refers to them as one. When first powered on, the PTN2 remembers the last content played and announces that content's source. If that is the material you wish to hear, you can simply press "Play." The "2" and "8" keys will give you information regarding the mark-up
available (levels 1, 2, and 3, for instance), and the "4" and "6" keys are used to move backward and forward accordingly. The "Go To" key, depending on the type of content played, allows you to move by heading, page, or percentage within a given file. The
"Bookshelf" key is used to rotate among CD, SD card, and USB thumb drive, all of which can be onboard at any given time. Navigating among the various media sources can also be done using the "Title" key on the right. The "Bookmark" key can be used to set up to 10,000 bookmarks. There is, however, no voice or highlight bookmark feature available but, instead, only numbered bookmarks, the numbers for which can either be user defined by entering a number from the keypad or automatically set by the PTN2. Once
bookmarks have been set, however, you can access a bookmark list, navigating through your bookmarks with the "4" and "6" keys or by entering the number of a specifically desired bookmark to move directly to it. The Mask The PTN2 comes with a snap-on cover called a mask that is molded to fit securely over the face of the unit with pieces that grip the sides. When the mask is
in place, only a few of the unit's keys are available to the user. These include the three keys at the bottom ("Rewind," "Play/Pause," and "Fast Forward"), the five keys at the right ("Power," "Sleep," "Eject," "Information," and "Title"), and the "Tone" and "Volume" controls at the top. One question that immediately arose is why
"Tone" and "Volume," but not "Speed," controls have been selected as the most essential to have available to a user with more limited technical ability. That small
caveat aside, this may be a useful feature in some situations, such as for teaching
or when the unit is used by children or those with limited tactile sensitivity. What Can It Play? The PTN2 can play a wonderful array of file types and formats: DAISY, .TXT,
.DOC, HTML, and a variety of audio formats, including WAV, MP3, and OGG. If a file
contains both DAISY text and audio, the PTN2 will only recognize one or the other. I loaded the unit with content of every type (a CD, an SD card, and a USB thumb drive all at once) and found the results both impressive and puzzling. While the unit was able to navigate among all three sources, representing a wide array of format types, some content was inaccessible. On the USB drive, for example, there was a folder of audio files and a folder of text files played perfectly. A third folder,
however, containing both audio and text files of the same content, revealed only the
text. If I hadn't known the audio files were there, I would not have been able to
discover them. You can work around this problem by removing the text files from the folder or by placing the audio files in a separate folder, but the initial roadblock is bewildering. Other PLEXTALK products share this particular quirk of requiring all content to be placed in its own folder, and in this instance, even if the content is the same but is represented in more than one format, each must have a folder of its own. Quirks aside, it warrants mentioning that included in the smorgasbord of content loaded for the above experiment were books drawn from three of the most popular sources for readers who are blind or visually impaired (Bookshare, NLS BARD, and Audible.com), and the PLEXTALK PTN2 played all of them beautifully. A Few Special Features The PLEXTALK PTN2 does a few things that competing products do not, and it does them very well. First, as mentioned above, the PLEXTALK plays audiobooks and other materials downloadable from Audible.com . Secondly, although it has no other recording capabilities, the PLEXTALK can backup an audio CD, including commercially available CDs, to an SD card. The process is a simple one but does take some time. To back up a CD with approximately 50
minutes of recording, for example, the process took about 25 minutes. The procedure
is completely simple (press the "9" key to begin and "8" to confirm), and the PLEXTALK chiming sounds continue throughout the process to let you know something is actually
happening. When finished, the unit announces that the backup is complete. When CDs are
copied in this manner, they are placed on the SD card in a folder entitled "PLEXTALK Backup," which is created by the unit itself. On a more random note, the PTN2 does have time and date announcement features, a sleep timer, and an automatic shut-off after 15 minutes when operating on battery. While none of these are likely to be deal breakers for many customers, they
are convenient features that warrant mentioning. Conclusions The PTN2 is a compact unit with fabulous sound quality that will meet most listening needs of customers who are blind or low vision. It plays content from CD, SD, and USB sources and can play a wide variety of formats from the most popularly used content sources. In addition to music and audio books, it offers clear text-to-speech capabilities and is, thus, able to play plain text, Word, and HTML documents. It does not have wireless or recording functionality other than the ability
to back up a CD to an SD card. Product Information Product: PLEXTALK PTN2 Price: $375 Available from: available from a variety of dealers, including IRTI, Active
Forever, Maxi-Aids, and others.
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
It's to bad they don't use higher quality tts on the ptn2. Do you know if the short cable supplied with the plextalk pocket can be used to connect NLS cartridges to the ptn2? -----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 7:31 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi The voices are the exact same quality. And yes to all the others. On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I have some questions about the ptn2: 1. I see it uses the same tts as the plextalk pocket. Is the tts higher quality than what is on the plextalk pocket? 2. can this player play audio cd's? data cd's with mp3's on them? Daisy cd's? Does it remember your place on each cd?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 11:47 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
I just hope that people can realize the wunders of this machine by themselves. It just seem to me sometimes that only after a review like this some people actually wake up. I like this woman riting, but she also make me angry. She didn't even mention the fact that ptn2 can use skippable elements wich only a few players can do at present. And the folder is called plex backup, not plextalk backup.She should no that. She is clever enough I am sure.
On 04/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Did anyone happen to see this from AccessWorld?
Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi Deborah Kendrick Upon reading a product evaluation I wrote of a stand-alone tabletop DAISY and audio book
player , a representative of Shinano Kenshi wrote asking for an evaluation of the PLEXTALK PTN2. First Look The PLEXTALK PTN2 is roughly 9 inches by 7 inches and about one inch high, giving it a footprint very much like the digital talking book player distributed
by
the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). The
PLEXTALK PTN2 has 27 buttons (or keys) on the top face of the unit, an external speaker grille in the upper right corner, roughly 2 by 3 inches, and a connector for an AC
adapter on the back. On the left edge are slots for a secure digital (SD) card and
a
USB port in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front edge is a slot for
standard CDs; the battery compartment is on the bottom, along with rubber feet for stability. There is no carrying handle; the unit can run on either AC current or battery power. In the box with the unit is an AC adapter, user's guide on DAISY CD, and a snap-on cover with holes exposing only the basic, essential keys. (More about that below.) Initial Test Drive After taking the unit out of the box, it's fairly easy to test it immediately. As is always wise when using any product for the first time, plug it in and press the "Power" button. Anyone familiar with other PLEXTALK products will recognize
the charming chimes indicating that the unit is working on the issued command. It immediately chimes once, announces "Please wait" in a clear female voice, and then repeats the PLEXTALK chiming waiting sound for about ten seconds before announcing whatever media is detected onboard. The inclusion of the user's guide on DAISY CD offers
a
perfect opportunity for acquainting oneself with the product. The sound quality of the PLEXTALK PTN2 is outstanding. Even this writer with
a hearing impairment can hear it loud and clear from across the room. The synthetic voices for text-to-speech are the familiar Samantha and Tom and are sufficiently distinct. When playing music or an audio book, the sound quality is excellent. Those 27 Keys At the bottom of the unit is the familiar "Play/Pause" key in the middle with arrow-shaped "Rewind" and "Fast Forward" keys to either side. Directly above this trio
is
the 12-key telephone-style keypad used frequently for navigation, menu selections, and other functions. In a column to the left of these buttons are four distinctly-shaped keys: the "Menu," "Bookshelf," "Go To" (heading, page, etc.), and "Bookmark"
keys. Directly above the telephone-style keypad are three control columns: "Tone,"
"Volume," and "Speed." Although the user's guide counts these as three buttons, I count them as six since each has an up and down control with a distinct split between them. On the right-hand side of the machine is an "Information" key, a "Sleep" key, the "Power" button, an "Eject" for CDs, and a close pair of title keys ("Previous" and "Next"), which are used when navigating from one media type to another or one folder to another within a given media source. Again, these appear to be two buttons although the user's guide refers to them as one. When first powered on, the PTN2 remembers the last content played and announces that content's source. If that is the material you wish to hear, you can simply press "Play." The "2" and "8" keys will give you information regarding the mark-up
available (levels 1, 2, and 3, for instance), and the "4" and "6" keys are used to move backward and forward accordingly. The "Go To" key, depending on the type of content played, allows you to move by heading, page, or percentage within a given file. The
"Bookshelf" key is used to rotate among CD, SD card, and USB thumb drive, all of which can be onboard at any given time. Navigating among the various media sources can also be done using the "Title" key on the right. The "Bookmark" key can be used to set up to 10,000 bookmarks. There is, however, no voice or highlight bookmark feature available but, instead, only numbered bookmarks, the numbers for which can either be user defined by entering a number from the keypad or automatically set by the PTN2. Once
bookmarks have been set, however, you can access a bookmark list, navigating through your bookmarks with the "4" and "6" keys or by entering the number of a specifically desired bookmark to move directly to it. The Mask The PTN2 comes with a snap-on cover called a mask that is molded to fit securely over the face of the unit with pieces that grip the sides. When the mask is
in place, only a few of the unit's keys are available to the user. These include the three keys at the bottom ("Rewind," "Play/Pause," and "Fast Forward"), the five keys at the right ("Power," "Sleep," "Eject," "Information," and "Title"), and the "Tone" and "Volume" controls at the top. One question that immediately arose is why
"Tone" and "Volume," but not "Speed," controls have been selected as the most essential to have available to a user with more limited technical ability. That small
caveat aside, this may be a useful feature in some situations, such as for teaching
or when the unit is used by children or those with limited tactile sensitivity. What Can It Play? The PTN2 can play a wonderful array of file types and formats: DAISY, .TXT,
.DOC, HTML, and a variety of audio formats, including WAV, MP3, and OGG. If a file
contains both DAISY text and audio, the PTN2 will only recognize one or the other. I loaded the unit with content of every type (a CD, an SD card, and a USB thumb drive all at once) and found the results both impressive and puzzling. While the unit was able to navigate among all three sources, representing a wide array of format types, some content was inaccessible. On the USB drive, for example, there was a folder of audio files and a folder of text files played perfectly. A third folder,
however, containing both audio and text files of the same content, revealed only the
text. If I hadn't known the audio files were there, I would not have been able to
discover them. You can work around this problem by removing the text files from the folder or by placing the audio files in a separate folder, but the initial roadblock is bewildering. Other PLEXTALK products share this particular quirk of requiring all content to be placed in its own folder, and in this instance, even if the content is the same but is represented in more than one format, each must have a folder of its own. Quirks aside, it warrants mentioning that included in the smorgasbord of content loaded for the above experiment were books drawn from three of the most popular sources for readers who are blind or visually impaired (Bookshare, NLS BARD, and Audible.com), and the PLEXTALK PTN2 played all of them beautifully. A Few Special Features The PLEXTALK PTN2 does a few things that competing products do not, and it does them very well. First, as mentioned above, the PLEXTALK plays audiobooks and other materials downloadable from Audible.com . Secondly, although it has no other recording capabilities, the PLEXTALK can backup an audio CD, including commercially available CDs, to an SD card. The process is a simple one but does take some time. To back up a CD with approximately 50
minutes of recording, for example, the process took about 25 minutes. The procedure
is completely simple (press the "9" key to begin and "8" to confirm), and the PLEXTALK chiming sounds continue throughout the process to let you know something is actually
happening. When finished, the unit announces that the backup is complete. When CDs are
copied in this manner, they are placed on the SD card in a folder entitled "PLEXTALK Backup," which is created by the unit itself. On a more random note, the PTN2 does have time and date announcement features, a sleep timer, and an automatic shut-off after 15 minutes when operating on battery. While none of these are likely to be deal breakers for many customers, they
are convenient features that warrant mentioning. Conclusions The PTN2 is a compact unit with fabulous sound quality that will meet most listening needs of customers who are blind or low vision. It plays content from CD, SD, and USB sources and can play a wide variety of formats from the most popularly used content sources. In addition to music and audio books, it offers clear text-to-speech capabilities and is, thus, able to play plain text, Word, and HTML documents. It does not have wireless or recording functionality other than the ability
to back up a CD to an SD card. Product Information Product: PLEXTALK PTN2 Price: $375 Available from: available from a variety of dealers, including IRTI, Active
Forever, Maxi-Aids, and others.
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
Yes its a pity for sure. Wel I could be rong, as I am not part of that service and they not available in my country, but it should be able to work, although I don't recall anything about that from the manual or website. What I do no is that they said somewhere on the site that you can connect the pocket and ptn2 together, but I tryed that and it didn't work. So I guess the only thing that will really work in that USB port are memory flash drives. I guess you could email and confirm about the compatibility with those nls cards, would be intrested to no. But at least the latest 3.7 update made the cd drive perform better and make less noise now. I think you will have a better chance of connecting ptp1 with ptr2. On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
It's to bad they don't use higher quality tts on the ptn2. Do you know if the short cable supplied with the plextalk pocket can be used to connect NLS
cartridges to the ptn2?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 7:31 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
The voices are the exact same quality. And yes to all the others.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I have some questions about the ptn2: 1. I see it uses the same tts as the plextalk pocket. Is the tts higher quality than what is on the plextalk pocket? 2. can this player play audio cd's? data cd's with mp3's on them? Daisy cd's? Does it remember your place on each cd?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 11:47 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
I just hope that people can realize the wunders of this machine by themselves. It just seem to me sometimes that only after a review like this some people actually wake up. I like this woman riting, but she also make me angry. She didn't even mention the fact that ptn2 can use skippable elements wich only a few players can do at present. And the folder is called plex backup, not plextalk backup.She should no that. She is clever enough I am sure.
On 04/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Did anyone happen to see this from AccessWorld?
Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi Deborah Kendrick Upon reading a product evaluation I wrote of a stand-alone tabletop DAISY and audio book
player , a representative of Shinano Kenshi wrote asking for an evaluation of the PLEXTALK PTN2. First Look The PLEXTALK PTN2 is roughly 9 inches by 7 inches and about one inch high, giving it a footprint very much like the digital talking book player distributed
by
the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). The
PLEXTALK PTN2 has 27 buttons (or keys) on the top face of the unit, an external speaker grille in the upper right corner, roughly 2 by 3 inches, and a connector for an AC
adapter on the back. On the left edge are slots for a secure digital (SD) card and
a
USB port in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front edge is a slot for
standard CDs; the battery compartment is on the bottom, along with rubber feet for stability. There is no carrying handle; the unit can run on either AC current or battery power. In the box with the unit is an AC adapter, user's guide on DAISY CD, and a snap-on cover with holes exposing only the basic, essential keys. (More about that below.) Initial Test Drive After taking the unit out of the box, it's fairly easy to test it immediately. As is always wise when using any product for the first time, plug it in and press the "Power" button. Anyone familiar with other PLEXTALK products will recognize
the charming chimes indicating that the unit is working on the issued command. It immediately chimes once, announces "Please wait" in a clear female voice, and then repeats the PLEXTALK chiming waiting sound for about ten seconds before announcing whatever media is detected onboard. The inclusion of the user's guide on DAISY CD offers
a
perfect opportunity for acquainting oneself with the product. The sound quality of the PLEXTALK PTN2 is outstanding. Even this writer with
a hearing impairment can hear it loud and clear from across the room. The synthetic voices for text-to-speech are the familiar Samantha and Tom and are sufficiently distinct. When playing music or an audio book, the sound quality is excellent. Those 27 Keys At the bottom of the unit is the familiar "Play/Pause" key in the middle with arrow-shaped "Rewind" and "Fast Forward" keys to either side. Directly above this trio
is
the 12-key telephone-style keypad used frequently for navigation, menu selections, and other functions. In a column to the left of these buttons are four distinctly-shaped keys: the "Menu," "Bookshelf," "Go To" (heading, page, etc.), and "Bookmark"
keys. Directly above the telephone-style keypad are three control columns: "Tone,"
"Volume," and "Speed." Although the user's guide counts these as three buttons, I count them as six since each has an up and down control with a distinct split between them. On the right-hand side of the machine is an "Information" key, a "Sleep" key, the "Power" button, an "Eject" for CDs, and a close pair of title keys ("Previous" and "Next"), which are used when navigating from one media type to another or one folder to another within a given media source. Again, these appear to be two buttons although the user's guide refers to them as one. When first powered on, the PTN2 remembers the last content played and announces that content's source. If that is the material you wish to hear, you can simply press "Play." The "2" and "8" keys will give you information regarding the mark-up
available (levels 1, 2, and 3, for instance), and the "4" and "6" keys are used to move backward and forward accordingly. The "Go To" key, depending on the type of content played, allows you to move by heading, page, or percentage within a given file. The
"Bookshelf" key is used to rotate among CD, SD card, and USB thumb drive, all of which can be onboard at any given time. Navigating among the various media sources can also be done using the "Title" key on the right. The "Bookmark" key can be used to set up to 10,000 bookmarks. There is, however, no voice or highlight bookmark feature available but, instead, only numbered bookmarks, the numbers for which can either be user defined by entering a number from the keypad or automatically set by the PTN2. Once
bookmarks have been set, however, you can access a bookmark list, navigating through your bookmarks with the "4" and "6" keys or by entering the number of a specifically desired bookmark to move directly to it. The Mask The PTN2 comes with a snap-on cover called a mask that is molded to fit securely over the face of the unit with pieces that grip the sides. When the mask is
in place, only a few of the unit's keys are available to the user. These include the three keys at the bottom ("Rewind," "Play/Pause," and "Fast Forward"), the five keys at the right ("Power," "Sleep," "Eject," "Information," and "Title"), and the "Tone" and "Volume" controls at the top. One question that immediately arose is why
"Tone" and "Volume," but not "Speed," controls have been selected as the most essential to have available to a user with more limited technical ability. That small
caveat aside, this may be a useful feature in some situations, such as for teaching
or when the unit is used by children or those with limited tactile sensitivity. What Can It Play? The PTN2 can play a wonderful array of file types and formats: DAISY, .TXT,
.DOC, HTML, and a variety of audio formats, including WAV, MP3, and OGG. If a file
contains both DAISY text and audio, the PTN2 will only recognize one or the other. I loaded the unit with content of every type (a CD, an SD card, and a USB thumb drive all at once) and found the results both impressive and puzzling. While the unit was able to navigate among all three sources, representing a wide array of format types, some content was inaccessible. On the USB drive, for example, there was a folder of audio files and a folder of text files played perfectly. A third folder,
however, containing both audio and text files of the same content, revealed only the
text. If I hadn't known the audio files were there, I would not have been able to
discover them. You can work around this problem by removing the text files from the folder or by placing the audio files in a separate folder, but the initial roadblock is bewildering. Other PLEXTALK products share this particular quirk of requiring all content to be placed in its own folder, and in this instance, even if the content is the same but is represented in more than one format, each must have a folder of its own. Quirks aside, it warrants mentioning that included in the smorgasbord of content loaded for the above experiment were books drawn from three of the most popular sources for readers who are blind or visually impaired (Bookshare, NLS BARD, and Audible.com), and the PLEXTALK PTN2 played all of them beautifully. A Few Special Features The PLEXTALK PTN2 does a few things that competing products do not, and it does them very well. First, as mentioned above, the PLEXTALK plays audiobooks and other materials downloadable from Audible.com . Secondly, although it has no other recording capabilities, the PLEXTALK can backup an audio CD, including commercially available CDs, to an SD card. The process is a simple one but does take some time. To back up a CD with approximately 50
minutes of recording, for example, the process took about 25 minutes. The procedure
is completely simple (press the "9" key to begin and "8" to confirm), and the PLEXTALK chiming sounds continue throughout the process to let you know something is actually
happening. When finished, the unit announces that the backup is complete. When CDs are
copied in this manner, they are placed on the SD card in a folder entitled "PLEXTALK Backup," which is created by the unit itself. On a more random note, the PTN2 does have time and date announcement features, a sleep timer, and an automatic shut-off after 15 minutes when operating on battery. While none of these are likely to be deal breakers for many customers, they
are convenient features that warrant mentioning. Conclusions The PTN2 is a compact unit with fabulous sound quality that will meet most listening needs of customers who are blind or low vision. It plays content from CD, SD, and USB sources and can play a wide variety of formats from the most popularly used content sources. In addition to music and audio books, it offers clear text-to-speech capabilities and is, thus, able to play plain text, Word, and HTML documents. It does not have wireless or recording functionality other than the ability
to back up a CD to an SD card. Product Information Product: PLEXTALK PTN2 Price: $375 Available from: available from a variety of dealers, including IRTI, Active
Forever, Maxi-Aids, and others.
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
Yes its a pity for sure. Wel I could be rong, as I am not part of that service and they not available in my country, but it should be able to work, although I don't recall anything about that from the manual or website. What I do no is that they said somewhere on the site that you can connect the pocket and ptn2 together, but I tryed that and it didn't work. So I guess the only thing that will really work in that USB port are memory flash drives. I guess you could email and confirm about the compatibility with those nls cards, would be intrested to no. But at least the latest 3.7 update made the cd drive perform better and make less noise now. I think you will have a better chance of connecting ptp1 with ptr2. On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
It's to bad they don't use higher quality tts on the ptn2. Do you know if the short cable supplied with the plextalk pocket can be used to connect NLS
cartridges to the ptn2?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 7:31 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
The voices are the exact same quality. And yes to all the others.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I have some questions about the ptn2: 1. I see it uses the same tts as the plextalk pocket. Is the tts higher quality than what is on the plextalk pocket? 2. can this player play audio cd's? data cd's with mp3's on them? Daisy cd's? Does it remember your place on each cd?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 11:47 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
I just hope that people can realize the wunders of this machine by themselves. It just seem to me sometimes that only after a review like this some people actually wake up. I like this woman riting, but she also make me angry. She didn't even mention the fact that ptn2 can use skippable elements wich only a few players can do at present. And the folder is called plex backup, not plextalk backup.She should no that. She is clever enough I am sure.
On 04/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Did anyone happen to see this from AccessWorld?
Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi Deborah Kendrick Upon reading a product evaluation I wrote of a stand-alone tabletop DAISY and audio book
player , a representative of Shinano Kenshi wrote asking for an evaluation of the PLEXTALK PTN2. First Look The PLEXTALK PTN2 is roughly 9 inches by 7 inches and about one inch high, giving it a footprint very much like the digital talking book player distributed
by
the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). The
PLEXTALK PTN2 has 27 buttons (or keys) on the top face of the unit, an external speaker grille in the upper right corner, roughly 2 by 3 inches, and a connector for an AC
adapter on the back. On the left edge are slots for a secure digital (SD) card and
a
USB port in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front edge is a slot for
standard CDs; the battery compartment is on the bottom, along with rubber feet for stability. There is no carrying handle; the unit can run on either AC current or battery power. In the box with the unit is an AC adapter, user's guide on DAISY CD, and a snap-on cover with holes exposing only the basic, essential keys. (More about that below.) Initial Test Drive After taking the unit out of the box, it's fairly easy to test it immediately. As is always wise when using any product for the first time, plug it in and press the "Power" button. Anyone familiar with other PLEXTALK products will recognize
the charming chimes indicating that the unit is working on the issued command. It immediately chimes once, announces "Please wait" in a clear female voice, and then repeats the PLEXTALK chiming waiting sound for about ten seconds before announcing whatever media is detected onboard. The inclusion of the user's guide on DAISY CD offers
a
perfect opportunity for acquainting oneself with the product. The sound quality of the PLEXTALK PTN2 is outstanding. Even this writer with
a hearing impairment can hear it loud and clear from across the room. The synthetic voices for text-to-speech are the familiar Samantha and Tom and are sufficiently distinct. When playing music or an audio book, the sound quality is excellent. Those 27 Keys At the bottom of the unit is the familiar "Play/Pause" key in the middle with arrow-shaped "Rewind" and "Fast Forward" keys to either side. Directly above this trio
is
the 12-key telephone-style keypad used frequently for navigation, menu selections, and other functions. In a column to the left of these buttons are four distinctly-shaped keys: the "Menu," "Bookshelf," "Go To" (heading, page, etc.), and "Bookmark"
keys. Directly above the telephone-style keypad are three control columns: "Tone,"
"Volume," and "Speed." Although the user's guide counts these as three buttons, I count them as six since each has an up and down control with a distinct split between them. On the right-hand side of the machine is an "Information" key, a "Sleep" key, the "Power" button, an "Eject" for CDs, and a close pair of title keys ("Previous" and "Next"), which are used when navigating from one media type to another or one folder to another within a given media source. Again, these appear to be two buttons although the user's guide refers to them as one. When first powered on, the PTN2 remembers the last content played and announces that content's source. If that is the material you wish to hear, you can simply press "Play." The "2" and "8" keys will give you information regarding the mark-up
available (levels 1, 2, and 3, for instance), and the "4" and "6" keys are used to move backward and forward accordingly. The "Go To" key, depending on the type of content played, allows you to move by heading, page, or percentage within a given file. The
"Bookshelf" key is used to rotate among CD, SD card, and USB thumb drive, all of which can be onboard at any given time. Navigating among the various media sources can also be done using the "Title" key on the right. The "Bookmark" key can be used to set up to 10,000 bookmarks. There is, however, no voice or highlight bookmark feature available but, instead, only numbered bookmarks, the numbers for which can either be user defined by entering a number from the keypad or automatically set by the PTN2. Once
bookmarks have been set, however, you can access a bookmark list, navigating through your bookmarks with the "4" and "6" keys or by entering the number of a specifically desired bookmark to move directly to it. The Mask The PTN2 comes with a snap-on cover called a mask that is molded to fit securely over the face of the unit with pieces that grip the sides. When the mask is
in place, only a few of the unit's keys are available to the user. These include the three keys at the bottom ("Rewind," "Play/Pause," and "Fast Forward"), the five keys at the right ("Power," "Sleep," "Eject," "Information," and "Title"), and the "Tone" and "Volume" controls at the top. One question that immediately arose is why
"Tone" and "Volume," but not "Speed," controls have been selected as the most essential to have available to a user with more limited technical ability. That small
caveat aside, this may be a useful feature in some situations, such as for teaching
or when the unit is used by children or those with limited tactile sensitivity. What Can It Play? The PTN2 can play a wonderful array of file types and formats: DAISY, .TXT,
.DOC, HTML, and a variety of audio formats, including WAV, MP3, and OGG. If a file
contains both DAISY text and audio, the PTN2 will only recognize one or the other. I loaded the unit with content of every type (a CD, an SD card, and a USB thumb drive all at once) and found the results both impressive and puzzling. While the unit was able to navigate among all three sources, representing a wide array of format types, some content was inaccessible. On the USB drive, for example, there was a folder of audio files and a folder of text files played perfectly. A third folder,
however, containing both audio and text files of the same content, revealed only the
text. If I hadn't known the audio files were there, I would not have been able to
discover them. You can work around this problem by removing the text files from the folder or by placing the audio files in a separate folder, but the initial roadblock is bewildering. Other PLEXTALK products share this particular quirk of requiring all content to be placed in its own folder, and in this instance, even if the content is the same but is represented in more than one format, each must have a folder of its own. Quirks aside, it warrants mentioning that included in the smorgasbord of content loaded for the above experiment were books drawn from three of the most popular sources for readers who are blind or visually impaired (Bookshare, NLS BARD, and Audible.com), and the PLEXTALK PTN2 played all of them beautifully. A Few Special Features The PLEXTALK PTN2 does a few things that competing products do not, and it does them very well. First, as mentioned above, the PLEXTALK plays audiobooks and other materials downloadable from Audible.com . Secondly, although it has no other recording capabilities, the PLEXTALK can backup an audio CD, including commercially available CDs, to an SD card. The process is a simple one but does take some time. To back up a CD with approximately 50
minutes of recording, for example, the process took about 25 minutes. The procedure
is completely simple (press the "9" key to begin and "8" to confirm), and the PLEXTALK chiming sounds continue throughout the process to let you know something is actually
happening. When finished, the unit announces that the backup is complete. When CDs are
copied in this manner, they are placed on the SD card in a folder entitled "PLEXTALK Backup," which is created by the unit itself. On a more random note, the PTN2 does have time and date announcement features, a sleep timer, and an automatic shut-off after 15 minutes when operating on battery. While none of these are likely to be deal breakers for many customers, they
are convenient features that warrant mentioning. Conclusions The PTN2 is a compact unit with fabulous sound quality that will meet most listening needs of customers who are blind or low vision. It plays content from CD, SD, and USB sources and can play a wide variety of formats from the most popularly used content sources. In addition to music and audio books, it offers clear text-to-speech capabilities and is, thus, able to play plain text, Word, and HTML documents. It does not have wireless or recording functionality other than the ability
to back up a CD to an SD card. Product Information Product: PLEXTALK PTN2 Price: $375 Available from: available from a variety of dealers, including IRTI, Active
Forever, Maxi-Aids, and others.
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
Doesn't the victor reader stream support skippable elements? Here's the interesting thing, I tried to find the US manual for the ptn2 on the plextalk support page. I wanted to look it over. How long has the ptn2 been around? I didn't know anything about it until this review. -----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 8:55 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi Yes its a pity for sure. Wel I could be rong, as I am not part of that service and they not available in my country, but it should be able to work, although I don't recall anything about that from the manual or website. What I do no is that they said somewhere on the site that you can connect the pocket and ptn2 together, but I tryed that and it didn't work. So I guess the only thing that will really work in that USB port are memory flash drives. I guess you could email and confirm about the compatibility with those nls cards, would be intrested to no. But at least the latest 3.7 update made the cd drive perform better and make less noise now. I think you will have a better chance of connecting ptp1 with ptr2. On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
It's to bad they don't use higher quality tts on the ptn2. Do you know if the short cable supplied with the plextalk pocket can be used to connect NLS
cartridges to the ptn2?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 7:31 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
The voices are the exact same quality. And yes to all the others.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I have some questions about the ptn2: 1. I see it uses the same tts as the plextalk pocket. Is the tts higher quality than what is on the plextalk pocket? 2. can this player play audio cd's? data cd's with mp3's on them? Daisy cd's? Does it remember your place on each cd?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 11:47 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
I just hope that people can realize the wunders of this machine by themselves. It just seem to me sometimes that only after a review like this some people actually wake up. I like this woman riting, but she also make me angry. She didn't even mention the fact that ptn2 can use skippable elements wich only a few players can do at present. And the folder is called plex backup, not plextalk backup.She should no that. She is clever enough I am sure.
On 04/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Did anyone happen to see this from AccessWorld?
Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi Deborah Kendrick Upon reading a product evaluation I wrote of a stand-alone tabletop DAISY and audio book
player , a representative of Shinano Kenshi wrote asking for an evaluation of the PLEXTALK PTN2. First Look The PLEXTALK PTN2 is roughly 9 inches by 7 inches and about one inch high, giving it a footprint very much like the digital talking book player distributed
by
the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). The
PLEXTALK PTN2 has 27 buttons (or keys) on the top face of the unit, an external speaker grille in the upper right corner, roughly 2 by 3 inches, and a connector for an AC
adapter on the back. On the left edge are slots for a secure digital (SD) card and
a
USB port in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front edge is a slot for
standard CDs; the battery compartment is on the bottom, along with rubber feet for stability. There is no carrying handle; the unit can run on either AC current or battery power. In the box with the unit is an AC adapter, user's guide on DAISY CD, and a snap-on cover with holes exposing only the basic, essential keys. (More about that below.) Initial Test Drive After taking the unit out of the box, it's fairly easy to test it immediately. As is always wise when using any product for the first time, plug it in and press the "Power" button. Anyone familiar with other PLEXTALK products will recognize
the charming chimes indicating that the unit is working on the issued command. It immediately chimes once, announces "Please wait" in a clear female voice, and then repeats the PLEXTALK chiming waiting sound for about ten seconds before announcing whatever media is detected onboard. The inclusion of the user's guide on DAISY CD offers
a
perfect opportunity for acquainting oneself with the product. The sound quality of the PLEXTALK PTN2 is outstanding. Even this writer with
a hearing impairment can hear it loud and clear from across the room. The synthetic voices for text-to-speech are the familiar Samantha and Tom and are sufficiently distinct. When playing music or an audio book, the sound quality is excellent. Those 27 Keys At the bottom of the unit is the familiar "Play/Pause" key in the middle with arrow-shaped "Rewind" and "Fast Forward" keys to either side. Directly above this trio
is
the 12-key telephone-style keypad used frequently for navigation, menu selections, and other functions. In a column to the left of these buttons are four distinctly-shaped keys: the "Menu," "Bookshelf," "Go To" (heading, page, etc.), and "Bookmark"
keys. Directly above the telephone-style keypad are three control columns: "Tone,"
"Volume," and "Speed." Although the user's guide counts these as three buttons, I count them as six since each has an up and down control with a distinct split between them. On the right-hand side of the machine is an "Information" key, a "Sleep" key, the "Power" button, an "Eject" for CDs, and a close pair of title keys ("Previous" and "Next"), which are used when navigating from one media type to another or one folder to another within a given media source. Again, these appear to be two buttons although the user's guide refers to them as one. When first powered on, the PTN2 remembers the last content played and announces that content's source. If that is the material you wish to hear, you can simply press "Play." The "2" and "8" keys will give you information regarding the mark-up
available (levels 1, 2, and 3, for instance), and the "4" and "6" keys are used to move backward and forward accordingly. The "Go To" key, depending on the type of content played, allows you to move by heading, page, or percentage within a given file. The
"Bookshelf" key is used to rotate among CD, SD card, and USB thumb drive, all of which can be onboard at any given time. Navigating among the various media sources can also be done using the "Title" key on the right. The "Bookmark" key can be used to set up to 10,000 bookmarks. There is, however, no voice or highlight bookmark feature available but, instead, only numbered bookmarks, the numbers for which can either be user defined by entering a number from the keypad or automatically set by the PTN2. Once
bookmarks have been set, however, you can access a bookmark list, navigating through your bookmarks with the "4" and "6" keys or by entering the number of a specifically desired bookmark to move directly to it. The Mask The PTN2 comes with a snap-on cover called a mask that is molded to fit securely over the face of the unit with pieces that grip the sides. When the mask is
in place, only a few of the unit's keys are available to the user. These include the three keys at the bottom ("Rewind," "Play/Pause," and "Fast Forward"), the five keys at the right ("Power," "Sleep," "Eject," "Information," and "Title"), and the "Tone" and "Volume" controls at the top. One question that immediately arose is why
"Tone" and "Volume," but not "Speed," controls have been selected as the most essential to have available to a user with more limited technical ability. That small
caveat aside, this may be a useful feature in some situations, such as for teaching
or when the unit is used by children or those with limited tactile sensitivity. What Can It Play? The PTN2 can play a wonderful array of file types and formats: DAISY, .TXT,
.DOC, HTML, and a variety of audio formats, including WAV, MP3, and OGG. If a file
contains both DAISY text and audio, the PTN2 will only recognize one or the other. I loaded the unit with content of every type (a CD, an SD card, and a USB thumb drive all at once) and found the results both impressive and puzzling. While the unit was able to navigate among all three sources, representing a wide array of format types, some content was inaccessible. On the USB drive, for example, there was a folder of audio files and a folder of text files played perfectly. A third folder,
however, containing both audio and text files of the same content, revealed only the
text. If I hadn't known the audio files were there, I would not have been able to
discover them. You can work around this problem by removing the text files from the folder or by placing the audio files in a separate folder, but the initial roadblock is bewildering. Other PLEXTALK products share this particular quirk of requiring all content to be placed in its own folder, and in this instance, even if the content is the same but is represented in more than one format, each must have a folder of its own. Quirks aside, it warrants mentioning that included in the smorgasbord of content loaded for the above experiment were books drawn from three of the most popular sources for readers who are blind or visually impaired (Bookshare, NLS BARD, and Audible.com), and the PLEXTALK PTN2 played all of them beautifully. A Few Special Features The PLEXTALK PTN2 does a few things that competing products do not, and it does them very well. First, as mentioned above, the PLEXTALK plays audiobooks and other materials downloadable from Audible.com . Secondly, although it has no other recording capabilities, the PLEXTALK can backup an audio CD, including commercially available CDs, to an SD card. The process is a simple one but does take some time. To back up a CD with approximately 50
minutes of recording, for example, the process took about 25 minutes. The procedure
is completely simple (press the "9" key to begin and "8" to confirm), and the PLEXTALK chiming sounds continue throughout the process to let you know something is actually
happening. When finished, the unit announces that the backup is complete. When CDs are
copied in this manner, they are placed on the SD card in a folder entitled "PLEXTALK Backup," which is created by the unit itself. On a more random note, the PTN2 does have time and date announcement features, a sleep timer, and an automatic shut-off after 15 minutes when operating on battery. While none of these are likely to be deal breakers for many customers, they
are convenient features that warrant mentioning. Conclusions The PTN2 is a compact unit with fabulous sound quality that will meet most listening needs of customers who are blind or low vision. It plays content from CD, SD, and USB sources and can play a wide variety of formats from the most popularly used content sources. In addition to music and audio books, it offers clear text-to-speech capabilities and is, thus, able to play plain text, Word, and HTML documents. It does not have wireless or recording functionality other than the ability
to back up a CD to an SD card. Product Information Product: PLEXTALK PTN2 Price: $375 Available from: available from a variety of dealers, including IRTI, Active
Forever, Maxi-Aids, and others.
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
Wel, it does yes, but except for the stream and ptn2, I don't think there is any other player who support it except easy reader from dolphin. Wel the ptn2 is around for almost free years now. It came out in end 2009. Replacing the oder ptn1/ptn1/pro. That's why the voice sound like pocket. I just hope they will update it again. I love it, but the only thing that I notice is that when changing volume and speed rapitly its slitely a bit slow. On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Doesn't the victor reader stream support skippable elements?
Here's the interesting thing, I tried to find the US manual for the ptn2 on
the plextalk support page. I wanted to look it over. How long has the ptn2
been around? I didn't know anything about it until this review.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 8:55 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Yes its a pity for sure. Wel I could be rong, as I am not part of that service and they not available in my country, but it should be able to work, although I don't recall anything about that from the manual or website. What I do no is that they said somewhere on the site that you can connect the pocket and ptn2 together, but I tryed that and it didn't work. So I guess the only thing that will really work in that USB port are memory flash drives. I guess you could email and confirm about the compatibility with those nls cards, would be intrested to no. But at least the latest 3.7 update made the cd drive perform better and make less noise now. I think you will have a better chance of connecting ptp1 with ptr2.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
It's to bad they don't use higher quality tts on the ptn2. Do you know if the short cable supplied with the plextalk pocket can be used to connect NLS
cartridges to the ptn2?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 7:31 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
The voices are the exact same quality. And yes to all the others.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I have some questions about the ptn2: 1. I see it uses the same tts as the plextalk pocket. Is the tts higher quality than what is on the plextalk pocket? 2. can this player play audio cd's? data cd's with mp3's on them? Daisy cd's? Does it remember your place on each cd?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 11:47 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
I just hope that people can realize the wunders of this machine by themselves. It just seem to me sometimes that only after a review like this some people actually wake up. I like this woman riting, but she also make me angry. She didn't even mention the fact that ptn2 can use skippable elements wich only a few players can do at present. And the folder is called plex backup, not plextalk backup.She should no that. She is clever enough I am sure.
On 04/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Did anyone happen to see this from AccessWorld?
Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi Deborah Kendrick Upon reading a product evaluation I wrote of a stand-alone tabletop DAISY and audio book
player , a representative of Shinano Kenshi wrote asking for an evaluation of the PLEXTALK PTN2. First Look The PLEXTALK PTN2 is roughly 9 inches by 7 inches and about one inch high, giving it a footprint very much like the digital talking book player distributed
by
the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). The
PLEXTALK PTN2 has 27 buttons (or keys) on the top face of the unit, an external speaker grille in the upper right corner, roughly 2 by 3 inches, and a connector for an AC
adapter on the back. On the left edge are slots for a secure digital (SD) card and
a
USB port in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front edge is a slot for
standard CDs; the battery compartment is on the bottom, along with rubber feet for stability. There is no carrying handle; the unit can run on either AC current or battery power. In the box with the unit is an AC adapter, user's guide on DAISY CD, and a snap-on cover with holes exposing only the basic, essential keys. (More about that below.) Initial Test Drive After taking the unit out of the box, it's fairly easy to test it immediately. As is always wise when using any product for the first time, plug it in and press the "Power" button. Anyone familiar with other PLEXTALK products will recognize
the charming chimes indicating that the unit is working on the issued command. It immediately chimes once, announces "Please wait" in a clear female voice, and then repeats the PLEXTALK chiming waiting sound for about ten seconds before announcing whatever media is detected onboard. The inclusion of the user's guide on DAISY CD offers
a
perfect opportunity for acquainting oneself with the product. The sound quality of the PLEXTALK PTN2 is outstanding. Even this writer with
a hearing impairment can hear it loud and clear from across the room. The synthetic voices for text-to-speech are the familiar Samantha and Tom and are sufficiently distinct. When playing music or an audio book, the sound quality is excellent. Those 27 Keys At the bottom of the unit is the familiar "Play/Pause" key in the middle with arrow-shaped "Rewind" and "Fast Forward" keys to either side. Directly above this trio
is
the 12-key telephone-style keypad used frequently for navigation, menu selections, and other functions. In a column to the left of these buttons are four distinctly-shaped keys: the "Menu," "Bookshelf," "Go To" (heading, page, etc.), and "Bookmark"
keys. Directly above the telephone-style keypad are three control columns: "Tone,"
"Volume," and "Speed." Although the user's guide counts these as three buttons, I count them as six since each has an up and down control with a distinct split between them. On the right-hand side of the machine is an "Information" key, a "Sleep" key, the "Power" button, an "Eject" for CDs, and a close pair of title keys ("Previous" and "Next"), which are used when navigating from one media type to another or one folder to another within a given media source. Again, these appear to be two buttons although the user's guide refers to them as one. When first powered on, the PTN2 remembers the last content played and announces that content's source. If that is the material you wish to hear, you can simply press "Play." The "2" and "8" keys will give you information regarding the mark-up
available (levels 1, 2, and 3, for instance), and the "4" and "6" keys are used to move backward and forward accordingly. The "Go To" key, depending on the type of content played, allows you to move by heading, page, or percentage within a given file. The
"Bookshelf" key is used to rotate among CD, SD card, and USB thumb drive, all of which can be onboard at any given time. Navigating among the various media sources can also be done using the "Title" key on the right. The "Bookmark" key can be used to set up to 10,000 bookmarks. There is, however, no voice or highlight bookmark feature available but, instead, only numbered bookmarks, the numbers for which can either be user defined by entering a number from the keypad or automatically set by the PTN2. Once
bookmarks have been set, however, you can access a bookmark list, navigating through your bookmarks with the "4" and "6" keys or by entering the number of a specifically desired bookmark to move directly to it. The Mask The PTN2 comes with a snap-on cover called a mask that is molded to fit securely over the face of the unit with pieces that grip the sides. When the mask is
in place, only a few of the unit's keys are available to the user. These include the three keys at the bottom ("Rewind," "Play/Pause," and "Fast Forward"), the five keys at the right ("Power," "Sleep," "Eject," "Information," and "Title"), and the "Tone" and "Volume" controls at the top. One question that immediately arose is why
"Tone" and "Volume," but not "Speed," controls have been selected as the most essential to have available to a user with more limited technical ability. That small
caveat aside, this may be a useful feature in some situations, such as for teaching
or when the unit is used by children or those with limited tactile sensitivity. What Can It Play? The PTN2 can play a wonderful array of file types and formats: DAISY, .TXT,
.DOC, HTML, and a variety of audio formats, including WAV, MP3, and OGG. If a file
contains both DAISY text and audio, the PTN2 will only recognize one or the other. I loaded the unit with content of every type (a CD, an SD card, and a USB thumb drive all at once) and found the results both impressive and puzzling. While the unit was able to navigate among all three sources, representing a wide array of format types, some content was inaccessible. On the USB drive, for example, there was a folder of audio files and a folder of text files played perfectly. A third folder,
however, containing both audio and text files of the same content, revealed only the
text. If I hadn't known the audio files were there, I would not have been able to
discover them. You can work around this problem by removing the text files from the folder or by placing the audio files in a separate folder, but the initial roadblock is bewildering. Other PLEXTALK products share this particular quirk of requiring all content to be placed in its own folder, and in this instance, even if the content is the same but is represented in more than one format, each must have a folder of its own. Quirks aside, it warrants mentioning that included in the smorgasbord of content loaded for the above experiment were books drawn from three of the most popular sources for readers who are blind or visually impaired (Bookshare, NLS BARD, and Audible.com), and the PLEXTALK PTN2 played all of them beautifully. A Few Special Features The PLEXTALK PTN2 does a few things that competing products do not, and it does them very well. First, as mentioned above, the PLEXTALK plays audiobooks and other materials downloadable from Audible.com . Secondly, although it has no other recording capabilities, the PLEXTALK can backup an audio CD, including commercially available CDs, to an SD card. The process is a simple one but does take some time. To back up a CD with approximately 50
minutes of recording, for example, the process took about 25 minutes. The procedure
is completely simple (press the "9" key to begin and "8" to confirm), and the PLEXTALK chiming sounds continue throughout the process to let you know something is actually
happening. When finished, the unit announces that the backup is complete. When CDs are
copied in this manner, they are placed on the SD card in a folder entitled "PLEXTALK Backup," which is created by the unit itself. On a more random note, the PTN2 does have time and date announcement features, a sleep timer, and an automatic shut-off after 15 minutes when operating on battery. While none of these are likely to be deal breakers for many customers, they
are convenient features that warrant mentioning. Conclusions The PTN2 is a compact unit with fabulous sound quality that will meet most listening needs of customers who are blind or low vision. It plays content from CD, SD, and USB sources and can play a wide variety of formats from the most popularly used content sources. In addition to music and audio books, it offers clear text-to-speech capabilities and is, thus, able to play plain text, Word, and HTML documents. It does not have wireless or recording functionality other than the ability
to back up a CD to an SD card. Product Information Product: PLEXTALK PTN2 Price: $375 Available from: available from a variety of dealers, including IRTI, Active
Forever, Maxi-Aids, and others.
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
Wel, it does yes, but except for the stream and ptn2, I don't think there is any other player who support it except easy reader from dolphin. Wel the ptn2 is around for almost free years now. It came out in end 2009. Replacing the oder ptn1/ptn1/pro. That's why the voice sound like pocket. I just hope they will update it again. I love it, but the only thing that I notice is that when changing volume and speed rapitly its slitely a bit slow. On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Doesn't the victor reader stream support skippable elements?
Here's the interesting thing, I tried to find the US manual for the ptn2 on
the plextalk support page. I wanted to look it over. How long has the ptn2
been around? I didn't know anything about it until this review.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 8:55 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Yes its a pity for sure. Wel I could be rong, as I am not part of that service and they not available in my country, but it should be able to work, although I don't recall anything about that from the manual or website. What I do no is that they said somewhere on the site that you can connect the pocket and ptn2 together, but I tryed that and it didn't work. So I guess the only thing that will really work in that USB port are memory flash drives. I guess you could email and confirm about the compatibility with those nls cards, would be intrested to no. But at least the latest 3.7 update made the cd drive perform better and make less noise now. I think you will have a better chance of connecting ptp1 with ptr2.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
It's to bad they don't use higher quality tts on the ptn2. Do you know if the short cable supplied with the plextalk pocket can be used to connect NLS
cartridges to the ptn2?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 7:31 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
The voices are the exact same quality. And yes to all the others.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I have some questions about the ptn2: 1. I see it uses the same tts as the plextalk pocket. Is the tts higher quality than what is on the plextalk pocket? 2. can this player play audio cd's? data cd's with mp3's on them? Daisy cd's? Does it remember your place on each cd?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 11:47 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
I just hope that people can realize the wunders of this machine by themselves. It just seem to me sometimes that only after a review like this some people actually wake up. I like this woman riting, but she also make me angry. She didn't even mention the fact that ptn2 can use skippable elements wich only a few players can do at present. And the folder is called plex backup, not plextalk backup.She should no that. She is clever enough I am sure.
On 04/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Did anyone happen to see this from AccessWorld?
Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi Deborah Kendrick Upon reading a product evaluation I wrote of a stand-alone tabletop DAISY and audio book
player , a representative of Shinano Kenshi wrote asking for an evaluation of the PLEXTALK PTN2. First Look The PLEXTALK PTN2 is roughly 9 inches by 7 inches and about one inch high, giving it a footprint very much like the digital talking book player distributed
by
the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). The
PLEXTALK PTN2 has 27 buttons (or keys) on the top face of the unit, an external speaker grille in the upper right corner, roughly 2 by 3 inches, and a connector for an AC
adapter on the back. On the left edge are slots for a secure digital (SD) card and
a
USB port in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front edge is a slot for
standard CDs; the battery compartment is on the bottom, along with rubber feet for stability. There is no carrying handle; the unit can run on either AC current or battery power. In the box with the unit is an AC adapter, user's guide on DAISY CD, and a snap-on cover with holes exposing only the basic, essential keys. (More about that below.) Initial Test Drive After taking the unit out of the box, it's fairly easy to test it immediately. As is always wise when using any product for the first time, plug it in and press the "Power" button. Anyone familiar with other PLEXTALK products will recognize
the charming chimes indicating that the unit is working on the issued command. It immediately chimes once, announces "Please wait" in a clear female voice, and then repeats the PLEXTALK chiming waiting sound for about ten seconds before announcing whatever media is detected onboard. The inclusion of the user's guide on DAISY CD offers
a
perfect opportunity for acquainting oneself with the product. The sound quality of the PLEXTALK PTN2 is outstanding. Even this writer with
a hearing impairment can hear it loud and clear from across the room. The synthetic voices for text-to-speech are the familiar Samantha and Tom and are sufficiently distinct. When playing music or an audio book, the sound quality is excellent. Those 27 Keys At the bottom of the unit is the familiar "Play/Pause" key in the middle with arrow-shaped "Rewind" and "Fast Forward" keys to either side. Directly above this trio
is
the 12-key telephone-style keypad used frequently for navigation, menu selections, and other functions. In a column to the left of these buttons are four distinctly-shaped keys: the "Menu," "Bookshelf," "Go To" (heading, page, etc.), and "Bookmark"
keys. Directly above the telephone-style keypad are three control columns: "Tone,"
"Volume," and "Speed." Although the user's guide counts these as three buttons, I count them as six since each has an up and down control with a distinct split between them. On the right-hand side of the machine is an "Information" key, a "Sleep" key, the "Power" button, an "Eject" for CDs, and a close pair of title keys ("Previous" and "Next"), which are used when navigating from one media type to another or one folder to another within a given media source. Again, these appear to be two buttons although the user's guide refers to them as one. When first powered on, the PTN2 remembers the last content played and announces that content's source. If that is the material you wish to hear, you can simply press "Play." The "2" and "8" keys will give you information regarding the mark-up
available (levels 1, 2, and 3, for instance), and the "4" and "6" keys are used to move backward and forward accordingly. The "Go To" key, depending on the type of content played, allows you to move by heading, page, or percentage within a given file. The
"Bookshelf" key is used to rotate among CD, SD card, and USB thumb drive, all of which can be onboard at any given time. Navigating among the various media sources can also be done using the "Title" key on the right. The "Bookmark" key can be used to set up to 10,000 bookmarks. There is, however, no voice or highlight bookmark feature available but, instead, only numbered bookmarks, the numbers for which can either be user defined by entering a number from the keypad or automatically set by the PTN2. Once
bookmarks have been set, however, you can access a bookmark list, navigating through your bookmarks with the "4" and "6" keys or by entering the number of a specifically desired bookmark to move directly to it. The Mask The PTN2 comes with a snap-on cover called a mask that is molded to fit securely over the face of the unit with pieces that grip the sides. When the mask is
in place, only a few of the unit's keys are available to the user. These include the three keys at the bottom ("Rewind," "Play/Pause," and "Fast Forward"), the five keys at the right ("Power," "Sleep," "Eject," "Information," and "Title"), and the "Tone" and "Volume" controls at the top. One question that immediately arose is why
"Tone" and "Volume," but not "Speed," controls have been selected as the most essential to have available to a user with more limited technical ability. That small
caveat aside, this may be a useful feature in some situations, such as for teaching
or when the unit is used by children or those with limited tactile sensitivity. What Can It Play? The PTN2 can play a wonderful array of file types and formats: DAISY, .TXT,
.DOC, HTML, and a variety of audio formats, including WAV, MP3, and OGG. If a file
contains both DAISY text and audio, the PTN2 will only recognize one or the other. I loaded the unit with content of every type (a CD, an SD card, and a USB thumb drive all at once) and found the results both impressive and puzzling. While the unit was able to navigate among all three sources, representing a wide array of format types, some content was inaccessible. On the USB drive, for example, there was a folder of audio files and a folder of text files played perfectly. A third folder,
however, containing both audio and text files of the same content, revealed only the
text. If I hadn't known the audio files were there, I would not have been able to
discover them. You can work around this problem by removing the text files from the folder or by placing the audio files in a separate folder, but the initial roadblock is bewildering. Other PLEXTALK products share this particular quirk of requiring all content to be placed in its own folder, and in this instance, even if the content is the same but is represented in more than one format, each must have a folder of its own. Quirks aside, it warrants mentioning that included in the smorgasbord of content loaded for the above experiment were books drawn from three of the most popular sources for readers who are blind or visually impaired (Bookshare, NLS BARD, and Audible.com), and the PLEXTALK PTN2 played all of them beautifully. A Few Special Features The PLEXTALK PTN2 does a few things that competing products do not, and it does them very well. First, as mentioned above, the PLEXTALK plays audiobooks and other materials downloadable from Audible.com . Secondly, although it has no other recording capabilities, the PLEXTALK can backup an audio CD, including commercially available CDs, to an SD card. The process is a simple one but does take some time. To back up a CD with approximately 50
minutes of recording, for example, the process took about 25 minutes. The procedure
is completely simple (press the "9" key to begin and "8" to confirm), and the PLEXTALK chiming sounds continue throughout the process to let you know something is actually
happening. When finished, the unit announces that the backup is complete. When CDs are
copied in this manner, they are placed on the SD card in a folder entitled "PLEXTALK Backup," which is created by the unit itself. On a more random note, the PTN2 does have time and date announcement features, a sleep timer, and an automatic shut-off after 15 minutes when operating on battery. While none of these are likely to be deal breakers for many customers, they
are convenient features that warrant mentioning. Conclusions The PTN2 is a compact unit with fabulous sound quality that will meet most listening needs of customers who are blind or low vision. It plays content from CD, SD, and USB sources and can play a wide variety of formats from the most popularly used content sources. In addition to music and audio books, it offers clear text-to-speech capabilities and is, thus, able to play plain text, Word, and HTML documents. It does not have wireless or recording functionality other than the ability
to back up a CD to an SD card. Product Information Product: PLEXTALK PTN2 Price: $375 Available from: available from a variety of dealers, including IRTI, Active
Forever, Maxi-Aids, and others.
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
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I wonder why here in the US, not much has been said about it? I can't even find any podcasts on the ptn2. -----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2012 6:25 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi Wel, it does yes, but except for the stream and ptn2, I don't think there is any other player who support it except easy reader from dolphin. Wel the ptn2 is around for almost free years now. It came out in end 2009. Replacing the oder ptn1/ptn1/pro. That's why the voice sound like pocket. I just hope they will update it again. I love it, but the only thing that I notice is that when changing volume and speed rapitly its slitely a bit slow. On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Doesn't the victor reader stream support skippable elements?
Here's the interesting thing, I tried to find the US manual for the ptn2 on
the plextalk support page. I wanted to look it over. How long has the ptn2
been around? I didn't know anything about it until this review.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 8:55 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Yes its a pity for sure. Wel I could be rong, as I am not part of that service and they not available in my country, but it should be able to work, although I don't recall anything about that from the manual or website. What I do no is that they said somewhere on the site that you can connect the pocket and ptn2 together, but I tryed that and it didn't work. So I guess the only thing that will really work in that USB port are memory flash drives. I guess you could email and confirm about the compatibility with those nls cards, would be intrested to no. But at least the latest 3.7 update made the cd drive perform better and make less noise now. I think you will have a better chance of connecting ptp1 with ptr2.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
It's to bad they don't use higher quality tts on the ptn2. Do you know if the short cable supplied with the plextalk pocket can be used to connect NLS
cartridges to the ptn2?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 7:31 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
The voices are the exact same quality. And yes to all the others.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I have some questions about the ptn2: 1. I see it uses the same tts as the plextalk pocket. Is the tts higher quality than what is on the plextalk pocket? 2. can this player play audio cd's? data cd's with mp3's on them? Daisy cd's? Does it remember your place on each cd?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 11:47 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
I just hope that people can realize the wunders of this machine by themselves. It just seem to me sometimes that only after a review like this some people actually wake up. I like this woman riting, but she also make me angry. She didn't even mention the fact that ptn2 can use skippable elements wich only a few players can do at present. And the folder is called plex backup, not plextalk backup.She should no that. She is clever enough I am sure.
On 04/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Did anyone happen to see this from AccessWorld?
Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi Deborah Kendrick Upon reading a product evaluation I wrote of a stand-alone tabletop DAISY and audio book
player , a representative of Shinano Kenshi wrote asking for an evaluation of the PLEXTALK PTN2. First Look The PLEXTALK PTN2 is roughly 9 inches by 7 inches and about one inch high, giving it a footprint very much like the digital talking book player distributed
by
the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). The
PLEXTALK PTN2 has 27 buttons (or keys) on the top face of the unit, an external speaker grille in the upper right corner, roughly 2 by 3 inches, and a connector for an AC
adapter on the back. On the left edge are slots for a secure digital (SD) card and
a
USB port in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front edge is a slot for
standard CDs; the battery compartment is on the bottom, along with rubber feet for stability. There is no carrying handle; the unit can run on either AC current or battery power. In the box with the unit is an AC adapter, user's guide on DAISY CD, and a snap-on cover with holes exposing only the basic, essential keys. (More about that below.) Initial Test Drive After taking the unit out of the box, it's fairly easy to test it immediately. As is always wise when using any product for the first time, plug it in and press the "Power" button. Anyone familiar with other PLEXTALK products will recognize
the charming chimes indicating that the unit is working on the issued command. It immediately chimes once, announces "Please wait" in a clear female voice, and then repeats the PLEXTALK chiming waiting sound for about ten seconds before announcing whatever media is detected onboard. The inclusion of the user's guide on DAISY CD offers
a
perfect opportunity for acquainting oneself with the product. The sound quality of the PLEXTALK PTN2 is outstanding. Even this writer with
a hearing impairment can hear it loud and clear from across the room. The synthetic voices for text-to-speech are the familiar Samantha and Tom and are sufficiently distinct. When playing music or an audio book, the sound quality is excellent. Those 27 Keys At the bottom of the unit is the familiar "Play/Pause" key in the middle with arrow-shaped "Rewind" and "Fast Forward" keys to either side. Directly above this trio
is
the 12-key telephone-style keypad used frequently for navigation, menu selections, and other functions. In a column to the left of these buttons are four distinctly-shaped keys: the "Menu," "Bookshelf," "Go To" (heading, page, etc.), and "Bookmark"
keys. Directly above the telephone-style keypad are three control columns: "Tone,"
"Volume," and "Speed." Although the user's guide counts these as three buttons, I count them as six since each has an up and down control with a distinct split between them. On the right-hand side of the machine is an "Information" key, a "Sleep" key, the "Power" button, an "Eject" for CDs, and a close pair of title keys ("Previous" and "Next"), which are used when navigating from one media type to another or one folder to another within a given media source. Again, these appear to be two buttons although the user's guide refers to them as one. When first powered on, the PTN2 remembers the last content played and announces that content's source. If that is the material you wish to hear, you can simply press "Play." The "2" and "8" keys will give you information regarding the mark-up
available (levels 1, 2, and 3, for instance), and the "4" and "6" keys are used to move backward and forward accordingly. The "Go To" key, depending on the type of content played, allows you to move by heading, page, or percentage within a given file. The
"Bookshelf" key is used to rotate among CD, SD card, and USB thumb drive, all of which can be onboard at any given time. Navigating among the various media sources can also be done using the "Title" key on the right. The "Bookmark" key can be used to set up to 10,000 bookmarks. There is, however, no voice or highlight bookmark feature available but, instead, only numbered bookmarks, the numbers for which can either be user defined by entering a number from the keypad or automatically set by the PTN2. Once
bookmarks have been set, however, you can access a bookmark list, navigating through your bookmarks with the "4" and "6" keys or by entering the number of a specifically desired bookmark to move directly to it. The Mask The PTN2 comes with a snap-on cover called a mask that is molded to fit securely over the face of the unit with pieces that grip the sides. When the mask is
in place, only a few of the unit's keys are available to the user. These include the three keys at the bottom ("Rewind," "Play/Pause," and "Fast Forward"), the five keys at the right ("Power," "Sleep," "Eject," "Information," and "Title"), and the "Tone" and "Volume" controls at the top. One question that immediately arose is why
"Tone" and "Volume," but not "Speed," controls have been selected as the most essential to have available to a user with more limited technical ability. That small
caveat aside, this may be a useful feature in some situations, such as for teaching
or when the unit is used by children or those with limited tactile sensitivity. What Can It Play? The PTN2 can play a wonderful array of file types and formats: DAISY, .TXT,
.DOC, HTML, and a variety of audio formats, including WAV, MP3, and OGG. If a file
contains both DAISY text and audio, the PTN2 will only recognize one or the other. I loaded the unit with content of every type (a CD, an SD card, and a USB thumb drive all at once) and found the results both impressive and puzzling. While the unit was able to navigate among all three sources, representing a wide array of format types, some content was inaccessible. On the USB drive, for example, there was a folder of audio files and a folder of text files played perfectly. A third folder,
however, containing both audio and text files of the same content, revealed only the
text. If I hadn't known the audio files were there, I would not have been able to
discover them. You can work around this problem by removing the text files from the folder or by placing the audio files in a separate folder, but the initial roadblock is bewildering. Other PLEXTALK products share this particular quirk of requiring all content to be placed in its own folder, and in this instance, even if the content is the same but is represented in more than one format, each must have a folder of its own. Quirks aside, it warrants mentioning that included in the smorgasbord of content loaded for the above experiment were books drawn from three of the most popular sources for readers who are blind or visually impaired (Bookshare, NLS BARD, and Audible.com), and the PLEXTALK PTN2 played all of them beautifully. A Few Special Features The PLEXTALK PTN2 does a few things that competing products do not, and it does them very well. First, as mentioned above, the PLEXTALK plays audiobooks and other materials downloadable from Audible.com . Secondly, although it has no other recording capabilities, the PLEXTALK can backup an audio CD, including commercially available CDs, to an SD card. The process is a simple one but does take some time. To back up a CD with approximately 50
minutes of recording, for example, the process took about 25 minutes. The procedure
is completely simple (press the "9" key to begin and "8" to confirm), and the PLEXTALK chiming sounds continue throughout the process to let you know something is actually
happening. When finished, the unit announces that the backup is complete. When CDs are
copied in this manner, they are placed on the SD card in a folder entitled "PLEXTALK Backup," which is created by the unit itself. On a more random note, the PTN2 does have time and date announcement features, a sleep timer, and an automatic shut-off after 15 minutes when operating on battery. While none of these are likely to be deal breakers for many customers, they
are convenient features that warrant mentioning. Conclusions The PTN2 is a compact unit with fabulous sound quality that will meet most listening needs of customers who are blind or low vision. It plays content from CD, SD, and USB sources and can play a wide variety of formats from the most popularly used content sources. In addition to music and audio books, it offers clear text-to-speech capabilities and is, thus, able to play plain text, Word, and HTML documents. It does not have wireless or recording functionality other than the ability
to back up a CD to an SD card. Product Information Product: PLEXTALK PTN2 Price: $375 Available from: available from a variety of dealers, including IRTI, Active
Forever, Maxi-Aids, and others.
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
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Wel, I have talked about it several times on this list, so funny if you say you never heard about it. Wel, you should check with places like IRTI, they are a big plextalk dealer. There is not alot of potcasts at all on any plextalk thing, maybe a few on the pocket, try search for a vidio or to on utube. That is why I say its a pity people only realize it after this woman poor stupid review. The plextalk site have all the info you need. If you have a general intrest in there products, or if you a huge fan like me, you should check the site from time to time. On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I wonder why here in the US, not much has been said about it? I can't even
find any podcasts on the ptn2.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2012 6:25 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Wel, it does yes, but except for the stream and ptn2, I don't think there is any other player who support it except easy reader from dolphin. Wel the ptn2 is around for almost free years now. It came out in end 2009. Replacing the oder ptn1/ptn1/pro. That's why the voice sound like pocket. I just hope they will update it again. I love it, but the only thing that I notice is that when changing volume and speed rapitly its slitely a bit slow.
On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Doesn't the victor reader stream support skippable elements?
Here's the interesting thing, I tried to find the US manual for the ptn2 on
the plextalk support page. I wanted to look it over. How long has the ptn2
been around? I didn't know anything about it until this review.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 8:55 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Yes its a pity for sure. Wel I could be rong, as I am not part of that service and they not available in my country, but it should be able to work, although I don't recall anything about that from the manual or website. What I do no is that they said somewhere on the site that you can connect the pocket and ptn2 together, but I tryed that and it didn't work. So I guess the only thing that will really work in that USB port are memory flash drives. I guess you could email and confirm about the compatibility with those nls cards, would be intrested to no. But at least the latest 3.7 update made the cd drive perform better and make less noise now. I think you will have a better chance of connecting ptp1 with ptr2.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
It's to bad they don't use higher quality tts on the ptn2. Do you know if the short cable supplied with the plextalk pocket can be used to connect NLS
cartridges to the ptn2?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 7:31 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
The voices are the exact same quality. And yes to all the others.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I have some questions about the ptn2: 1. I see it uses the same tts as the plextalk pocket. Is the tts higher quality than what is on the plextalk pocket? 2. can this player play audio cd's? data cd's with mp3's on them? Daisy cd's? Does it remember your place on each cd?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 11:47 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
I just hope that people can realize the wunders of this machine by themselves. It just seem to me sometimes that only after a review like this some people actually wake up. I like this woman riting, but she also make me angry. She didn't even mention the fact that ptn2 can use skippable elements wich only a few players can do at present. And the folder is called plex backup, not plextalk backup.She should no that. She is clever enough I am sure.
On 04/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Did anyone happen to see this from AccessWorld?
Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi Deborah Kendrick Upon reading a product evaluation I wrote of a stand-alone tabletop DAISY and audio book
player , a representative of Shinano Kenshi wrote asking for an evaluation of the PLEXTALK PTN2. First Look The PLEXTALK PTN2 is roughly 9 inches by 7 inches and about one inch high, giving it a footprint very much like the digital talking book player distributed
by
the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). The
PLEXTALK PTN2 has 27 buttons (or keys) on the top face of the unit, an external speaker grille in the upper right corner, roughly 2 by 3 inches, and a connector for an AC
adapter on the back. On the left edge are slots for a secure digital (SD) card and
a
USB port in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front edge is a slot for
standard CDs; the battery compartment is on the bottom, along with rubber feet for stability. There is no carrying handle; the unit can run on either AC current or battery power. In the box with the unit is an AC adapter, user's guide on DAISY CD, and a snap-on cover with holes exposing only the basic, essential keys. (More about that below.) Initial Test Drive After taking the unit out of the box, it's fairly easy to test it immediately. As is always wise when using any product for the first time, plug it in and press the "Power" button. Anyone familiar with other PLEXTALK products will recognize
the charming chimes indicating that the unit is working on the issued command. It immediately chimes once, announces "Please wait" in a clear female voice, and then repeats the PLEXTALK chiming waiting sound for about ten seconds before announcing whatever media is detected onboard. The inclusion of the user's guide on DAISY CD offers
a
perfect opportunity for acquainting oneself with the product. The sound quality of the PLEXTALK PTN2 is outstanding. Even this writer with
a hearing impairment can hear it loud and clear from across the room. The synthetic voices for text-to-speech are the familiar Samantha and Tom and are sufficiently distinct. When playing music or an audio book, the sound quality is excellent. Those 27 Keys At the bottom of the unit is the familiar "Play/Pause" key in the middle with arrow-shaped "Rewind" and "Fast Forward" keys to either side. Directly above this trio
is
the 12-key telephone-style keypad used frequently for navigation, menu selections, and other functions. In a column to the left of these buttons are four distinctly-shaped keys: the "Menu," "Bookshelf," "Go To" (heading, page, etc.), and "Bookmark"
keys. Directly above the telephone-style keypad are three control columns: "Tone,"
"Volume," and "Speed." Although the user's guide counts these as three buttons, I count them as six since each has an up and down control with a distinct split between them. On the right-hand side of the machine is an "Information" key, a "Sleep" key, the "Power" button, an "Eject" for CDs, and a close pair of title keys ("Previous" and "Next"), which are used when navigating from one media type to another or one folder to another within a given media source. Again, these appear to be two buttons although the user's guide refers to them as one. When first powered on, the PTN2 remembers the last content played and announces that content's source. If that is the material you wish to hear, you can simply press "Play." The "2" and "8" keys will give you information regarding the mark-up
available (levels 1, 2, and 3, for instance), and the "4" and "6" keys are used to move backward and forward accordingly. The "Go To" key, depending on the type of content played, allows you to move by heading, page, or percentage within a given file. The
"Bookshelf" key is used to rotate among CD, SD card, and USB thumb drive, all of which can be onboard at any given time. Navigating among the various media sources can also be done using the "Title" key on the right. The "Bookmark" key can be used to set up to 10,000 bookmarks. There is, however, no voice or highlight bookmark feature available but, instead, only numbered bookmarks, the numbers for which can either be user defined by entering a number from the keypad or automatically set by the PTN2. Once
bookmarks have been set, however, you can access a bookmark list, navigating through your bookmarks with the "4" and "6" keys or by entering the number of a specifically desired bookmark to move directly to it. The Mask The PTN2 comes with a snap-on cover called a mask that is molded to fit securely over the face of the unit with pieces that grip the sides. When the mask is
in place, only a few of the unit's keys are available to the user. These include the three keys at the bottom ("Rewind," "Play/Pause," and "Fast Forward"), the five keys at the right ("Power," "Sleep," "Eject," "Information," and "Title"), and the "Tone" and "Volume" controls at the top. One question that immediately arose is why
"Tone" and "Volume," but not "Speed," controls have been selected as the most essential to have available to a user with more limited technical ability. That small
caveat aside, this may be a useful feature in some situations, such as for teaching
or when the unit is used by children or those with limited tactile sensitivity. What Can It Play? The PTN2 can play a wonderful array of file types and formats: DAISY, .TXT,
.DOC, HTML, and a variety of audio formats, including WAV, MP3, and OGG. If a file
contains both DAISY text and audio, the PTN2 will only recognize one or the other. I loaded the unit with content of every type (a CD, an SD card, and a USB thumb drive all at once) and found the results both impressive and puzzling. While the unit was able to navigate among all three sources, representing a wide array of format types, some content was inaccessible. On the USB drive, for example, there was a folder of audio files and a folder of text files played perfectly. A third folder,
however, containing both audio and text files of the same content, revealed only the
text. If I hadn't known the audio files were there, I would not have been able to
discover them. You can work around this problem by removing the text files from the folder or by placing the audio files in a separate folder, but the initial roadblock is bewildering. Other PLEXTALK products share this particular quirk of requiring all content to be placed in its own folder, and in this instance, even if the content is the same but is represented in more than one format, each must have a folder of its own. Quirks aside, it warrants mentioning that included in the smorgasbord of content loaded for the above experiment were books drawn from three of the most popular sources for readers who are blind or visually impaired (Bookshare, NLS BARD, and Audible.com), and the PLEXTALK PTN2 played all of them beautifully. A Few Special Features The PLEXTALK PTN2 does a few things that competing products do not, and it does them very well. First, as mentioned above, the PLEXTALK plays audiobooks and other materials downloadable from Audible.com . Secondly, although it has no other recording capabilities, the PLEXTALK can backup an audio CD, including commercially available CDs, to an SD card. The process is a simple one but does take some time. To back up a CD with approximately 50
minutes of recording, for example, the process took about 25 minutes. The procedure
is completely simple (press the "9" key to begin and "8" to confirm), and the PLEXTALK chiming sounds continue throughout the process to let you know something is actually
happening. When finished, the unit announces that the backup is complete. When CDs are
copied in this manner, they are placed on the SD card in a folder entitled "PLEXTALK Backup," which is created by the unit itself. On a more random note, the PTN2 does have time and date announcement features, a sleep timer, and an automatic shut-off after 15 minutes when operating on battery. While none of these are likely to be deal breakers for many customers, they
are convenient features that warrant mentioning. Conclusions The PTN2 is a compact unit with fabulous sound quality that will meet most listening needs of customers who are blind or low vision. It plays content from CD, SD, and USB sources and can play a wide variety of formats from the most popularly used content sources. In addition to music and audio books, it offers clear text-to-speech capabilities and is, thus, able to play plain text, Word, and HTML documents. It does not have wireless or recording functionality other than the ability
to back up a CD to an SD card. Product Information Product: PLEXTALK PTN2 Price: $375 Available from: available from a variety of dealers, including IRTI, Active
Forever, Maxi-Aids, and others.
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
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I agree with Aidan. All the desktop devices are so similar to each other so you don't really need podcasts but I agree with Aidan's advice. If you know the straitus then you pretty much have an idea of the PTN2 but I agree its weird that you haven't heard about the PTN2 before. On 11/6/12, Aidan Maher <aidan.smarttalk@gmail.com> wrote:
Wel, I have talked about it several times on this list, so funny if you say you never heard about it. Wel, you should check with places like IRTI, they are a big plextalk dealer. There is not alot of potcasts at all on any plextalk thing, maybe a few on the pocket, try search for a vidio or to on utube. That is why I say its a pity people only realize it after this woman poor stupid review. The plextalk site have all the info you need. If you have a general intrest in there products, or if you a huge fan like me, you should check the site from time to time.
On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I wonder why here in the US, not much has been said about it? I can't even
find any podcasts on the ptn2.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2012 6:25 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Wel, it does yes, but except for the stream and ptn2, I don't think there is any other player who support it except easy reader from dolphin. Wel the ptn2 is around for almost free years now. It came out in end 2009. Replacing the oder ptn1/ptn1/pro. That's why the voice sound like pocket. I just hope they will update it again. I love it, but the only thing that I notice is that when changing volume and speed rapitly its slitely a bit slow.
On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Doesn't the victor reader stream support skippable elements?
Here's the interesting thing, I tried to find the US manual for the ptn2 on
the plextalk support page. I wanted to look it over. How long has the ptn2
been around? I didn't know anything about it until this review.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 8:55 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Yes its a pity for sure. Wel I could be rong, as I am not part of that service and they not available in my country, but it should be able to work, although I don't recall anything about that from the manual or website. What I do no is that they said somewhere on the site that you can connect the pocket and ptn2 together, but I tryed that and it didn't work. So I guess the only thing that will really work in that USB port are memory flash drives. I guess you could email and confirm about the compatibility with those nls cards, would be intrested to no. But at least the latest 3.7 update made the cd drive perform better and make less noise now. I think you will have a better chance of connecting ptp1 with ptr2.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
It's to bad they don't use higher quality tts on the ptn2. Do you know if the short cable supplied with the plextalk pocket can be used to connect NLS
cartridges to the ptn2?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 7:31 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
The voices are the exact same quality. And yes to all the others.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I have some questions about the ptn2: 1. I see it uses the same tts as the plextalk pocket. Is the tts higher quality than what is on the plextalk pocket? 2. can this player play audio cd's? data cd's with mp3's on them? Daisy cd's? Does it remember your place on each cd?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 11:47 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
I just hope that people can realize the wunders of this machine by themselves. It just seem to me sometimes that only after a review like this some people actually wake up. I like this woman riting, but she also make me angry. She didn't even mention the fact that ptn2 can use skippable elements wich only a few players can do at present. And the folder is called plex backup, not plextalk backup.She should no that. She is clever enough I am sure.
On 04/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Did anyone happen to see this from AccessWorld?
Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi Deborah Kendrick Upon reading a product evaluation I wrote of a stand-alone tabletop DAISY and audio book
player , a representative of Shinano Kenshi wrote asking for an evaluation of the PLEXTALK PTN2. First Look The PLEXTALK PTN2 is roughly 9 inches by 7 inches and about one inch high, giving it a footprint very much like the digital talking book player distributed
by
the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). The
PLEXTALK PTN2 has 27 buttons (or keys) on the top face of the unit, an external speaker grille in the upper right corner, roughly 2 by 3 inches, and a connector for an AC
adapter on the back. On the left edge are slots for a secure digital (SD) card and
a
USB port in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front edge is a slot for
standard CDs; the battery compartment is on the bottom, along with rubber feet for stability. There is no carrying handle; the unit can run on either AC current or battery power. In the box with the unit is an AC adapter, user's guide on DAISY CD, and a snap-on cover with holes exposing only the basic, essential keys. (More about that below.) Initial Test Drive After taking the unit out of the box, it's fairly easy to test it immediately. As is always wise when using any product for the first time, plug it in and press the "Power" button. Anyone familiar with other PLEXTALK products will recognize
the charming chimes indicating that the unit is working on the issued command. It immediately chimes once, announces "Please wait" in a clear female voice, and then repeats the PLEXTALK chiming waiting sound for about ten seconds before announcing whatever media is detected onboard. The inclusion of the user's guide on DAISY CD offers
a
perfect opportunity for acquainting oneself with the product. The sound quality of the PLEXTALK PTN2 is outstanding. Even this writer with
a hearing impairment can hear it loud and clear from across the room. The synthetic voices for text-to-speech are the familiar Samantha and Tom and are sufficiently distinct. When playing music or an audio book, the sound quality is excellent. Those 27 Keys At the bottom of the unit is the familiar "Play/Pause" key in the middle with arrow-shaped "Rewind" and "Fast Forward" keys to either side. Directly above this trio
is
the 12-key telephone-style keypad used frequently for navigation, menu selections, and other functions. In a column to the left of these buttons are four distinctly-shaped keys: the "Menu," "Bookshelf," "Go To" (heading, page, etc.), and "Bookmark"
keys. Directly above the telephone-style keypad are three control columns: "Tone,"
"Volume," and "Speed." Although the user's guide counts these as three buttons, I count them as six since each has an up and down control with a distinct split between them. On the right-hand side of the machine is an "Information" key, a "Sleep" key, the "Power" button, an "Eject" for CDs, and a close pair of title keys ("Previous" and "Next"), which are used when navigating from one media type to another or one folder to another within a given media source. Again, these appear to be two buttons although the user's guide refers to them as one. When first powered on, the PTN2 remembers the last content played and announces that content's source. If that is the material you wish to hear, you can simply press "Play." The "2" and "8" keys will give you information regarding the mark-up
available (levels 1, 2, and 3, for instance), and the "4" and "6" keys are used to move backward and forward accordingly. The "Go To" key, depending on the type of content played, allows you to move by heading, page, or percentage within a given file. The
"Bookshelf" key is used to rotate among CD, SD card, and USB thumb drive, all of which can be onboard at any given time. Navigating among the various media sources can also be done using the "Title" key on the right. The "Bookmark" key can be used to set up to 10,000 bookmarks. There is, however, no voice or highlight bookmark feature available but, instead, only numbered bookmarks, the numbers for which can either be user defined by entering a number from the keypad or automatically set by the PTN2. Once
bookmarks have been set, however, you can access a bookmark list, navigating through your bookmarks with the "4" and "6" keys or by entering the number of a specifically desired bookmark to move directly to it. The Mask The PTN2 comes with a snap-on cover called a mask that is molded to fit securely over the face of the unit with pieces that grip the sides. When the mask is
in place, only a few of the unit's keys are available to the user. These include the three keys at the bottom ("Rewind," "Play/Pause," and "Fast Forward"), the five keys at the right ("Power," "Sleep," "Eject," "Information," and "Title"), and the "Tone" and "Volume" controls at the top. One question that immediately arose is why
"Tone" and "Volume," but not "Speed," controls have been selected as the most essential to have available to a user with more limited technical ability. That small
caveat aside, this may be a useful feature in some situations, such as for teaching
or when the unit is used by children or those with limited tactile sensitivity. What Can It Play? The PTN2 can play a wonderful array of file types and formats: DAISY, .TXT,
.DOC, HTML, and a variety of audio formats, including WAV, MP3, and OGG. If a file
contains both DAISY text and audio, the PTN2 will only recognize one or the other. I loaded the unit with content of every type (a CD, an SD card, and a USB thumb drive all at once) and found the results both impressive and puzzling. While the unit was able to navigate among all three sources, representing a wide array of format types, some content was inaccessible. On the USB drive, for example, there was a folder of audio files and a folder of text files played perfectly. A third folder,
however, containing both audio and text files of the same content, revealed only the
text. If I hadn't known the audio files were there, I would not have been able to
discover them. You can work around this problem by removing the text files from the folder or by placing the audio files in a separate folder, but the initial roadblock is bewildering. Other PLEXTALK products share this particular quirk of requiring all content to be placed in its own folder, and in this instance, even if the content is the same but is represented in more than one format, each must have a folder of its own. Quirks aside, it warrants mentioning that included in the smorgasbord of content loaded for the above experiment were books drawn from three of the most popular sources for readers who are blind or visually impaired (Bookshare, NLS BARD, and Audible.com), and the PLEXTALK PTN2 played all of them beautifully. A Few Special Features The PLEXTALK PTN2 does a few things that competing products do not, and it does them very well. First, as mentioned above, the PLEXTALK plays audiobooks and other materials downloadable from Audible.com . Secondly, although it has no other recording capabilities, the PLEXTALK can backup an audio CD, including commercially available CDs, to an SD card. The process is a simple one but does take some time. To back up a CD with approximately 50
minutes of recording, for example, the process took about 25 minutes. The procedure
is completely simple (press the "9" key to begin and "8" to confirm), and the PLEXTALK chiming sounds continue throughout the process to let you know something is actually
happening. When finished, the unit announces that the backup is complete. When CDs are
copied in this manner, they are placed on the SD card in a folder entitled "PLEXTALK Backup," which is created by the unit itself. On a more random note, the PTN2 does have time and date announcement features, a sleep timer, and an automatic shut-off after 15 minutes when operating on battery. While none of these are likely to be deal breakers for many customers, they
are convenient features that warrant mentioning. Conclusions The PTN2 is a compact unit with fabulous sound quality that will meet most listening needs of customers who are blind or low vision. It plays content from CD, SD, and USB sources and can play a wide variety of formats from the most popularly used content sources. In addition to music and audio books, it offers clear text-to-speech capabilities and is, thus, able to play plain text, Word, and HTML documents. It does not have wireless or recording functionality other than the ability
to back up a CD to an SD card. Product Information Product: PLEXTALK PTN2 Price: $375 Available from: available from a variety of dealers, including IRTI, Active
Forever, Maxi-Aids, and others.
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
-- SleepTalk in action
I'm surprised nothing has been said about it on such podcasts as: blind cool tech, Main menu, accessibleworld. Thiese are the main podcasts where I learn about many of the products. Even on the bardtalk list, nothing has been said about it until now. -----Original Message----- From: emma goodwin Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2012 7:53 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi I agree with Aidan. All the desktop devices are so similar to each other so you don't really need podcasts but I agree with Aidan's advice. If you know the straitus then you pretty much have an idea of the PTN2 but I agree its weird that you haven't heard about the PTN2 before. On 11/6/12, Aidan Maher <aidan.smarttalk@gmail.com> wrote:
Wel, I have talked about it several times on this list, so funny if you say you never heard about it. Wel, you should check with places like IRTI, they are a big plextalk dealer. There is not alot of potcasts at all on any plextalk thing, maybe a few on the pocket, try search for a vidio or to on utube. That is why I say its a pity people only realize it after this woman poor stupid review. The plextalk site have all the info you need. If you have a general intrest in there products, or if you a huge fan like me, you should check the site from time to time.
On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I wonder why here in the US, not much has been said about it? I can't even
find any podcasts on the ptn2.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2012 6:25 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Wel, it does yes, but except for the stream and ptn2, I don't think there is any other player who support it except easy reader from dolphin. Wel the ptn2 is around for almost free years now. It came out in end 2009. Replacing the oder ptn1/ptn1/pro. That's why the voice sound like pocket. I just hope they will update it again. I love it, but the only thing that I notice is that when changing volume and speed rapitly its slitely a bit slow.
On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Doesn't the victor reader stream support skippable elements?
Here's the interesting thing, I tried to find the US manual for the ptn2 on
the plextalk support page. I wanted to look it over. How long has the ptn2
been around? I didn't know anything about it until this review.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 8:55 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Yes its a pity for sure. Wel I could be rong, as I am not part of that service and they not available in my country, but it should be able to work, although I don't recall anything about that from the manual or website. What I do no is that they said somewhere on the site that you can connect the pocket and ptn2 together, but I tryed that and it didn't work. So I guess the only thing that will really work in that USB port are memory flash drives. I guess you could email and confirm about the compatibility with those nls cards, would be intrested to no. But at least the latest 3.7 update made the cd drive perform better and make less noise now. I think you will have a better chance of connecting ptp1 with ptr2.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
It's to bad they don't use higher quality tts on the ptn2. Do you know if the short cable supplied with the plextalk pocket can be used to connect NLS
cartridges to the ptn2?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 7:31 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
The voices are the exact same quality. And yes to all the others.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I have some questions about the ptn2: 1. I see it uses the same tts as the plextalk pocket. Is the tts higher quality than what is on the plextalk pocket? 2. can this player play audio cd's? data cd's with mp3's on them? Daisy cd's? Does it remember your place on each cd?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 11:47 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
I just hope that people can realize the wunders of this machine by themselves. It just seem to me sometimes that only after a review like this some people actually wake up. I like this woman riting, but she also make me angry. She didn't even mention the fact that ptn2 can use skippable elements wich only a few players can do at present. And the folder is called plex backup, not plextalk backup.She should no that. She is clever enough I am sure.
On 04/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Did anyone happen to see this from AccessWorld?
Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi Deborah Kendrick Upon reading a product evaluation I wrote of a stand-alone tabletop DAISY and audio book
player , a representative of Shinano Kenshi wrote asking for an evaluation of the PLEXTALK PTN2. First Look The PLEXTALK PTN2 is roughly 9 inches by 7 inches and about one inch high, giving it a footprint very much like the digital talking book player distributed
by
the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). The
PLEXTALK PTN2 has 27 buttons (or keys) on the top face of the unit, an external speaker grille in the upper right corner, roughly 2 by 3 inches, and a connector for an AC
adapter on the back. On the left edge are slots for a secure digital (SD) card and
a
USB port in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front edge is a slot for
standard CDs; the battery compartment is on the bottom, along with rubber feet for stability. There is no carrying handle; the unit can run on either AC current or battery power. In the box with the unit is an AC adapter, user's guide on DAISY CD, and a snap-on cover with holes exposing only the basic, essential keys. (More about that below.) Initial Test Drive After taking the unit out of the box, it's fairly easy to test it immediately. As is always wise when using any product for the first time, plug it in and press the "Power" button. Anyone familiar with other PLEXTALK products will recognize
the charming chimes indicating that the unit is working on the issued command. It immediately chimes once, announces "Please wait" in a clear female voice, and then repeats the PLEXTALK chiming waiting sound for about ten seconds before announcing whatever media is detected onboard. The inclusion of the user's guide on DAISY CD offers
a
perfect opportunity for acquainting oneself with the product. The sound quality of the PLEXTALK PTN2 is outstanding. Even this writer with
a hearing impairment can hear it loud and clear from across the room. The synthetic voices for text-to-speech are the familiar Samantha and Tom and are sufficiently distinct. When playing music or an audio book, the sound quality is excellent. Those 27 Keys At the bottom of the unit is the familiar "Play/Pause" key in the middle with arrow-shaped "Rewind" and "Fast Forward" keys to either side. Directly above this trio
is
the 12-key telephone-style keypad used frequently for navigation, menu selections, and other functions. In a column to the left of these buttons are four distinctly-shaped keys: the "Menu," "Bookshelf," "Go To" (heading, page, etc.), and "Bookmark"
keys. Directly above the telephone-style keypad are three control columns: "Tone,"
"Volume," and "Speed." Although the user's guide counts these as three buttons, I count them as six since each has an up and down control with a distinct split between them. On the right-hand side of the machine is an "Information" key, a "Sleep" key, the "Power" button, an "Eject" for CDs, and a close pair of title keys ("Previous" and "Next"), which are used when navigating from one media type to another or one folder to another within a given media source. Again, these appear to be two buttons although the user's guide refers to them as one. When first powered on, the PTN2 remembers the last content played and announces that content's source. If that is the material you wish to hear, you can simply press "Play." The "2" and "8" keys will give you information regarding the mark-up
available (levels 1, 2, and 3, for instance), and the "4" and "6" keys are used to move backward and forward accordingly. The "Go To" key, depending on the type of content played, allows you to move by heading, page, or percentage within a given file. The
"Bookshelf" key is used to rotate among CD, SD card, and USB thumb drive, all of which can be onboard at any given time. Navigating among the various media sources can also be done using the "Title" key on the right. The "Bookmark" key can be used to set up to 10,000 bookmarks. There is, however, no voice or highlight bookmark feature available but, instead, only numbered bookmarks, the numbers for which can either be user defined by entering a number from the keypad or automatically set by the PTN2. Once
bookmarks have been set, however, you can access a bookmark list, navigating through your bookmarks with the "4" and "6" keys or by entering the number of a specifically desired bookmark to move directly to it. The Mask The PTN2 comes with a snap-on cover called a mask that is molded to fit securely over the face of the unit with pieces that grip the sides. When the mask is
in place, only a few of the unit's keys are available to the user. These include the three keys at the bottom ("Rewind," "Play/Pause," and "Fast Forward"), the five keys at the right ("Power," "Sleep," "Eject," "Information," and "Title"), and the "Tone" and "Volume" controls at the top. One question that immediately arose is why
"Tone" and "Volume," but not "Speed," controls have been selected as the most essential to have available to a user with more limited technical ability. That small
caveat aside, this may be a useful feature in some situations, such as for teaching
or when the unit is used by children or those with limited tactile sensitivity. What Can It Play? The PTN2 can play a wonderful array of file types and formats: DAISY, .TXT,
.DOC, HTML, and a variety of audio formats, including WAV, MP3, and OGG. If a file
contains both DAISY text and audio, the PTN2 will only recognize one or the other. I loaded the unit with content of every type (a CD, an SD card, and a USB thumb drive all at once) and found the results both impressive and puzzling. While the unit was able to navigate among all three sources, representing a wide array of format types, some content was inaccessible. On the USB drive, for example, there was a folder of audio files and a folder of text files played perfectly. A third folder,
however, containing both audio and text files of the same content, revealed only the
text. If I hadn't known the audio files were there, I would not have been able to
discover them. You can work around this problem by removing the text files from the folder or by placing the audio files in a separate folder, but the initial roadblock is bewildering. Other PLEXTALK products share this particular quirk of requiring all content to be placed in its own folder, and in this instance, even if the content is the same but is represented in more than one format, each must have a folder of its own. Quirks aside, it warrants mentioning that included in the smorgasbord of content loaded for the above experiment were books drawn from three of the most popular sources for readers who are blind or visually impaired (Bookshare, NLS BARD, and Audible.com), and the PLEXTALK PTN2 played all of them beautifully. A Few Special Features The PLEXTALK PTN2 does a few things that competing products do not, and it does them very well. First, as mentioned above, the PLEXTALK plays audiobooks and other materials downloadable from Audible.com . Secondly, although it has no other recording capabilities, the PLEXTALK can backup an audio CD, including commercially available CDs, to an SD card. The process is a simple one but does take some time. To back up a CD with approximately 50
minutes of recording, for example, the process took about 25 minutes. The procedure
is completely simple (press the "9" key to begin and "8" to confirm), and the PLEXTALK chiming sounds continue throughout the process to let you know something is actually
happening. When finished, the unit announces that the backup is complete. When CDs are
copied in this manner, they are placed on the SD card in a folder entitled "PLEXTALK Backup," which is created by the unit itself. On a more random note, the PTN2 does have time and date announcement features, a sleep timer, and an automatic shut-off after 15 minutes when operating on battery. While none of these are likely to be deal breakers for many customers, they
are convenient features that warrant mentioning. Conclusions The PTN2 is a compact unit with fabulous sound quality that will meet most listening needs of customers who are blind or low vision. It plays content from CD, SD, and USB sources and can play a wide variety of formats from the most popularly used content sources. In addition to music and audio books, it offers clear text-to-speech capabilities and is, thus, able to play plain text, Word, and HTML documents. It does not have wireless or recording functionality other than the ability
to back up a CD to an SD card. Product Information Product: PLEXTALK PTN2 Price: $375 Available from: available from a variety of dealers, including IRTI, Active
Forever, Maxi-Aids, and others.
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
-- SleepTalk in action _______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
I agree with you there completely rus, I also get alot of my knowledge from those podcasts. I only started to listen to them a year or 2 ago but I must admit that you right. Try look around the plextalk website as Aidan said but otherwise I don't know but you have a goodpoint. They haven't really also talked about the PTR2 on those podcasts either. Most of the podcasts deal with mainstream stuff like the Iphone and Microsoft but Accessible world has done a reasonable amount of blind devices but its interesting and true what you said. On 11/6/12, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I'm surprised nothing has been said about it on such podcasts as: blind cool
tech, Main menu, accessibleworld. Thiese are the main podcasts where I learn about many of the products. Even on the bardtalk list, nothing has been said about it until now.
-----Original Message----- From: emma goodwin Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2012 7:53 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
I agree with Aidan. All the desktop devices are so similar to each other so you don't really need podcasts but I agree with Aidan's advice. If you know the straitus then you pretty much have an idea of the PTN2 but I agree its weird that you haven't heard about the PTN2 before.
On 11/6/12, Aidan Maher <aidan.smarttalk@gmail.com> wrote:
Wel, I have talked about it several times on this list, so funny if you say you never heard about it. Wel, you should check with places like IRTI, they are a big plextalk dealer. There is not alot of potcasts at all on any plextalk thing, maybe a few on the pocket, try search for a vidio or to on utube. That is why I say its a pity people only realize it after this woman poor stupid review. The plextalk site have all the info you need. If you have a general intrest in there products, or if you a huge fan like me, you should check the site from time to time.
On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I wonder why here in the US, not much has been said about it? I can't even
find any podcasts on the ptn2.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2012 6:25 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Wel, it does yes, but except for the stream and ptn2, I don't think there is any other player who support it except easy reader from dolphin. Wel the ptn2 is around for almost free years now. It came out in end 2009. Replacing the oder ptn1/ptn1/pro. That's why the voice sound like pocket. I just hope they will update it again. I love it, but the only thing that I notice is that when changing volume and speed rapitly its slitely a bit slow.
On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Doesn't the victor reader stream support skippable elements?
Here's the interesting thing, I tried to find the US manual for the ptn2 on
the plextalk support page. I wanted to look it over. How long has the ptn2
been around? I didn't know anything about it until this review.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 8:55 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Yes its a pity for sure. Wel I could be rong, as I am not part of that service and they not available in my country, but it should be able to work, although I don't recall anything about that from the manual or website. What I do no is that they said somewhere on the site that you can connect the pocket and ptn2 together, but I tryed that and it didn't work. So I guess the only thing that will really work in that USB port are memory flash drives. I guess you could email and confirm about the compatibility with those nls cards, would be intrested to no. But at least the latest 3.7 update made the cd drive perform better and make less noise now. I think you will have a better chance of connecting ptp1 with ptr2.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
It's to bad they don't use higher quality tts on the ptn2. Do you know if the short cable supplied with the plextalk pocket can be used to connect NLS
cartridges to the ptn2?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 7:31 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
The voices are the exact same quality. And yes to all the others.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I have some questions about the ptn2: 1. I see it uses the same tts as the plextalk pocket. Is the tts higher quality than what is on the plextalk pocket? 2. can this player play audio cd's? data cd's with mp3's on them? Daisy cd's? Does it remember your place on each cd?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 11:47 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
I just hope that people can realize the wunders of this machine by themselves. It just seem to me sometimes that only after a review like this some people actually wake up. I like this woman riting, but she also make me angry. She didn't even mention the fact that ptn2 can use skippable elements wich only a few players can do at present. And the folder is called plex backup, not plextalk backup.She should no that. She is clever enough I am sure.
On 04/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote: > Did anyone happen to see this from AccessWorld? > > Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player > from > Shinano Kenshi > Deborah Kendrick > Upon reading > a product evaluation I wrote of a stand-alone tabletop DAISY and > audio > book > > player > , a representative of Shinano Kenshi wrote asking for an evaluation > of > the > PLEXTALK > PTN2. > First Look > The PLEXTALK PTN2 is roughly 9 inches by 7 inches and about one inch > high, > giving > it a footprint very much like the digital talking book player > distributed > > by > > the > National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped > (NLS). > The > > PLEXTALK > PTN2 has 27 buttons (or keys) on the top face of the unit, an > external > speaker grille > in the upper right corner, roughly 2 by 3 inches, and a connector > for > an > AC > > adapter > on the back. On the left edge are slots for a secure digital (SD) > card > and > > a > > USB > port in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front edge is a > slot > for > > standard > CDs; the battery compartment is on the bottom, along with rubber > feet > for > stability. > There is no carrying handle; the unit can run on either AC current > or > battery power. > In the box with the unit is an AC adapter, user's guide on DAISY CD, > and > a > snap-on > cover with holes exposing only the basic, essential keys. (More > about > that > below.) > Initial Test Drive > After taking the unit out of the box, it's fairly easy to test it > immediately. As > is always wise when using any product for the first time, plug it in > and > press the > "Power" button. Anyone familiar with other PLEXTALK products will > recognize > > the charming > chimes indicating that the unit is working on the issued command. It > immediately > chimes once, announces "Please wait" in a clear female voice, and > then > repeats the > PLEXTALK chiming waiting sound for about ten seconds before > announcing > whatever media > is detected onboard. The inclusion of the user's guide on DAISY CD > offers > > a > > perfect > opportunity for acquainting oneself with the product. > The sound quality of the PLEXTALK PTN2 is outstanding. Even this > writer > with > > a hearing > impairment can hear it loud and clear from across the room. The > synthetic > voices > for text-to-speech are the familiar Samantha and Tom and are > sufficiently > distinct. > When playing music or an audio book, the sound quality is excellent. > Those 27 Keys > At the bottom of the unit is the familiar "Play/Pause" key in the > middle > with arrow-shaped > "Rewind" and "Fast Forward" keys to either side. Directly above this > trio > > is > > the > 12-key telephone-style keypad used frequently for navigation, menu > selections, and > other functions. In a column to the left of these buttons are four > distinctly-shaped > keys: the "Menu," "Bookshelf," "Go To" (heading, page, etc.), and > "Bookmark" > > keys. > Directly above the telephone-style keypad are three control columns: > "Tone," > > "Volume," > and "Speed." Although the user's guide counts these as three > buttons, > I > count them > as six since each has an up and down control with a distinct split > between > them. > On the right-hand side of the machine is an "Information" key, a > "Sleep" > key, the > "Power" button, an "Eject" for CDs, and a close pair of title keys > ("Previous" and > "Next"), which are used when navigating from one media type to > another > or > one folder > to another within a given media source. Again, these appear to be > two > buttons although > the user's guide refers to them as one. > When first powered on, the PTN2 remembers the last content played > and > announces that > content's source. If that is the material you wish to hear, you can > simply > press > "Play." The "2" and "8" keys will give you information regarding the > mark-up > > available > (levels 1, 2, and 3, for instance), and the "4" and "6" keys are > used > to > move backward > and forward accordingly. The "Go To" key, depending on the type of > content > played, > allows you to move by heading, page, or percentage within a given > file. > The > > "Bookshelf" > key is used to rotate among CD, SD card, and USB thumb drive, all of > which > can be > onboard at any given time. Navigating among the various media > sources > can > also be > done using the "Title" key on the right. The "Bookmark" key can be > used > to > set up > to 10,000 bookmarks. There is, however, no voice or highlight > bookmark > feature available > but, instead, only numbered bookmarks, the numbers for which can > either > be > user defined > by entering a number from the keypad or automatically set by the > PTN2. > Once > > bookmarks > have been set, however, you can access a bookmark list, navigating > through > your bookmarks > with the "4" and "6" keys or by entering the number of a > specifically > desired bookmark > to move directly to it. > The Mask > The PTN2 comes with a snap-on cover called a mask that is molded to > fit > securely > over the face of the unit with pieces that grip the sides. When the > mask > is > > in place, > only a few of the unit's keys are available to the user. These > include > the > three > keys at the bottom ("Rewind," "Play/Pause," and "Fast Forward"), the > five > keys at > the right ("Power," "Sleep," "Eject," "Information," and "Title"), > and > the > "Tone" > and "Volume" controls at the top. One question that immediately > arose > is > why > > "Tone" > and "Volume," but not "Speed," controls have been selected as the > most > essential > to have available to a user with more limited technical ability. > That > small > > caveat > aside, this may be a useful feature in some situations, such as for > teaching > > or when > the unit is used by children or those with limited tactile > sensitivity. > What Can It Play? > The PTN2 can play a wonderful array of file types and formats: > DAISY, > .TXT, > > .DOC, > HTML, and a variety of audio formats, including WAV, MP3, and OGG. > If > a > file > > contains > both DAISY text and audio, the PTN2 will only recognize one or the > other. > I loaded the unit with content of every type (a CD, an SD card, and > a > USB > thumb drive > all at once) and found the results both impressive and puzzling. > While > the > unit was > able to navigate among all three sources, representing a wide array > of > format types, > some content was inaccessible. On the USB drive, for example, there > was > a > folder > of audio files and a folder of text files played perfectly. A third > folder, > > however, > containing both audio and text files of the same content, revealed > only > the > > text. > If I hadn't known the audio files were there, I would not have been > able > to > > discover > them. You can work around this problem by removing the text files > from > the > folder > or by placing the audio files in a separate folder, but the initial > roadblock is > bewildering. Other PLEXTALK products share this particular quirk of > requiring all > content to be placed in its own folder, and in this instance, even > if > the > content > is the same but is represented in more than one format, each must > have > a > folder of > its own. > Quirks aside, it warrants mentioning that included in the > smorgasbord > of > content > loaded for the above experiment were books drawn from three of the > most > popular sources > for readers who are blind or visually impaired (Bookshare, NLS BARD, > and > Audible.com), > and the PLEXTALK PTN2 played all of them beautifully. > A Few Special Features > The PLEXTALK PTN2 does a few things that competing products do not, > and > it > does them > very well. First, as mentioned above, the PLEXTALK plays audiobooks > and > other materials > downloadable from > Audible.com > . Secondly, although it has no other recording capabilities, the > PLEXTALK > can backup > an audio CD, including commercially available CDs, to an SD card. > The > process is > a simple one but does take some time. To back up a CD with > approximately > 50 > > minutes > of recording, for example, the process took about 25 minutes. The > procedure > > is completely > simple (press the "9" key to begin and "8" to confirm), and the > PLEXTALK > chiming > sounds continue throughout the process to let you know something is > actually > > happening. > When finished, the unit announces that the backup is complete. When > CDs > are > > copied > in this manner, they are placed on the SD card in a folder entitled > "PLEXTALK Backup," > which is created by the unit itself. > On a more random note, the PTN2 does have time and date announcement > features, a > sleep timer, and an automatic shut-off after 15 minutes when > operating > on > battery. > While none of these are likely to be deal breakers for many > customers, > they > > are convenient > features that warrant mentioning. > Conclusions > The PTN2 is a compact unit with fabulous sound quality that will > meet > most > listening > needs of customers who are blind or low vision. It plays content > from > CD, > SD, and > USB sources and can play a wide variety of formats from the most > popularly > used content > sources. In addition to music and audio books, it offers clear > text-to-speech capabilities > and is, thus, able to play plain text, Word, and HTML documents. > It does not have wireless or recording functionality other than the > ability > > to back > up a CD to an SD card. > Product Information > Product: > PLEXTALK PTN2 > Price: $375 > Available from: available from a variety of dealers, including IRTI, > Active > > Forever, > Maxi-Aids, and others. > > > > _______________________________________________ > Plextalk mailing list > Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org > http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk >
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
-- SleepTalk in action
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
-- SleepTalk in action
I agree with you there completely rus, I also get alot of my knowledge from those podcasts. I only started to listen to them a year or 2 ago but I must admit that you right. Try look around the plextalk website as Aidan said but otherwise I don't know but you have a goodpoint. They haven't really also talked about the PTR2 on those podcasts either. Most of the podcasts deal with mainstream stuff like the Iphone and Microsoft but Accessible world has done a reasonable amount of blind devices but its interesting and true what you said. On 11/6/12, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I'm surprised nothing has been said about it on such podcasts as: blind cool
tech, Main menu, accessibleworld. Thiese are the main podcasts where I learn about many of the products. Even on the bardtalk list, nothing has been said about it until now.
-----Original Message----- From: emma goodwin Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2012 7:53 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
I agree with Aidan. All the desktop devices are so similar to each other so you don't really need podcasts but I agree with Aidan's advice. If you know the straitus then you pretty much have an idea of the PTN2 but I agree its weird that you haven't heard about the PTN2 before.
On 11/6/12, Aidan Maher <aidan.smarttalk@gmail.com> wrote:
Wel, I have talked about it several times on this list, so funny if you say you never heard about it. Wel, you should check with places like IRTI, they are a big plextalk dealer. There is not alot of potcasts at all on any plextalk thing, maybe a few on the pocket, try search for a vidio or to on utube. That is why I say its a pity people only realize it after this woman poor stupid review. The plextalk site have all the info you need. If you have a general intrest in there products, or if you a huge fan like me, you should check the site from time to time.
On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I wonder why here in the US, not much has been said about it? I can't even
find any podcasts on the ptn2.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2012 6:25 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Wel, it does yes, but except for the stream and ptn2, I don't think there is any other player who support it except easy reader from dolphin. Wel the ptn2 is around for almost free years now. It came out in end 2009. Replacing the oder ptn1/ptn1/pro. That's why the voice sound like pocket. I just hope they will update it again. I love it, but the only thing that I notice is that when changing volume and speed rapitly its slitely a bit slow.
On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Doesn't the victor reader stream support skippable elements?
Here's the interesting thing, I tried to find the US manual for the ptn2 on
the plextalk support page. I wanted to look it over. How long has the ptn2
been around? I didn't know anything about it until this review.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 8:55 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Yes its a pity for sure. Wel I could be rong, as I am not part of that service and they not available in my country, but it should be able to work, although I don't recall anything about that from the manual or website. What I do no is that they said somewhere on the site that you can connect the pocket and ptn2 together, but I tryed that and it didn't work. So I guess the only thing that will really work in that USB port are memory flash drives. I guess you could email and confirm about the compatibility with those nls cards, would be intrested to no. But at least the latest 3.7 update made the cd drive perform better and make less noise now. I think you will have a better chance of connecting ptp1 with ptr2.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
It's to bad they don't use higher quality tts on the ptn2. Do you know if the short cable supplied with the plextalk pocket can be used to connect NLS
cartridges to the ptn2?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 7:31 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
The voices are the exact same quality. And yes to all the others.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I have some questions about the ptn2: 1. I see it uses the same tts as the plextalk pocket. Is the tts higher quality than what is on the plextalk pocket? 2. can this player play audio cd's? data cd's with mp3's on them? Daisy cd's? Does it remember your place on each cd?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 11:47 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
I just hope that people can realize the wunders of this machine by themselves. It just seem to me sometimes that only after a review like this some people actually wake up. I like this woman riting, but she also make me angry. She didn't even mention the fact that ptn2 can use skippable elements wich only a few players can do at present. And the folder is called plex backup, not plextalk backup.She should no that. She is clever enough I am sure.
On 04/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote: > Did anyone happen to see this from AccessWorld? > > Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player > from > Shinano Kenshi > Deborah Kendrick > Upon reading > a product evaluation I wrote of a stand-alone tabletop DAISY and > audio > book > > player > , a representative of Shinano Kenshi wrote asking for an evaluation > of > the > PLEXTALK > PTN2. > First Look > The PLEXTALK PTN2 is roughly 9 inches by 7 inches and about one inch > high, > giving > it a footprint very much like the digital talking book player > distributed > > by > > the > National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped > (NLS). > The > > PLEXTALK > PTN2 has 27 buttons (or keys) on the top face of the unit, an > external > speaker grille > in the upper right corner, roughly 2 by 3 inches, and a connector > for > an > AC > > adapter > on the back. On the left edge are slots for a secure digital (SD) > card > and > > a > > USB > port in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front edge is a > slot > for > > standard > CDs; the battery compartment is on the bottom, along with rubber > feet > for > stability. > There is no carrying handle; the unit can run on either AC current > or > battery power. > In the box with the unit is an AC adapter, user's guide on DAISY CD, > and > a > snap-on > cover with holes exposing only the basic, essential keys. (More > about > that > below.) > Initial Test Drive > After taking the unit out of the box, it's fairly easy to test it > immediately. As > is always wise when using any product for the first time, plug it in > and > press the > "Power" button. Anyone familiar with other PLEXTALK products will > recognize > > the charming > chimes indicating that the unit is working on the issued command. It > immediately > chimes once, announces "Please wait" in a clear female voice, and > then > repeats the > PLEXTALK chiming waiting sound for about ten seconds before > announcing > whatever media > is detected onboard. The inclusion of the user's guide on DAISY CD > offers > > a > > perfect > opportunity for acquainting oneself with the product. > The sound quality of the PLEXTALK PTN2 is outstanding. Even this > writer > with > > a hearing > impairment can hear it loud and clear from across the room. The > synthetic > voices > for text-to-speech are the familiar Samantha and Tom and are > sufficiently > distinct. > When playing music or an audio book, the sound quality is excellent. > Those 27 Keys > At the bottom of the unit is the familiar "Play/Pause" key in the > middle > with arrow-shaped > "Rewind" and "Fast Forward" keys to either side. Directly above this > trio > > is > > the > 12-key telephone-style keypad used frequently for navigation, menu > selections, and > other functions. In a column to the left of these buttons are four > distinctly-shaped > keys: the "Menu," "Bookshelf," "Go To" (heading, page, etc.), and > "Bookmark" > > keys. > Directly above the telephone-style keypad are three control columns: > "Tone," > > "Volume," > and "Speed." Although the user's guide counts these as three > buttons, > I > count them > as six since each has an up and down control with a distinct split > between > them. > On the right-hand side of the machine is an "Information" key, a > "Sleep" > key, the > "Power" button, an "Eject" for CDs, and a close pair of title keys > ("Previous" and > "Next"), which are used when navigating from one media type to > another > or > one folder > to another within a given media source. Again, these appear to be > two > buttons although > the user's guide refers to them as one. > When first powered on, the PTN2 remembers the last content played > and > announces that > content's source. If that is the material you wish to hear, you can > simply > press > "Play." The "2" and "8" keys will give you information regarding the > mark-up > > available > (levels 1, 2, and 3, for instance), and the "4" and "6" keys are > used > to > move backward > and forward accordingly. The "Go To" key, depending on the type of > content > played, > allows you to move by heading, page, or percentage within a given > file. > The > > "Bookshelf" > key is used to rotate among CD, SD card, and USB thumb drive, all of > which > can be > onboard at any given time. Navigating among the various media > sources > can > also be > done using the "Title" key on the right. The "Bookmark" key can be > used > to > set up > to 10,000 bookmarks. There is, however, no voice or highlight > bookmark > feature available > but, instead, only numbered bookmarks, the numbers for which can > either > be > user defined > by entering a number from the keypad or automatically set by the > PTN2. > Once > > bookmarks > have been set, however, you can access a bookmark list, navigating > through > your bookmarks > with the "4" and "6" keys or by entering the number of a > specifically > desired bookmark > to move directly to it. > The Mask > The PTN2 comes with a snap-on cover called a mask that is molded to > fit > securely > over the face of the unit with pieces that grip the sides. When the > mask > is > > in place, > only a few of the unit's keys are available to the user. These > include > the > three > keys at the bottom ("Rewind," "Play/Pause," and "Fast Forward"), the > five > keys at > the right ("Power," "Sleep," "Eject," "Information," and "Title"), > and > the > "Tone" > and "Volume" controls at the top. One question that immediately > arose > is > why > > "Tone" > and "Volume," but not "Speed," controls have been selected as the > most > essential > to have available to a user with more limited technical ability. > That > small > > caveat > aside, this may be a useful feature in some situations, such as for > teaching > > or when > the unit is used by children or those with limited tactile > sensitivity. > What Can It Play? > The PTN2 can play a wonderful array of file types and formats: > DAISY, > .TXT, > > .DOC, > HTML, and a variety of audio formats, including WAV, MP3, and OGG. > If > a > file > > contains > both DAISY text and audio, the PTN2 will only recognize one or the > other. > I loaded the unit with content of every type (a CD, an SD card, and > a > USB > thumb drive > all at once) and found the results both impressive and puzzling. > While > the > unit was > able to navigate among all three sources, representing a wide array > of > format types, > some content was inaccessible. On the USB drive, for example, there > was > a > folder > of audio files and a folder of text files played perfectly. A third > folder, > > however, > containing both audio and text files of the same content, revealed > only > the > > text. > If I hadn't known the audio files were there, I would not have been > able > to > > discover > them. You can work around this problem by removing the text files > from > the > folder > or by placing the audio files in a separate folder, but the initial > roadblock is > bewildering. Other PLEXTALK products share this particular quirk of > requiring all > content to be placed in its own folder, and in this instance, even > if > the > content > is the same but is represented in more than one format, each must > have > a > folder of > its own. > Quirks aside, it warrants mentioning that included in the > smorgasbord > of > content > loaded for the above experiment were books drawn from three of the > most > popular sources > for readers who are blind or visually impaired (Bookshare, NLS BARD, > and > Audible.com), > and the PLEXTALK PTN2 played all of them beautifully. > A Few Special Features > The PLEXTALK PTN2 does a few things that competing products do not, > and > it > does them > very well. First, as mentioned above, the PLEXTALK plays audiobooks > and > other materials > downloadable from > Audible.com > . Secondly, although it has no other recording capabilities, the > PLEXTALK > can backup > an audio CD, including commercially available CDs, to an SD card. > The > process is > a simple one but does take some time. To back up a CD with > approximately > 50 > > minutes > of recording, for example, the process took about 25 minutes. The > procedure > > is completely > simple (press the "9" key to begin and "8" to confirm), and the > PLEXTALK > chiming > sounds continue throughout the process to let you know something is > actually > > happening. > When finished, the unit announces that the backup is complete. When > CDs > are > > copied > in this manner, they are placed on the SD card in a folder entitled > "PLEXTALK Backup," > which is created by the unit itself. > On a more random note, the PTN2 does have time and date announcement > features, a > sleep timer, and an automatic shut-off after 15 minutes when > operating > on > battery. > While none of these are likely to be deal breakers for many > customers, > they > > are convenient > features that warrant mentioning. > Conclusions > The PTN2 is a compact unit with fabulous sound quality that will > meet > most > listening > needs of customers who are blind or low vision. It plays content > from > CD, > SD, and > USB sources and can play a wide variety of formats from the most > popularly > used content > sources. In addition to music and audio books, it offers clear > text-to-speech capabilities > and is, thus, able to play plain text, Word, and HTML documents. > It does not have wireless or recording functionality other than the > ability > > to back > up a CD to an SD card. > Product Information > Product: > PLEXTALK PTN2 > Price: $375 > Available from: available from a variety of dealers, including IRTI, > Active > > Forever, > Maxi-Aids, and others. > > > > _______________________________________________ > Plextalk mailing list > Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org > http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk >
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
-- SleepTalk in action
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
-- SleepTalk in action
I agree with Aidan. All the desktop devices are so similar to each other so you don't really need podcasts but I agree with Aidan's advice. If you know the straitus then you pretty much have an idea of the PTN2 but I agree its weird that you haven't heard about the PTN2 before. On 11/6/12, Aidan Maher <aidan.smarttalk@gmail.com> wrote:
Wel, I have talked about it several times on this list, so funny if you say you never heard about it. Wel, you should check with places like IRTI, they are a big plextalk dealer. There is not alot of potcasts at all on any plextalk thing, maybe a few on the pocket, try search for a vidio or to on utube. That is why I say its a pity people only realize it after this woman poor stupid review. The plextalk site have all the info you need. If you have a general intrest in there products, or if you a huge fan like me, you should check the site from time to time.
On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I wonder why here in the US, not much has been said about it? I can't even
find any podcasts on the ptn2.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2012 6:25 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Wel, it does yes, but except for the stream and ptn2, I don't think there is any other player who support it except easy reader from dolphin. Wel the ptn2 is around for almost free years now. It came out in end 2009. Replacing the oder ptn1/ptn1/pro. That's why the voice sound like pocket. I just hope they will update it again. I love it, but the only thing that I notice is that when changing volume and speed rapitly its slitely a bit slow.
On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Doesn't the victor reader stream support skippable elements?
Here's the interesting thing, I tried to find the US manual for the ptn2 on
the plextalk support page. I wanted to look it over. How long has the ptn2
been around? I didn't know anything about it until this review.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 8:55 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Yes its a pity for sure. Wel I could be rong, as I am not part of that service and they not available in my country, but it should be able to work, although I don't recall anything about that from the manual or website. What I do no is that they said somewhere on the site that you can connect the pocket and ptn2 together, but I tryed that and it didn't work. So I guess the only thing that will really work in that USB port are memory flash drives. I guess you could email and confirm about the compatibility with those nls cards, would be intrested to no. But at least the latest 3.7 update made the cd drive perform better and make less noise now. I think you will have a better chance of connecting ptp1 with ptr2.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
It's to bad they don't use higher quality tts on the ptn2. Do you know if the short cable supplied with the plextalk pocket can be used to connect NLS
cartridges to the ptn2?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 7:31 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
The voices are the exact same quality. And yes to all the others.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I have some questions about the ptn2: 1. I see it uses the same tts as the plextalk pocket. Is the tts higher quality than what is on the plextalk pocket? 2. can this player play audio cd's? data cd's with mp3's on them? Daisy cd's? Does it remember your place on each cd?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 11:47 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
I just hope that people can realize the wunders of this machine by themselves. It just seem to me sometimes that only after a review like this some people actually wake up. I like this woman riting, but she also make me angry. She didn't even mention the fact that ptn2 can use skippable elements wich only a few players can do at present. And the folder is called plex backup, not plextalk backup.She should no that. She is clever enough I am sure.
On 04/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Did anyone happen to see this from AccessWorld?
Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi Deborah Kendrick Upon reading a product evaluation I wrote of a stand-alone tabletop DAISY and audio book
player , a representative of Shinano Kenshi wrote asking for an evaluation of the PLEXTALK PTN2. First Look The PLEXTALK PTN2 is roughly 9 inches by 7 inches and about one inch high, giving it a footprint very much like the digital talking book player distributed
by
the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). The
PLEXTALK PTN2 has 27 buttons (or keys) on the top face of the unit, an external speaker grille in the upper right corner, roughly 2 by 3 inches, and a connector for an AC
adapter on the back. On the left edge are slots for a secure digital (SD) card and
a
USB port in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front edge is a slot for
standard CDs; the battery compartment is on the bottom, along with rubber feet for stability. There is no carrying handle; the unit can run on either AC current or battery power. In the box with the unit is an AC adapter, user's guide on DAISY CD, and a snap-on cover with holes exposing only the basic, essential keys. (More about that below.) Initial Test Drive After taking the unit out of the box, it's fairly easy to test it immediately. As is always wise when using any product for the first time, plug it in and press the "Power" button. Anyone familiar with other PLEXTALK products will recognize
the charming chimes indicating that the unit is working on the issued command. It immediately chimes once, announces "Please wait" in a clear female voice, and then repeats the PLEXTALK chiming waiting sound for about ten seconds before announcing whatever media is detected onboard. The inclusion of the user's guide on DAISY CD offers
a
perfect opportunity for acquainting oneself with the product. The sound quality of the PLEXTALK PTN2 is outstanding. Even this writer with
a hearing impairment can hear it loud and clear from across the room. The synthetic voices for text-to-speech are the familiar Samantha and Tom and are sufficiently distinct. When playing music or an audio book, the sound quality is excellent. Those 27 Keys At the bottom of the unit is the familiar "Play/Pause" key in the middle with arrow-shaped "Rewind" and "Fast Forward" keys to either side. Directly above this trio
is
the 12-key telephone-style keypad used frequently for navigation, menu selections, and other functions. In a column to the left of these buttons are four distinctly-shaped keys: the "Menu," "Bookshelf," "Go To" (heading, page, etc.), and "Bookmark"
keys. Directly above the telephone-style keypad are three control columns: "Tone,"
"Volume," and "Speed." Although the user's guide counts these as three buttons, I count them as six since each has an up and down control with a distinct split between them. On the right-hand side of the machine is an "Information" key, a "Sleep" key, the "Power" button, an "Eject" for CDs, and a close pair of title keys ("Previous" and "Next"), which are used when navigating from one media type to another or one folder to another within a given media source. Again, these appear to be two buttons although the user's guide refers to them as one. When first powered on, the PTN2 remembers the last content played and announces that content's source. If that is the material you wish to hear, you can simply press "Play." The "2" and "8" keys will give you information regarding the mark-up
available (levels 1, 2, and 3, for instance), and the "4" and "6" keys are used to move backward and forward accordingly. The "Go To" key, depending on the type of content played, allows you to move by heading, page, or percentage within a given file. The
"Bookshelf" key is used to rotate among CD, SD card, and USB thumb drive, all of which can be onboard at any given time. Navigating among the various media sources can also be done using the "Title" key on the right. The "Bookmark" key can be used to set up to 10,000 bookmarks. There is, however, no voice or highlight bookmark feature available but, instead, only numbered bookmarks, the numbers for which can either be user defined by entering a number from the keypad or automatically set by the PTN2. Once
bookmarks have been set, however, you can access a bookmark list, navigating through your bookmarks with the "4" and "6" keys or by entering the number of a specifically desired bookmark to move directly to it. The Mask The PTN2 comes with a snap-on cover called a mask that is molded to fit securely over the face of the unit with pieces that grip the sides. When the mask is
in place, only a few of the unit's keys are available to the user. These include the three keys at the bottom ("Rewind," "Play/Pause," and "Fast Forward"), the five keys at the right ("Power," "Sleep," "Eject," "Information," and "Title"), and the "Tone" and "Volume" controls at the top. One question that immediately arose is why
"Tone" and "Volume," but not "Speed," controls have been selected as the most essential to have available to a user with more limited technical ability. That small
caveat aside, this may be a useful feature in some situations, such as for teaching
or when the unit is used by children or those with limited tactile sensitivity. What Can It Play? The PTN2 can play a wonderful array of file types and formats: DAISY, .TXT,
.DOC, HTML, and a variety of audio formats, including WAV, MP3, and OGG. If a file
contains both DAISY text and audio, the PTN2 will only recognize one or the other. I loaded the unit with content of every type (a CD, an SD card, and a USB thumb drive all at once) and found the results both impressive and puzzling. While the unit was able to navigate among all three sources, representing a wide array of format types, some content was inaccessible. On the USB drive, for example, there was a folder of audio files and a folder of text files played perfectly. A third folder,
however, containing both audio and text files of the same content, revealed only the
text. If I hadn't known the audio files were there, I would not have been able to
discover them. You can work around this problem by removing the text files from the folder or by placing the audio files in a separate folder, but the initial roadblock is bewildering. Other PLEXTALK products share this particular quirk of requiring all content to be placed in its own folder, and in this instance, even if the content is the same but is represented in more than one format, each must have a folder of its own. Quirks aside, it warrants mentioning that included in the smorgasbord of content loaded for the above experiment were books drawn from three of the most popular sources for readers who are blind or visually impaired (Bookshare, NLS BARD, and Audible.com), and the PLEXTALK PTN2 played all of them beautifully. A Few Special Features The PLEXTALK PTN2 does a few things that competing products do not, and it does them very well. First, as mentioned above, the PLEXTALK plays audiobooks and other materials downloadable from Audible.com . Secondly, although it has no other recording capabilities, the PLEXTALK can backup an audio CD, including commercially available CDs, to an SD card. The process is a simple one but does take some time. To back up a CD with approximately 50
minutes of recording, for example, the process took about 25 minutes. The procedure
is completely simple (press the "9" key to begin and "8" to confirm), and the PLEXTALK chiming sounds continue throughout the process to let you know something is actually
happening. When finished, the unit announces that the backup is complete. When CDs are
copied in this manner, they are placed on the SD card in a folder entitled "PLEXTALK Backup," which is created by the unit itself. On a more random note, the PTN2 does have time and date announcement features, a sleep timer, and an automatic shut-off after 15 minutes when operating on battery. While none of these are likely to be deal breakers for many customers, they
are convenient features that warrant mentioning. Conclusions The PTN2 is a compact unit with fabulous sound quality that will meet most listening needs of customers who are blind or low vision. It plays content from CD, SD, and USB sources and can play a wide variety of formats from the most popularly used content sources. In addition to music and audio books, it offers clear text-to-speech capabilities and is, thus, able to play plain text, Word, and HTML documents. It does not have wireless or recording functionality other than the ability
to back up a CD to an SD card. Product Information Product: PLEXTALK PTN2 Price: $375 Available from: available from a variety of dealers, including IRTI, Active
Forever, Maxi-Aids, and others.
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
-- SleepTalk in action
I only joined this list very recently after buying a plextalk pocket. I did find several podcasts on the plextalk pocket. I checked youtube and no vidios on the ptn2. -----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2012 7:47 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi Wel, I have talked about it several times on this list, so funny if you say you never heard about it. Wel, you should check with places like IRTI, they are a big plextalk dealer. There is not alot of potcasts at all on any plextalk thing, maybe a few on the pocket, try search for a vidio or to on utube. That is why I say its a pity people only realize it after this woman poor stupid review. The plextalk site have all the info you need. If you have a general intrest in there products, or if you a huge fan like me, you should check the site from time to time. On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I wonder why here in the US, not much has been said about it? I can't even
find any podcasts on the ptn2.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2012 6:25 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Wel, it does yes, but except for the stream and ptn2, I don't think there is any other player who support it except easy reader from dolphin. Wel the ptn2 is around for almost free years now. It came out in end 2009. Replacing the oder ptn1/ptn1/pro. That's why the voice sound like pocket. I just hope they will update it again. I love it, but the only thing that I notice is that when changing volume and speed rapitly its slitely a bit slow.
On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Doesn't the victor reader stream support skippable elements?
Here's the interesting thing, I tried to find the US manual for the ptn2 on
the plextalk support page. I wanted to look it over. How long has the ptn2
been around? I didn't know anything about it until this review.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 8:55 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Yes its a pity for sure. Wel I could be rong, as I am not part of that service and they not available in my country, but it should be able to work, although I don't recall anything about that from the manual or website. What I do no is that they said somewhere on the site that you can connect the pocket and ptn2 together, but I tryed that and it didn't work. So I guess the only thing that will really work in that USB port are memory flash drives. I guess you could email and confirm about the compatibility with those nls cards, would be intrested to no. But at least the latest 3.7 update made the cd drive perform better and make less noise now. I think you will have a better chance of connecting ptp1 with ptr2.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
It's to bad they don't use higher quality tts on the ptn2. Do you know if the short cable supplied with the plextalk pocket can be used to connect NLS
cartridges to the ptn2?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 7:31 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
The voices are the exact same quality. And yes to all the others.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I have some questions about the ptn2: 1. I see it uses the same tts as the plextalk pocket. Is the tts higher quality than what is on the plextalk pocket? 2. can this player play audio cd's? data cd's with mp3's on them? Daisy cd's? Does it remember your place on each cd?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 11:47 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
I just hope that people can realize the wunders of this machine by themselves. It just seem to me sometimes that only after a review like this some people actually wake up. I like this woman riting, but she also make me angry. She didn't even mention the fact that ptn2 can use skippable elements wich only a few players can do at present. And the folder is called plex backup, not plextalk backup.She should no that. She is clever enough I am sure.
On 04/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Did anyone happen to see this from AccessWorld?
Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi Deborah Kendrick Upon reading a product evaluation I wrote of a stand-alone tabletop DAISY and audio book
player , a representative of Shinano Kenshi wrote asking for an evaluation of the PLEXTALK PTN2. First Look The PLEXTALK PTN2 is roughly 9 inches by 7 inches and about one inch high, giving it a footprint very much like the digital talking book player distributed
by
the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). The
PLEXTALK PTN2 has 27 buttons (or keys) on the top face of the unit, an external speaker grille in the upper right corner, roughly 2 by 3 inches, and a connector for an AC
adapter on the back. On the left edge are slots for a secure digital (SD) card and
a
USB port in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front edge is a slot for
standard CDs; the battery compartment is on the bottom, along with rubber feet for stability. There is no carrying handle; the unit can run on either AC current or battery power. In the box with the unit is an AC adapter, user's guide on DAISY CD, and a snap-on cover with holes exposing only the basic, essential keys. (More about that below.) Initial Test Drive After taking the unit out of the box, it's fairly easy to test it immediately. As is always wise when using any product for the first time, plug it in and press the "Power" button. Anyone familiar with other PLEXTALK products will recognize
the charming chimes indicating that the unit is working on the issued command. It immediately chimes once, announces "Please wait" in a clear female voice, and then repeats the PLEXTALK chiming waiting sound for about ten seconds before announcing whatever media is detected onboard. The inclusion of the user's guide on DAISY CD offers
a
perfect opportunity for acquainting oneself with the product. The sound quality of the PLEXTALK PTN2 is outstanding. Even this writer with
a hearing impairment can hear it loud and clear from across the room. The synthetic voices for text-to-speech are the familiar Samantha and Tom and are sufficiently distinct. When playing music or an audio book, the sound quality is excellent. Those 27 Keys At the bottom of the unit is the familiar "Play/Pause" key in the middle with arrow-shaped "Rewind" and "Fast Forward" keys to either side. Directly above this trio
is
the 12-key telephone-style keypad used frequently for navigation, menu selections, and other functions. In a column to the left of these buttons are four distinctly-shaped keys: the "Menu," "Bookshelf," "Go To" (heading, page, etc.), and "Bookmark"
keys. Directly above the telephone-style keypad are three control columns: "Tone,"
"Volume," and "Speed." Although the user's guide counts these as three buttons, I count them as six since each has an up and down control with a distinct split between them. On the right-hand side of the machine is an "Information" key, a "Sleep" key, the "Power" button, an "Eject" for CDs, and a close pair of title keys ("Previous" and "Next"), which are used when navigating from one media type to another or one folder to another within a given media source. Again, these appear to be two buttons although the user's guide refers to them as one. When first powered on, the PTN2 remembers the last content played and announces that content's source. If that is the material you wish to hear, you can simply press "Play." The "2" and "8" keys will give you information regarding the mark-up
available (levels 1, 2, and 3, for instance), and the "4" and "6" keys are used to move backward and forward accordingly. The "Go To" key, depending on the type of content played, allows you to move by heading, page, or percentage within a given file. The
"Bookshelf" key is used to rotate among CD, SD card, and USB thumb drive, all of which can be onboard at any given time. Navigating among the various media sources can also be done using the "Title" key on the right. The "Bookmark" key can be used to set up to 10,000 bookmarks. There is, however, no voice or highlight bookmark feature available but, instead, only numbered bookmarks, the numbers for which can either be user defined by entering a number from the keypad or automatically set by the PTN2. Once
bookmarks have been set, however, you can access a bookmark list, navigating through your bookmarks with the "4" and "6" keys or by entering the number of a specifically desired bookmark to move directly to it. The Mask The PTN2 comes with a snap-on cover called a mask that is molded to fit securely over the face of the unit with pieces that grip the sides. When the mask is
in place, only a few of the unit's keys are available to the user. These include the three keys at the bottom ("Rewind," "Play/Pause," and "Fast Forward"), the five keys at the right ("Power," "Sleep," "Eject," "Information," and "Title"), and the "Tone" and "Volume" controls at the top. One question that immediately arose is why
"Tone" and "Volume," but not "Speed," controls have been selected as the most essential to have available to a user with more limited technical ability. That small
caveat aside, this may be a useful feature in some situations, such as for teaching
or when the unit is used by children or those with limited tactile sensitivity. What Can It Play? The PTN2 can play a wonderful array of file types and formats: DAISY, .TXT,
.DOC, HTML, and a variety of audio formats, including WAV, MP3, and OGG. If a file
contains both DAISY text and audio, the PTN2 will only recognize one or the other. I loaded the unit with content of every type (a CD, an SD card, and a USB thumb drive all at once) and found the results both impressive and puzzling. While the unit was able to navigate among all three sources, representing a wide array of format types, some content was inaccessible. On the USB drive, for example, there was a folder of audio files and a folder of text files played perfectly. A third folder,
however, containing both audio and text files of the same content, revealed only the
text. If I hadn't known the audio files were there, I would not have been able to
discover them. You can work around this problem by removing the text files from the folder or by placing the audio files in a separate folder, but the initial roadblock is bewildering. Other PLEXTALK products share this particular quirk of requiring all content to be placed in its own folder, and in this instance, even if the content is the same but is represented in more than one format, each must have a folder of its own. Quirks aside, it warrants mentioning that included in the smorgasbord of content loaded for the above experiment were books drawn from three of the most popular sources for readers who are blind or visually impaired (Bookshare, NLS BARD, and Audible.com), and the PLEXTALK PTN2 played all of them beautifully. A Few Special Features The PLEXTALK PTN2 does a few things that competing products do not, and it does them very well. First, as mentioned above, the PLEXTALK plays audiobooks and other materials downloadable from Audible.com . Secondly, although it has no other recording capabilities, the PLEXTALK can backup an audio CD, including commercially available CDs, to an SD card. The process is a simple one but does take some time. To back up a CD with approximately 50
minutes of recording, for example, the process took about 25 minutes. The procedure
is completely simple (press the "9" key to begin and "8" to confirm), and the PLEXTALK chiming sounds continue throughout the process to let you know something is actually
happening. When finished, the unit announces that the backup is complete. When CDs are
copied in this manner, they are placed on the SD card in a folder entitled "PLEXTALK Backup," which is created by the unit itself. On a more random note, the PTN2 does have time and date announcement features, a sleep timer, and an automatic shut-off after 15 minutes when operating on battery. While none of these are likely to be deal breakers for many customers, they
are convenient features that warrant mentioning. Conclusions The PTN2 is a compact unit with fabulous sound quality that will meet most listening needs of customers who are blind or low vision. It plays content from CD, SD, and USB sources and can play a wide variety of formats from the most popularly used content sources. In addition to music and audio books, it offers clear text-to-speech capabilities and is, thus, able to play plain text, Word, and HTML documents. It does not have wireless or recording functionality other than the ability
to back up a CD to an SD card. Product Information Product: PLEXTALK PTN2 Price: $375 Available from: available from a variety of dealers, including IRTI, Active
Forever, Maxi-Aids, and others.
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Steady on You may disagree with a review someone did but calling her stupid is taking it too far on an international list. Extremely immature way of behaving. Here in SA we usually have better manners than that! -----Original Message----- From: Plextalk [mailto:plextalk-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Aidan Maher Sent: 06 November 2012 05:47 PM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi Wel, I have talked about it several times on this list, so funny if you say you never heard about it. Wel, you should check with places like IRTI, they are a big plextalk dealer. There is not alot of potcasts at all on any plextalk thing, maybe a few on the pocket, try search for a vidio or to on utube. That is why I say its a pity people only realize it after this woman poor stupid review. The plextalk site have all the info you need. If you have a general intrest in there products, or if you a huge fan like me, you should check the site from time to time. On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I wonder why here in the US, not much has been said about it? I can't even
find any podcasts on the ptn2.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2012 6:25 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Wel, it does yes, but except for the stream and ptn2, I don't think there is any other player who support it except easy reader from dolphin. Wel the ptn2 is around for almost free years now. It came out in end 2009. Replacing the oder ptn1/ptn1/pro. That's why the voice sound like pocket. I just hope they will update it again. I love it, but the only thing that I notice is that when changing volume and speed rapitly its slitely a bit slow.
On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Doesn't the victor reader stream support skippable elements?
Here's the interesting thing, I tried to find the US manual for the ptn2 on
the plextalk support page. I wanted to look it over. How long has the ptn2
been around? I didn't know anything about it until this review.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 8:55 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Yes its a pity for sure. Wel I could be rong, as I am not part of that service and they not available in my country, but it should be able to work, although I don't recall anything about that from the manual or website. What I do no is that they said somewhere on the site that you can connect the pocket and ptn2 together, but I tryed that and it didn't work. So I guess the only thing that will really work in that USB port are memory flash drives. I guess you could email and confirm about the compatibility with those nls cards, would be intrested to no. But at least the latest 3.7 update made the cd drive perform better and make less noise now. I think you will have a better chance of connecting ptp1 with ptr2.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
It's to bad they don't use higher quality tts on the ptn2. Do you know if the short cable supplied with the plextalk pocket can be used to connect NLS
cartridges to the ptn2?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 7:31 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
The voices are the exact same quality. And yes to all the others.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I have some questions about the ptn2: 1. I see it uses the same tts as the plextalk pocket. Is the tts higher quality than what is on the plextalk pocket? 2. can this player play audio cd's? data cd's with mp3's on them? Daisy cd's? Does it remember your place on each cd?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 11:47 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
I just hope that people can realize the wunders of this machine by themselves. It just seem to me sometimes that only after a review like this some people actually wake up. I like this woman riting, but she also make me angry. She didn't even mention the fact that ptn2 can use skippable elements wich only a few players can do at present. And the folder is called plex backup, not plextalk backup.She should no that. She is clever enough I am sure.
On 04/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Did anyone happen to see this from AccessWorld?
Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi Deborah Kendrick Upon reading a product evaluation I wrote of a stand-alone tabletop DAISY and audio book
player , a representative of Shinano Kenshi wrote asking for an evaluation of the PLEXTALK PTN2. First Look The PLEXTALK PTN2 is roughly 9 inches by 7 inches and about one inch high, giving it a footprint very much like the digital talking book player distributed
by
the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). The
PLEXTALK PTN2 has 27 buttons (or keys) on the top face of the unit, an external speaker grille in the upper right corner, roughly 2 by 3 inches, and a connector for an AC
adapter on the back. On the left edge are slots for a secure digital (SD) card and
a
USB port in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front edge is a slot for
standard CDs; the battery compartment is on the bottom, along with rubber feet for stability. There is no carrying handle; the unit can run on either AC current or battery power. In the box with the unit is an AC adapter, user's guide on DAISY CD, and a snap-on cover with holes exposing only the basic, essential keys. (More about that below.) Initial Test Drive After taking the unit out of the box, it's fairly easy to test it immediately. As is always wise when using any product for the first time, plug it in and press the "Power" button. Anyone familiar with other PLEXTALK products will recognize
the charming chimes indicating that the unit is working on the issued command. It immediately chimes once, announces "Please wait" in a clear female voice, and then repeats the PLEXTALK chiming waiting sound for about ten seconds before announcing whatever media is detected onboard. The inclusion of the user's guide on DAISY CD offers
a
perfect opportunity for acquainting oneself with the product. The sound quality of the PLEXTALK PTN2 is outstanding. Even this writer with
a hearing impairment can hear it loud and clear from across the room. The synthetic voices for text-to-speech are the familiar Samantha and Tom and are sufficiently distinct. When playing music or an audio book, the sound quality is excellent. Those 27 Keys At the bottom of the unit is the familiar "Play/Pause" key in the middle with arrow-shaped "Rewind" and "Fast Forward" keys to either side. Directly above this trio
is
the 12-key telephone-style keypad used frequently for navigation, menu selections, and other functions. In a column to the left of these buttons are four distinctly-shaped keys: the "Menu," "Bookshelf," "Go To" (heading, page, etc.), and "Bookmark"
keys. Directly above the telephone-style keypad are three control columns: "Tone,"
"Volume," and "Speed." Although the user's guide counts these as three buttons, I count them as six since each has an up and down control with a distinct split between them. On the right-hand side of the machine is an "Information" key, a "Sleep" key, the "Power" button, an "Eject" for CDs, and a close pair of title keys ("Previous" and "Next"), which are used when navigating from one media type to another or one folder to another within a given media source. Again, these appear to be two buttons although the user's guide refers to them as one. When first powered on, the PTN2 remembers the last content played and announces that content's source. If that is the material you wish to hear, you can simply press "Play." The "2" and "8" keys will give you information regarding the mark-up
available (levels 1, 2, and 3, for instance), and the "4" and "6" keys are used to move backward and forward accordingly. The "Go To" key, depending on the type of content played, allows you to move by heading, page, or percentage within a given file. The
"Bookshelf" key is used to rotate among CD, SD card, and USB thumb drive, all of which can be onboard at any given time. Navigating among the various media sources can also be done using the "Title" key on the right. The "Bookmark" key can be used to set up to 10,000 bookmarks. There is, however, no voice or highlight bookmark feature available but, instead, only numbered bookmarks, the numbers for which can either be user defined by entering a number from the keypad or automatically set by the PTN2. Once
bookmarks have been set, however, you can access a bookmark list, navigating through your bookmarks with the "4" and "6" keys or by entering the number of a specifically desired bookmark to move directly to it. The Mask The PTN2 comes with a snap-on cover called a mask that is molded to fit securely over the face of the unit with pieces that grip the sides. When the mask is
in place, only a few of the unit's keys are available to the user. These include the three keys at the bottom ("Rewind," "Play/Pause," and "Fast Forward"), the five keys at the right ("Power," "Sleep," "Eject," "Information," and "Title"), and the "Tone" and "Volume" controls at the top. One question that immediately arose is why
"Tone" and "Volume," but not "Speed," controls have been selected as the most essential to have available to a user with more limited technical ability. That small
caveat aside, this may be a useful feature in some situations, such as for teaching
or when the unit is used by children or those with limited tactile sensitivity. What Can It Play? The PTN2 can play a wonderful array of file types and formats: DAISY, .TXT,
.DOC, HTML, and a variety of audio formats, including WAV, MP3, and OGG. If a file
contains both DAISY text and audio, the PTN2 will only recognize one or the other. I loaded the unit with content of every type (a CD, an SD card, and a USB thumb drive all at once) and found the results both impressive and puzzling. While the unit was able to navigate among all three sources, representing a wide array of format types, some content was inaccessible. On the USB drive, for example, there was a folder of audio files and a folder of text files played perfectly. A third folder,
however, containing both audio and text files of the same content, revealed only the
text. If I hadn't known the audio files were there, I would not have been able to
discover them. You can work around this problem by removing the text files from the folder or by placing the audio files in a separate folder, but the initial roadblock is bewildering. Other PLEXTALK products share this particular quirk of requiring all content to be placed in its own folder, and in this instance, even if the content is the same but is represented in more than one format, each must have a folder of its own. Quirks aside, it warrants mentioning that included in the smorgasbord of content loaded for the above experiment were books drawn from three of the most popular sources for readers who are blind or visually impaired (Bookshare, NLS BARD, and Audible.com), and the PLEXTALK PTN2 played all of them beautifully. A Few Special Features The PLEXTALK PTN2 does a few things that competing products do not, and it does them very well. First, as mentioned above, the PLEXTALK plays audiobooks and other materials downloadable from Audible.com . Secondly, although it has no other recording capabilities, the PLEXTALK can backup an audio CD, including commercially available CDs, to an SD card. The process is a simple one but does take some time. To back up a CD with approximately 50
minutes of recording, for example, the process took about 25 minutes. The procedure
is completely simple (press the "9" key to begin and "8" to confirm), and the PLEXTALK chiming sounds continue throughout the process to let you know something is actually
happening. When finished, the unit announces that the backup is complete. When CDs are
copied in this manner, they are placed on the SD card in a folder entitled "PLEXTALK Backup," which is created by the unit itself. On a more random note, the PTN2 does have time and date announcement features, a sleep timer, and an automatic shut-off after 15 minutes when operating on battery. While none of these are likely to be deal breakers for many customers, they
are convenient features that warrant mentioning. Conclusions The PTN2 is a compact unit with fabulous sound quality that will meet most listening needs of customers who are blind or low vision. It plays content from CD, SD, and USB sources and can play a wide variety of formats from the most popularly used content sources. In addition to music and audio books, it offers clear text-to-speech capabilities and is, thus, able to play plain text, Word, and HTML documents. It does not have wireless or recording functionality other than the ability
to back up a CD to an SD card. Product Information Product: PLEXTALK PTN2 Price: $375 Available from: available from a variety of dealers, including IRTI, Active
Forever, Maxi-Aids, and others.
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
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I don't think he meant to do that. As Aidan said, why must people take note after someone has evaluated something but until then no one pays attention even if it has been talked about on this list before. I understand Rus is maybe new but really Andre, no need to be so touchy. I know many times when you have been quite criticalabout something and stupid is not the most rudest thing he could of said. If he swears he gets crucified and if he says stupid then he gets crucified. I think he meant it in context and I don't think he meant at all that she was stupid but I do agree with Aidan whole heartedly in this regard. On 11/6/12, André van Deventer <andredbsa@webafrica.org.za> wrote:
Steady on
You may disagree with a review someone did but calling her stupid is taking it too far on an international list.
Extremely immature way of behaving.
Here in SA we usually have better manners than that!
-----Original Message----- From: Plextalk [mailto:plextalk-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Aidan Maher Sent: 06 November 2012 05:47 PM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Wel, I have talked about it several times on this list, so funny if you say you never heard about it. Wel, you should check with places like IRTI, they are a big plextalk dealer. There is not alot of potcasts at all on any plextalk thing, maybe a few on the pocket, try search for a vidio or to on utube. That is why I say its a pity people only realize it after this woman poor stupid review. The plextalk site have all the info you need. If you have a general intrest in there products, or if you a huge fan like me, you should check the site from time to time.
On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I wonder why here in the US, not much has been said about it? I can't even
find any podcasts on the ptn2.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2012 6:25 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Wel, it does yes, but except for the stream and ptn2, I don't think there is any other player who support it except easy reader from dolphin. Wel the ptn2 is around for almost free years now. It came out in end 2009. Replacing the oder ptn1/ptn1/pro. That's why the voice sound like pocket. I just hope they will update it again. I love it, but the only thing that I notice is that when changing volume and speed rapitly its slitely a bit slow.
On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Doesn't the victor reader stream support skippable elements?
Here's the interesting thing, I tried to find the US manual for the ptn2 on
the plextalk support page. I wanted to look it over. How long has the ptn2
been around? I didn't know anything about it until this review.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 8:55 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Yes its a pity for sure. Wel I could be rong, as I am not part of that service and they not available in my country, but it should be able to work, although I don't recall anything about that from the manual or website. What I do no is that they said somewhere on the site that you can connect the pocket and ptn2 together, but I tryed that and it didn't work. So I guess the only thing that will really work in that USB port are memory flash drives. I guess you could email and confirm about the compatibility with those nls cards, would be intrested to no. But at least the latest 3.7 update made the cd drive perform better and make less noise now. I think you will have a better chance of connecting ptp1 with ptr2.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
It's to bad they don't use higher quality tts on the ptn2. Do you know if the short cable supplied with the plextalk pocket can be used to connect NLS
cartridges to the ptn2?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 7:31 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
The voices are the exact same quality. And yes to all the others.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I have some questions about the ptn2: 1. I see it uses the same tts as the plextalk pocket. Is the tts higher quality than what is on the plextalk pocket? 2. can this player play audio cd's? data cd's with mp3's on them? Daisy cd's? Does it remember your place on each cd?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 11:47 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
I just hope that people can realize the wunders of this machine by themselves. It just seem to me sometimes that only after a review like this some people actually wake up. I like this woman riting, but she also make me angry. She didn't even mention the fact that ptn2 can use skippable elements wich only a few players can do at present. And the folder is called plex backup, not plextalk backup.She should no that. She is clever enough I am sure.
On 04/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Did anyone happen to see this from AccessWorld?
Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi Deborah Kendrick Upon reading a product evaluation I wrote of a stand-alone tabletop DAISY and audio book
player , a representative of Shinano Kenshi wrote asking for an evaluation of the PLEXTALK PTN2. First Look The PLEXTALK PTN2 is roughly 9 inches by 7 inches and about one inch high, giving it a footprint very much like the digital talking book player distributed
by
the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). The
PLEXTALK PTN2 has 27 buttons (or keys) on the top face of the unit, an external speaker grille in the upper right corner, roughly 2 by 3 inches, and a connector for an AC
adapter on the back. On the left edge are slots for a secure digital (SD) card and
a
USB port in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front edge is a slot for
standard CDs; the battery compartment is on the bottom, along with rubber feet for stability. There is no carrying handle; the unit can run on either AC current or battery power. In the box with the unit is an AC adapter, user's guide on DAISY CD, and a snap-on cover with holes exposing only the basic, essential keys. (More about that below.) Initial Test Drive After taking the unit out of the box, it's fairly easy to test it immediately. As is always wise when using any product for the first time, plug it in and press the "Power" button. Anyone familiar with other PLEXTALK products will recognize
the charming chimes indicating that the unit is working on the issued command. It immediately chimes once, announces "Please wait" in a clear female voice, and then repeats the PLEXTALK chiming waiting sound for about ten seconds before announcing whatever media is detected onboard. The inclusion of the user's guide on DAISY CD offers
a
perfect opportunity for acquainting oneself with the product. The sound quality of the PLEXTALK PTN2 is outstanding. Even this writer with
a hearing impairment can hear it loud and clear from across the room. The synthetic voices for text-to-speech are the familiar Samantha and Tom and are sufficiently distinct. When playing music or an audio book, the sound quality is excellent. Those 27 Keys At the bottom of the unit is the familiar "Play/Pause" key in the middle with arrow-shaped "Rewind" and "Fast Forward" keys to either side. Directly above this trio
is
the 12-key telephone-style keypad used frequently for navigation, menu selections, and other functions. In a column to the left of these buttons are four distinctly-shaped keys: the "Menu," "Bookshelf," "Go To" (heading, page, etc.), and "Bookmark"
keys. Directly above the telephone-style keypad are three control columns: "Tone,"
"Volume," and "Speed." Although the user's guide counts these as three buttons, I count them as six since each has an up and down control with a distinct split between them. On the right-hand side of the machine is an "Information" key, a "Sleep" key, the "Power" button, an "Eject" for CDs, and a close pair of title keys ("Previous" and "Next"), which are used when navigating from one media type to another or one folder to another within a given media source. Again, these appear to be two buttons although the user's guide refers to them as one. When first powered on, the PTN2 remembers the last content played and announces that content's source. If that is the material you wish to hear, you can simply press "Play." The "2" and "8" keys will give you information regarding the mark-up
available (levels 1, 2, and 3, for instance), and the "4" and "6" keys are used to move backward and forward accordingly. The "Go To" key, depending on the type of content played, allows you to move by heading, page, or percentage within a given file. The
"Bookshelf" key is used to rotate among CD, SD card, and USB thumb drive, all of which can be onboard at any given time. Navigating among the various media sources can also be done using the "Title" key on the right. The "Bookmark" key can be used to set up to 10,000 bookmarks. There is, however, no voice or highlight bookmark feature available but, instead, only numbered bookmarks, the numbers for which can either be user defined by entering a number from the keypad or automatically set by the PTN2. Once
bookmarks have been set, however, you can access a bookmark list, navigating through your bookmarks with the "4" and "6" keys or by entering the number of a specifically desired bookmark to move directly to it. The Mask The PTN2 comes with a snap-on cover called a mask that is molded to fit securely over the face of the unit with pieces that grip the sides. When the mask is
in place, only a few of the unit's keys are available to the user. These include the three keys at the bottom ("Rewind," "Play/Pause," and "Fast Forward"), the five keys at the right ("Power," "Sleep," "Eject," "Information," and "Title"), and the "Tone" and "Volume" controls at the top. One question that immediately arose is why
"Tone" and "Volume," but not "Speed," controls have been selected as the most essential to have available to a user with more limited technical ability. That small
caveat aside, this may be a useful feature in some situations, such as for teaching
or when the unit is used by children or those with limited tactile sensitivity. What Can It Play? The PTN2 can play a wonderful array of file types and formats: DAISY, .TXT,
.DOC, HTML, and a variety of audio formats, including WAV, MP3, and OGG. If a file
contains both DAISY text and audio, the PTN2 will only recognize one or the other. I loaded the unit with content of every type (a CD, an SD card, and a USB thumb drive all at once) and found the results both impressive and puzzling. While the unit was able to navigate among all three sources, representing a wide array of format types, some content was inaccessible. On the USB drive, for example, there was a folder of audio files and a folder of text files played perfectly. A third folder,
however, containing both audio and text files of the same content, revealed only the
text. If I hadn't known the audio files were there, I would not have been able to
discover them. You can work around this problem by removing the text files from the folder or by placing the audio files in a separate folder, but the initial roadblock is bewildering. Other PLEXTALK products share this particular quirk of requiring all content to be placed in its own folder, and in this instance, even if the content is the same but is represented in more than one format, each must have a folder of its own. Quirks aside, it warrants mentioning that included in the smorgasbord of content loaded for the above experiment were books drawn from three of the most popular sources for readers who are blind or visually impaired (Bookshare, NLS BARD, and Audible.com), and the PLEXTALK PTN2 played all of them beautifully. A Few Special Features The PLEXTALK PTN2 does a few things that competing products do not, and it does them very well. First, as mentioned above, the PLEXTALK plays audiobooks and other materials downloadable from Audible.com . Secondly, although it has no other recording capabilities, the PLEXTALK can backup an audio CD, including commercially available CDs, to an SD card. The process is a simple one but does take some time. To back up a CD with approximately 50
minutes of recording, for example, the process took about 25 minutes. The procedure
is completely simple (press the "9" key to begin and "8" to confirm), and the PLEXTALK chiming sounds continue throughout the process to let you know something is actually
happening. When finished, the unit announces that the backup is complete. When CDs are
copied in this manner, they are placed on the SD card in a folder entitled "PLEXTALK Backup," which is created by the unit itself. On a more random note, the PTN2 does have time and date announcement features, a sleep timer, and an automatic shut-off after 15 minutes when operating on battery. While none of these are likely to be deal breakers for many customers, they
are convenient features that warrant mentioning. Conclusions The PTN2 is a compact unit with fabulous sound quality that will meet most listening needs of customers who are blind or low vision. It plays content from CD, SD, and USB sources and can play a wide variety of formats from the most popularly used content sources. In addition to music and audio books, it offers clear text-to-speech capabilities and is, thus, able to play plain text, Word, and HTML documents. It does not have wireless or recording functionality other than the ability
to back up a CD to an SD card. Product Information Product: PLEXTALK PTN2 Price: $375 Available from: available from a variety of dealers, including IRTI, Active
Forever, Maxi-Aids, and others.
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
-- SleepTalk in action
Thanks Emma, I never said she was stupid, I said her interview was stupid. Read properly sir. On 06/11/2012, emma goodwin <emma.sleeptalk@gmail.com> wrote:
I don't think he meant to do that. As Aidan said, why must people take note after someone has evaluated something but until then no one pays attention even if it has been talked about on this list before. I understand Rus is maybe new but really Andre, no need to be so touchy. I know many times when you have been quite criticalabout something and stupid is not the most rudest thing he could of said. If he swears he gets crucified and if he says stupid then he gets crucified. I think he meant it in context and I don't think he meant at all that she was stupid but I do agree with Aidan whole heartedly in this regard.
On 11/6/12, André van Deventer <andredbsa@webafrica.org.za> wrote:
Steady on
You may disagree with a review someone did but calling her stupid is taking it too far on an international list.
Extremely immature way of behaving.
Here in SA we usually have better manners than that!
-----Original Message----- From: Plextalk [mailto:plextalk-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Aidan Maher Sent: 06 November 2012 05:47 PM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Wel, I have talked about it several times on this list, so funny if you say you never heard about it. Wel, you should check with places like IRTI, they are a big plextalk dealer. There is not alot of potcasts at all on any plextalk thing, maybe a few on the pocket, try search for a vidio or to on utube. That is why I say its a pity people only realize it after this woman poor stupid review. The plextalk site have all the info you need. If you have a general intrest in there products, or if you a huge fan like me, you should check the site from time to time.
On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I wonder why here in the US, not much has been said about it? I can't even
find any podcasts on the ptn2.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2012 6:25 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Wel, it does yes, but except for the stream and ptn2, I don't think there is any other player who support it except easy reader from dolphin. Wel the ptn2 is around for almost free years now. It came out in end 2009. Replacing the oder ptn1/ptn1/pro. That's why the voice sound like pocket. I just hope they will update it again. I love it, but the only thing that I notice is that when changing volume and speed rapitly its slitely a bit slow.
On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Doesn't the victor reader stream support skippable elements?
Here's the interesting thing, I tried to find the US manual for the ptn2 on
the plextalk support page. I wanted to look it over. How long has the ptn2
been around? I didn't know anything about it until this review.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 8:55 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Yes its a pity for sure. Wel I could be rong, as I am not part of that service and they not available in my country, but it should be able to work, although I don't recall anything about that from the manual or website. What I do no is that they said somewhere on the site that you can connect the pocket and ptn2 together, but I tryed that and it didn't work. So I guess the only thing that will really work in that USB port are memory flash drives. I guess you could email and confirm about the compatibility with those nls cards, would be intrested to no. But at least the latest 3.7 update made the cd drive perform better and make less noise now. I think you will have a better chance of connecting ptp1 with ptr2.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
It's to bad they don't use higher quality tts on the ptn2. Do you know if the short cable supplied with the plextalk pocket can be used to connect NLS
cartridges to the ptn2?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 7:31 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
The voices are the exact same quality. And yes to all the others.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I have some questions about the ptn2: 1. I see it uses the same tts as the plextalk pocket. Is the tts higher quality than what is on the plextalk pocket? 2. can this player play audio cd's? data cd's with mp3's on them? Daisy cd's? Does it remember your place on each cd?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 11:47 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
I just hope that people can realize the wunders of this machine by themselves. It just seem to me sometimes that only after a review like this some people actually wake up. I like this woman riting, but she also make me angry. She didn't even mention the fact that ptn2 can use skippable elements wich only a few players can do at present. And the folder is called plex backup, not plextalk backup.She should no that. She is clever enough I am sure.
On 04/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote: > Did anyone happen to see this from AccessWorld? > > Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player > from Shinano Kenshi Deborah Kendrick Upon reading a product > evaluation I wrote of a stand-alone tabletop DAISY and audio book > > player > , a representative of Shinano Kenshi wrote asking for an > evaluation of the PLEXTALK PTN2. > First Look > The PLEXTALK PTN2 is roughly 9 inches by 7 inches and about one > inch high, giving it a footprint very much like the digital > talking book player distributed > > by > > the > National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped > (NLS). > The > > PLEXTALK > PTN2 has 27 buttons (or keys) on the top face of the unit, an > external speaker grille in the upper right corner, roughly 2 by 3 > inches, and a connector for an AC > > adapter > on the back. On the left edge are slots for a secure digital (SD) > card and > > a > > USB > port in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front edge is a > slot for > > standard > CDs; the battery compartment is on the bottom, along with rubber > feet for stability. > There is no carrying handle; the unit can run on either AC current > or battery power. > In the box with the unit is an AC adapter, user's guide on DAISY > CD, and a snap-on cover with holes exposing only the basic, > essential keys. (More about that > below.) > Initial Test Drive > After taking the unit out of the box, it's fairly easy to test it > immediately. As is always wise when using any product for the > first time, plug it in and press the "Power" button. Anyone > familiar with other PLEXTALK products will recognize > > the charming > chimes indicating that the unit is working on the issued command. > It immediately chimes once, announces "Please wait" in a clear > female voice, and then repeats the PLEXTALK chiming waiting sound > for about ten seconds before announcing whatever media is detected > onboard. The inclusion of the user's guide on DAISY CD offers > > a > > perfect > opportunity for acquainting oneself with the product. > The sound quality of the PLEXTALK PTN2 is outstanding. Even this > writer with > > a hearing > impairment can hear it loud and clear from across the room. The > synthetic voices for text-to-speech are the familiar Samantha and > Tom and are sufficiently distinct. > When playing music or an audio book, the sound quality is excellent. > Those 27 Keys > At the bottom of the unit is the familiar "Play/Pause" key in the > middle with arrow-shaped "Rewind" and "Fast Forward" keys to > either side. Directly above this trio > > is > > the > 12-key telephone-style keypad used frequently for navigation, menu > selections, and other functions. In a column to the left of these > buttons are four distinctly-shaped > keys: the "Menu," "Bookshelf," "Go To" (heading, page, etc.), and > "Bookmark" > > keys. > Directly above the telephone-style keypad are three control columns: > "Tone," > > "Volume," > and "Speed." Although the user's guide counts these as three > buttons, I count them as six since each has an up and down control > with a distinct split between them. > On the right-hand side of the machine is an "Information" key, a > "Sleep" > key, the > "Power" button, an "Eject" for CDs, and a close pair of title keys > ("Previous" and "Next"), which are used when navigating from one > media type to another or one folder to another within a given > media source. Again, these appear to be two buttons although the > user's guide refers to them as one. > When first powered on, the PTN2 remembers the last content played > and announces that content's source. If that is the material you > wish to hear, you can simply press "Play." The "2" and "8" keys > will give you information regarding the mark-up > > available > (levels 1, 2, and 3, for instance), and the "4" and "6" keys are > used to move backward and forward accordingly. The "Go To" key, > depending on the type of content played, allows you to move by > heading, page, or percentage within a given file. > The > > "Bookshelf" > key is used to rotate among CD, SD card, and USB thumb drive, all > of which can be onboard at any given time. Navigating among the > various media sources can also be done using the "Title" key on > the right. The "Bookmark" key can be used to set up to 10,000 > bookmarks. There is, however, no voice or highlight bookmark > feature available but, instead, only numbered bookmarks, the > numbers for which can either be user defined by entering a number > from the keypad or automatically set by the PTN2. > Once > > bookmarks > have been set, however, you can access a bookmark list, navigating > through your bookmarks with the "4" and "6" keys or by entering > the number of a specifically desired bookmark to move directly to > it. > The Mask > The PTN2 comes with a snap-on cover called a mask that is molded > to fit securely over the face of the unit with pieces that grip > the sides. When the mask is > > in place, > only a few of the unit's keys are available to the user. These > include the three keys at the bottom ("Rewind," "Play/Pause," and > "Fast Forward"), the five keys at the right ("Power," "Sleep," > "Eject," "Information," and "Title"), and the "Tone" > and "Volume" controls at the top. One question that immediately > arose is why > > "Tone" > and "Volume," but not "Speed," controls have been selected as the > most essential to have available to a user with more limited > technical ability. That small > > caveat > aside, this may be a useful feature in some situations, such as > for teaching > > or when > the unit is used by children or those with limited tactile > sensitivity. > What Can It Play? > The PTN2 can play a wonderful array of file types and formats: > DAISY, .TXT, > > .DOC, > HTML, and a variety of audio formats, including WAV, MP3, and OGG. > If a file > > contains > both DAISY text and audio, the PTN2 will only recognize one or the > other. > I loaded the unit with content of every type (a CD, an SD card, > and a USB thumb drive all at once) and found the results both > impressive and puzzling. While the unit was able to navigate among > all three sources, representing a wide array of format types, some > content was inaccessible. On the USB drive, for example, there was > a folder of audio files and a folder of text files played > perfectly. A third folder, > > however, > containing both audio and text files of the same content, revealed > only the > > text. > If I hadn't known the audio files were there, I would not have > been able to > > discover > them. You can work around this problem by removing the text files > from the folder or by placing the audio files in a separate > folder, but the initial roadblock is bewildering. Other PLEXTALK > products share this particular quirk of requiring all content to > be placed in its own folder, and in this instance, even if the > content is the same but is represented in more than one format, > each must have a folder of its own. > Quirks aside, it warrants mentioning that included in the > smorgasbord of content loaded for the above experiment were books > drawn from three of the most popular sources for readers who are > blind or visually impaired (Bookshare, NLS BARD, and Audible.com), > and the PLEXTALK PTN2 played all of them beautifully. > A Few Special Features > The PLEXTALK PTN2 does a few things that competing products do > not, and it does them very well. First, as mentioned above, the > PLEXTALK plays audiobooks and other materials downloadable from > Audible.com . Secondly, although it has no other recording > capabilities, the PLEXTALK can backup an audio CD, including > commercially available CDs, to an SD card. The process is a simple > one but does take some time. To back up a CD with approximately > 50 > > minutes > of recording, for example, the process took about 25 minutes. The > procedure > > is completely > simple (press the "9" key to begin and "8" to confirm), and the > PLEXTALK chiming sounds continue throughout the process to let you > know something is actually > > happening. > When finished, the unit announces that the backup is complete. > When CDs are > > copied > in this manner, they are placed on the SD card in a folder > entitled "PLEXTALK Backup," > which is created by the unit itself. > On a more random note, the PTN2 does have time and date > announcement features, a sleep timer, and an automatic shut-off > after 15 minutes when operating on battery. > While none of these are likely to be deal breakers for many > customers, they > > are convenient > features that warrant mentioning. > Conclusions > The PTN2 is a compact unit with fabulous sound quality that will > meet most listening needs of customers who are blind or low > vision. It plays content from CD, SD, and USB sources and can play > a wide variety of formats from the most popularly used content > sources. In addition to music and audio books, it offers clear > text-to-speech capabilities and is, thus, able to play plain text, > Word, and HTML documents. > It does not have wireless or recording functionality other than > the ability > > to back > up a CD to an SD card. > Product Information > Product: > PLEXTALK PTN2 > Price: $375 > Available from: available from a variety of dealers, including > IRTI, Active > > Forever, > Maxi-Aids, and others. > > > > _______________________________________________ > Plextalk mailing list > Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org > http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk >
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
-- SleepTalk in action
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
Thanks Emma, I never said she was stupid, I said her interview was stupid. Read properly sir. On 06/11/2012, emma goodwin <emma.sleeptalk@gmail.com> wrote:
I don't think he meant to do that. As Aidan said, why must people take note after someone has evaluated something but until then no one pays attention even if it has been talked about on this list before. I understand Rus is maybe new but really Andre, no need to be so touchy. I know many times when you have been quite criticalabout something and stupid is not the most rudest thing he could of said. If he swears he gets crucified and if he says stupid then he gets crucified. I think he meant it in context and I don't think he meant at all that she was stupid but I do agree with Aidan whole heartedly in this regard.
On 11/6/12, André van Deventer <andredbsa@webafrica.org.za> wrote:
Steady on
You may disagree with a review someone did but calling her stupid is taking it too far on an international list.
Extremely immature way of behaving.
Here in SA we usually have better manners than that!
-----Original Message----- From: Plextalk [mailto:plextalk-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Aidan Maher Sent: 06 November 2012 05:47 PM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Wel, I have talked about it several times on this list, so funny if you say you never heard about it. Wel, you should check with places like IRTI, they are a big plextalk dealer. There is not alot of potcasts at all on any plextalk thing, maybe a few on the pocket, try search for a vidio or to on utube. That is why I say its a pity people only realize it after this woman poor stupid review. The plextalk site have all the info you need. If you have a general intrest in there products, or if you a huge fan like me, you should check the site from time to time.
On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I wonder why here in the US, not much has been said about it? I can't even
find any podcasts on the ptn2.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2012 6:25 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Wel, it does yes, but except for the stream and ptn2, I don't think there is any other player who support it except easy reader from dolphin. Wel the ptn2 is around for almost free years now. It came out in end 2009. Replacing the oder ptn1/ptn1/pro. That's why the voice sound like pocket. I just hope they will update it again. I love it, but the only thing that I notice is that when changing volume and speed rapitly its slitely a bit slow.
On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Doesn't the victor reader stream support skippable elements?
Here's the interesting thing, I tried to find the US manual for the ptn2 on
the plextalk support page. I wanted to look it over. How long has the ptn2
been around? I didn't know anything about it until this review.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 8:55 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Yes its a pity for sure. Wel I could be rong, as I am not part of that service and they not available in my country, but it should be able to work, although I don't recall anything about that from the manual or website. What I do no is that they said somewhere on the site that you can connect the pocket and ptn2 together, but I tryed that and it didn't work. So I guess the only thing that will really work in that USB port are memory flash drives. I guess you could email and confirm about the compatibility with those nls cards, would be intrested to no. But at least the latest 3.7 update made the cd drive perform better and make less noise now. I think you will have a better chance of connecting ptp1 with ptr2.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
It's to bad they don't use higher quality tts on the ptn2. Do you know if the short cable supplied with the plextalk pocket can be used to connect NLS
cartridges to the ptn2?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 7:31 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
The voices are the exact same quality. And yes to all the others.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I have some questions about the ptn2: 1. I see it uses the same tts as the plextalk pocket. Is the tts higher quality than what is on the plextalk pocket? 2. can this player play audio cd's? data cd's with mp3's on them? Daisy cd's? Does it remember your place on each cd?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 11:47 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
I just hope that people can realize the wunders of this machine by themselves. It just seem to me sometimes that only after a review like this some people actually wake up. I like this woman riting, but she also make me angry. She didn't even mention the fact that ptn2 can use skippable elements wich only a few players can do at present. And the folder is called plex backup, not plextalk backup.She should no that. She is clever enough I am sure.
On 04/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote: > Did anyone happen to see this from AccessWorld? > > Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player > from Shinano Kenshi Deborah Kendrick Upon reading a product > evaluation I wrote of a stand-alone tabletop DAISY and audio book > > player > , a representative of Shinano Kenshi wrote asking for an > evaluation of the PLEXTALK PTN2. > First Look > The PLEXTALK PTN2 is roughly 9 inches by 7 inches and about one > inch high, giving it a footprint very much like the digital > talking book player distributed > > by > > the > National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped > (NLS). > The > > PLEXTALK > PTN2 has 27 buttons (or keys) on the top face of the unit, an > external speaker grille in the upper right corner, roughly 2 by 3 > inches, and a connector for an AC > > adapter > on the back. On the left edge are slots for a secure digital (SD) > card and > > a > > USB > port in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front edge is a > slot for > > standard > CDs; the battery compartment is on the bottom, along with rubber > feet for stability. > There is no carrying handle; the unit can run on either AC current > or battery power. > In the box with the unit is an AC adapter, user's guide on DAISY > CD, and a snap-on cover with holes exposing only the basic, > essential keys. (More about that > below.) > Initial Test Drive > After taking the unit out of the box, it's fairly easy to test it > immediately. As is always wise when using any product for the > first time, plug it in and press the "Power" button. Anyone > familiar with other PLEXTALK products will recognize > > the charming > chimes indicating that the unit is working on the issued command. > It immediately chimes once, announces "Please wait" in a clear > female voice, and then repeats the PLEXTALK chiming waiting sound > for about ten seconds before announcing whatever media is detected > onboard. The inclusion of the user's guide on DAISY CD offers > > a > > perfect > opportunity for acquainting oneself with the product. > The sound quality of the PLEXTALK PTN2 is outstanding. Even this > writer with > > a hearing > impairment can hear it loud and clear from across the room. The > synthetic voices for text-to-speech are the familiar Samantha and > Tom and are sufficiently distinct. > When playing music or an audio book, the sound quality is excellent. > Those 27 Keys > At the bottom of the unit is the familiar "Play/Pause" key in the > middle with arrow-shaped "Rewind" and "Fast Forward" keys to > either side. Directly above this trio > > is > > the > 12-key telephone-style keypad used frequently for navigation, menu > selections, and other functions. In a column to the left of these > buttons are four distinctly-shaped > keys: the "Menu," "Bookshelf," "Go To" (heading, page, etc.), and > "Bookmark" > > keys. > Directly above the telephone-style keypad are three control columns: > "Tone," > > "Volume," > and "Speed." Although the user's guide counts these as three > buttons, I count them as six since each has an up and down control > with a distinct split between them. > On the right-hand side of the machine is an "Information" key, a > "Sleep" > key, the > "Power" button, an "Eject" for CDs, and a close pair of title keys > ("Previous" and "Next"), which are used when navigating from one > media type to another or one folder to another within a given > media source. Again, these appear to be two buttons although the > user's guide refers to them as one. > When first powered on, the PTN2 remembers the last content played > and announces that content's source. If that is the material you > wish to hear, you can simply press "Play." The "2" and "8" keys > will give you information regarding the mark-up > > available > (levels 1, 2, and 3, for instance), and the "4" and "6" keys are > used to move backward and forward accordingly. The "Go To" key, > depending on the type of content played, allows you to move by > heading, page, or percentage within a given file. > The > > "Bookshelf" > key is used to rotate among CD, SD card, and USB thumb drive, all > of which can be onboard at any given time. Navigating among the > various media sources can also be done using the "Title" key on > the right. The "Bookmark" key can be used to set up to 10,000 > bookmarks. There is, however, no voice or highlight bookmark > feature available but, instead, only numbered bookmarks, the > numbers for which can either be user defined by entering a number > from the keypad or automatically set by the PTN2. > Once > > bookmarks > have been set, however, you can access a bookmark list, navigating > through your bookmarks with the "4" and "6" keys or by entering > the number of a specifically desired bookmark to move directly to > it. > The Mask > The PTN2 comes with a snap-on cover called a mask that is molded > to fit securely over the face of the unit with pieces that grip > the sides. When the mask is > > in place, > only a few of the unit's keys are available to the user. These > include the three keys at the bottom ("Rewind," "Play/Pause," and > "Fast Forward"), the five keys at the right ("Power," "Sleep," > "Eject," "Information," and "Title"), and the "Tone" > and "Volume" controls at the top. One question that immediately > arose is why > > "Tone" > and "Volume," but not "Speed," controls have been selected as the > most essential to have available to a user with more limited > technical ability. That small > > caveat > aside, this may be a useful feature in some situations, such as > for teaching > > or when > the unit is used by children or those with limited tactile > sensitivity. > What Can It Play? > The PTN2 can play a wonderful array of file types and formats: > DAISY, .TXT, > > .DOC, > HTML, and a variety of audio formats, including WAV, MP3, and OGG. > If a file > > contains > both DAISY text and audio, the PTN2 will only recognize one or the > other. > I loaded the unit with content of every type (a CD, an SD card, > and a USB thumb drive all at once) and found the results both > impressive and puzzling. While the unit was able to navigate among > all three sources, representing a wide array of format types, some > content was inaccessible. On the USB drive, for example, there was > a folder of audio files and a folder of text files played > perfectly. A third folder, > > however, > containing both audio and text files of the same content, revealed > only the > > text. > If I hadn't known the audio files were there, I would not have > been able to > > discover > them. You can work around this problem by removing the text files > from the folder or by placing the audio files in a separate > folder, but the initial roadblock is bewildering. Other PLEXTALK > products share this particular quirk of requiring all content to > be placed in its own folder, and in this instance, even if the > content is the same but is represented in more than one format, > each must have a folder of its own. > Quirks aside, it warrants mentioning that included in the > smorgasbord of content loaded for the above experiment were books > drawn from three of the most popular sources for readers who are > blind or visually impaired (Bookshare, NLS BARD, and Audible.com), > and the PLEXTALK PTN2 played all of them beautifully. > A Few Special Features > The PLEXTALK PTN2 does a few things that competing products do > not, and it does them very well. First, as mentioned above, the > PLEXTALK plays audiobooks and other materials downloadable from > Audible.com . Secondly, although it has no other recording > capabilities, the PLEXTALK can backup an audio CD, including > commercially available CDs, to an SD card. The process is a simple > one but does take some time. To back up a CD with approximately > 50 > > minutes > of recording, for example, the process took about 25 minutes. The > procedure > > is completely > simple (press the "9" key to begin and "8" to confirm), and the > PLEXTALK chiming sounds continue throughout the process to let you > know something is actually > > happening. > When finished, the unit announces that the backup is complete. > When CDs are > > copied > in this manner, they are placed on the SD card in a folder > entitled "PLEXTALK Backup," > which is created by the unit itself. > On a more random note, the PTN2 does have time and date > announcement features, a sleep timer, and an automatic shut-off > after 15 minutes when operating on battery. > While none of these are likely to be deal breakers for many > customers, they > > are convenient > features that warrant mentioning. > Conclusions > The PTN2 is a compact unit with fabulous sound quality that will > meet most listening needs of customers who are blind or low > vision. It plays content from CD, SD, and USB sources and can play > a wide variety of formats from the most popularly used content > sources. In addition to music and audio books, it offers clear > text-to-speech capabilities and is, thus, able to play plain text, > Word, and HTML documents. > It does not have wireless or recording functionality other than > the ability > > to back > up a CD to an SD card. > Product Information > Product: > PLEXTALK PTN2 > Price: $375 > Available from: available from a variety of dealers, including > IRTI, Active > > Forever, > Maxi-Aids, and others. > > > > _______________________________________________ > Plextalk mailing list > Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org > http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk >
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
-- SleepTalk in action
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
I don't think he meant to do that. As Aidan said, why must people take note after someone has evaluated something but until then no one pays attention even if it has been talked about on this list before. I understand Rus is maybe new but really Andre, no need to be so touchy. I know many times when you have been quite criticalabout something and stupid is not the most rudest thing he could of said. If he swears he gets crucified and if he says stupid then he gets crucified. I think he meant it in context and I don't think he meant at all that she was stupid but I do agree with Aidan whole heartedly in this regard. On 11/6/12, André van Deventer <andredbsa@webafrica.org.za> wrote:
Steady on
You may disagree with a review someone did but calling her stupid is taking it too far on an international list.
Extremely immature way of behaving.
Here in SA we usually have better manners than that!
-----Original Message----- From: Plextalk [mailto:plextalk-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Aidan Maher Sent: 06 November 2012 05:47 PM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Wel, I have talked about it several times on this list, so funny if you say you never heard about it. Wel, you should check with places like IRTI, they are a big plextalk dealer. There is not alot of potcasts at all on any plextalk thing, maybe a few on the pocket, try search for a vidio or to on utube. That is why I say its a pity people only realize it after this woman poor stupid review. The plextalk site have all the info you need. If you have a general intrest in there products, or if you a huge fan like me, you should check the site from time to time.
On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I wonder why here in the US, not much has been said about it? I can't even
find any podcasts on the ptn2.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2012 6:25 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Wel, it does yes, but except for the stream and ptn2, I don't think there is any other player who support it except easy reader from dolphin. Wel the ptn2 is around for almost free years now. It came out in end 2009. Replacing the oder ptn1/ptn1/pro. That's why the voice sound like pocket. I just hope they will update it again. I love it, but the only thing that I notice is that when changing volume and speed rapitly its slitely a bit slow.
On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Doesn't the victor reader stream support skippable elements?
Here's the interesting thing, I tried to find the US manual for the ptn2 on
the plextalk support page. I wanted to look it over. How long has the ptn2
been around? I didn't know anything about it until this review.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 8:55 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Yes its a pity for sure. Wel I could be rong, as I am not part of that service and they not available in my country, but it should be able to work, although I don't recall anything about that from the manual or website. What I do no is that they said somewhere on the site that you can connect the pocket and ptn2 together, but I tryed that and it didn't work. So I guess the only thing that will really work in that USB port are memory flash drives. I guess you could email and confirm about the compatibility with those nls cards, would be intrested to no. But at least the latest 3.7 update made the cd drive perform better and make less noise now. I think you will have a better chance of connecting ptp1 with ptr2.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
It's to bad they don't use higher quality tts on the ptn2. Do you know if the short cable supplied with the plextalk pocket can be used to connect NLS
cartridges to the ptn2?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 7:31 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
The voices are the exact same quality. And yes to all the others.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I have some questions about the ptn2: 1. I see it uses the same tts as the plextalk pocket. Is the tts higher quality than what is on the plextalk pocket? 2. can this player play audio cd's? data cd's with mp3's on them? Daisy cd's? Does it remember your place on each cd?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 11:47 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
I just hope that people can realize the wunders of this machine by themselves. It just seem to me sometimes that only after a review like this some people actually wake up. I like this woman riting, but she also make me angry. She didn't even mention the fact that ptn2 can use skippable elements wich only a few players can do at present. And the folder is called plex backup, not plextalk backup.She should no that. She is clever enough I am sure.
On 04/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Did anyone happen to see this from AccessWorld?
Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi Deborah Kendrick Upon reading a product evaluation I wrote of a stand-alone tabletop DAISY and audio book
player , a representative of Shinano Kenshi wrote asking for an evaluation of the PLEXTALK PTN2. First Look The PLEXTALK PTN2 is roughly 9 inches by 7 inches and about one inch high, giving it a footprint very much like the digital talking book player distributed
by
the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). The
PLEXTALK PTN2 has 27 buttons (or keys) on the top face of the unit, an external speaker grille in the upper right corner, roughly 2 by 3 inches, and a connector for an AC
adapter on the back. On the left edge are slots for a secure digital (SD) card and
a
USB port in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front edge is a slot for
standard CDs; the battery compartment is on the bottom, along with rubber feet for stability. There is no carrying handle; the unit can run on either AC current or battery power. In the box with the unit is an AC adapter, user's guide on DAISY CD, and a snap-on cover with holes exposing only the basic, essential keys. (More about that below.) Initial Test Drive After taking the unit out of the box, it's fairly easy to test it immediately. As is always wise when using any product for the first time, plug it in and press the "Power" button. Anyone familiar with other PLEXTALK products will recognize
the charming chimes indicating that the unit is working on the issued command. It immediately chimes once, announces "Please wait" in a clear female voice, and then repeats the PLEXTALK chiming waiting sound for about ten seconds before announcing whatever media is detected onboard. The inclusion of the user's guide on DAISY CD offers
a
perfect opportunity for acquainting oneself with the product. The sound quality of the PLEXTALK PTN2 is outstanding. Even this writer with
a hearing impairment can hear it loud and clear from across the room. The synthetic voices for text-to-speech are the familiar Samantha and Tom and are sufficiently distinct. When playing music or an audio book, the sound quality is excellent. Those 27 Keys At the bottom of the unit is the familiar "Play/Pause" key in the middle with arrow-shaped "Rewind" and "Fast Forward" keys to either side. Directly above this trio
is
the 12-key telephone-style keypad used frequently for navigation, menu selections, and other functions. In a column to the left of these buttons are four distinctly-shaped keys: the "Menu," "Bookshelf," "Go To" (heading, page, etc.), and "Bookmark"
keys. Directly above the telephone-style keypad are three control columns: "Tone,"
"Volume," and "Speed." Although the user's guide counts these as three buttons, I count them as six since each has an up and down control with a distinct split between them. On the right-hand side of the machine is an "Information" key, a "Sleep" key, the "Power" button, an "Eject" for CDs, and a close pair of title keys ("Previous" and "Next"), which are used when navigating from one media type to another or one folder to another within a given media source. Again, these appear to be two buttons although the user's guide refers to them as one. When first powered on, the PTN2 remembers the last content played and announces that content's source. If that is the material you wish to hear, you can simply press "Play." The "2" and "8" keys will give you information regarding the mark-up
available (levels 1, 2, and 3, for instance), and the "4" and "6" keys are used to move backward and forward accordingly. The "Go To" key, depending on the type of content played, allows you to move by heading, page, or percentage within a given file. The
"Bookshelf" key is used to rotate among CD, SD card, and USB thumb drive, all of which can be onboard at any given time. Navigating among the various media sources can also be done using the "Title" key on the right. The "Bookmark" key can be used to set up to 10,000 bookmarks. There is, however, no voice or highlight bookmark feature available but, instead, only numbered bookmarks, the numbers for which can either be user defined by entering a number from the keypad or automatically set by the PTN2. Once
bookmarks have been set, however, you can access a bookmark list, navigating through your bookmarks with the "4" and "6" keys or by entering the number of a specifically desired bookmark to move directly to it. The Mask The PTN2 comes with a snap-on cover called a mask that is molded to fit securely over the face of the unit with pieces that grip the sides. When the mask is
in place, only a few of the unit's keys are available to the user. These include the three keys at the bottom ("Rewind," "Play/Pause," and "Fast Forward"), the five keys at the right ("Power," "Sleep," "Eject," "Information," and "Title"), and the "Tone" and "Volume" controls at the top. One question that immediately arose is why
"Tone" and "Volume," but not "Speed," controls have been selected as the most essential to have available to a user with more limited technical ability. That small
caveat aside, this may be a useful feature in some situations, such as for teaching
or when the unit is used by children or those with limited tactile sensitivity. What Can It Play? The PTN2 can play a wonderful array of file types and formats: DAISY, .TXT,
.DOC, HTML, and a variety of audio formats, including WAV, MP3, and OGG. If a file
contains both DAISY text and audio, the PTN2 will only recognize one or the other. I loaded the unit with content of every type (a CD, an SD card, and a USB thumb drive all at once) and found the results both impressive and puzzling. While the unit was able to navigate among all three sources, representing a wide array of format types, some content was inaccessible. On the USB drive, for example, there was a folder of audio files and a folder of text files played perfectly. A third folder,
however, containing both audio and text files of the same content, revealed only the
text. If I hadn't known the audio files were there, I would not have been able to
discover them. You can work around this problem by removing the text files from the folder or by placing the audio files in a separate folder, but the initial roadblock is bewildering. Other PLEXTALK products share this particular quirk of requiring all content to be placed in its own folder, and in this instance, even if the content is the same but is represented in more than one format, each must have a folder of its own. Quirks aside, it warrants mentioning that included in the smorgasbord of content loaded for the above experiment were books drawn from three of the most popular sources for readers who are blind or visually impaired (Bookshare, NLS BARD, and Audible.com), and the PLEXTALK PTN2 played all of them beautifully. A Few Special Features The PLEXTALK PTN2 does a few things that competing products do not, and it does them very well. First, as mentioned above, the PLEXTALK plays audiobooks and other materials downloadable from Audible.com . Secondly, although it has no other recording capabilities, the PLEXTALK can backup an audio CD, including commercially available CDs, to an SD card. The process is a simple one but does take some time. To back up a CD with approximately 50
minutes of recording, for example, the process took about 25 minutes. The procedure
is completely simple (press the "9" key to begin and "8" to confirm), and the PLEXTALK chiming sounds continue throughout the process to let you know something is actually
happening. When finished, the unit announces that the backup is complete. When CDs are
copied in this manner, they are placed on the SD card in a folder entitled "PLEXTALK Backup," which is created by the unit itself. On a more random note, the PTN2 does have time and date announcement features, a sleep timer, and an automatic shut-off after 15 minutes when operating on battery. While none of these are likely to be deal breakers for many customers, they
are convenient features that warrant mentioning. Conclusions The PTN2 is a compact unit with fabulous sound quality that will meet most listening needs of customers who are blind or low vision. It plays content from CD, SD, and USB sources and can play a wide variety of formats from the most popularly used content sources. In addition to music and audio books, it offers clear text-to-speech capabilities and is, thus, able to play plain text, Word, and HTML documents. It does not have wireless or recording functionality other than the ability
to back up a CD to an SD card. Product Information Product: PLEXTALK PTN2 Price: $375 Available from: available from a variety of dealers, including IRTI, Active
Forever, Maxi-Aids, and others.
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
-- SleepTalk in action
Wel, I have talked about it several times on this list, so funny if you say you never heard about it. Wel, you should check with places like IRTI, they are a big plextalk dealer. There is not alot of potcasts at all on any plextalk thing, maybe a few on the pocket, try search for a vidio or to on utube. That is why I say its a pity people only realize it after this woman poor stupid review. The plextalk site have all the info you need. If you have a general intrest in there products, or if you a huge fan like me, you should check the site from time to time. On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I wonder why here in the US, not much has been said about it? I can't even
find any podcasts on the ptn2.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2012 6:25 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Wel, it does yes, but except for the stream and ptn2, I don't think there is any other player who support it except easy reader from dolphin. Wel the ptn2 is around for almost free years now. It came out in end 2009. Replacing the oder ptn1/ptn1/pro. That's why the voice sound like pocket. I just hope they will update it again. I love it, but the only thing that I notice is that when changing volume and speed rapitly its slitely a bit slow.
On 06/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Doesn't the victor reader stream support skippable elements?
Here's the interesting thing, I tried to find the US manual for the ptn2 on
the plextalk support page. I wanted to look it over. How long has the ptn2
been around? I didn't know anything about it until this review.
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 8:55 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
Yes its a pity for sure. Wel I could be rong, as I am not part of that service and they not available in my country, but it should be able to work, although I don't recall anything about that from the manual or website. What I do no is that they said somewhere on the site that you can connect the pocket and ptn2 together, but I tryed that and it didn't work. So I guess the only thing that will really work in that USB port are memory flash drives. I guess you could email and confirm about the compatibility with those nls cards, would be intrested to no. But at least the latest 3.7 update made the cd drive perform better and make less noise now. I think you will have a better chance of connecting ptp1 with ptr2.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
It's to bad they don't use higher quality tts on the ptn2. Do you know if the short cable supplied with the plextalk pocket can be used to connect NLS
cartridges to the ptn2?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 7:31 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
The voices are the exact same quality. And yes to all the others.
On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I have some questions about the ptn2: 1. I see it uses the same tts as the plextalk pocket. Is the tts higher quality than what is on the plextalk pocket? 2. can this player play audio cd's? data cd's with mp3's on them? Daisy cd's? Does it remember your place on each cd?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 11:47 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
I just hope that people can realize the wunders of this machine by themselves. It just seem to me sometimes that only after a review like this some people actually wake up. I like this woman riting, but she also make me angry. She didn't even mention the fact that ptn2 can use skippable elements wich only a few players can do at present. And the folder is called plex backup, not plextalk backup.She should no that. She is clever enough I am sure.
On 04/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Did anyone happen to see this from AccessWorld?
Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi Deborah Kendrick Upon reading a product evaluation I wrote of a stand-alone tabletop DAISY and audio book
player , a representative of Shinano Kenshi wrote asking for an evaluation of the PLEXTALK PTN2. First Look The PLEXTALK PTN2 is roughly 9 inches by 7 inches and about one inch high, giving it a footprint very much like the digital talking book player distributed
by
the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). The
PLEXTALK PTN2 has 27 buttons (or keys) on the top face of the unit, an external speaker grille in the upper right corner, roughly 2 by 3 inches, and a connector for an AC
adapter on the back. On the left edge are slots for a secure digital (SD) card and
a
USB port in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front edge is a slot for
standard CDs; the battery compartment is on the bottom, along with rubber feet for stability. There is no carrying handle; the unit can run on either AC current or battery power. In the box with the unit is an AC adapter, user's guide on DAISY CD, and a snap-on cover with holes exposing only the basic, essential keys. (More about that below.) Initial Test Drive After taking the unit out of the box, it's fairly easy to test it immediately. As is always wise when using any product for the first time, plug it in and press the "Power" button. Anyone familiar with other PLEXTALK products will recognize
the charming chimes indicating that the unit is working on the issued command. It immediately chimes once, announces "Please wait" in a clear female voice, and then repeats the PLEXTALK chiming waiting sound for about ten seconds before announcing whatever media is detected onboard. The inclusion of the user's guide on DAISY CD offers
a
perfect opportunity for acquainting oneself with the product. The sound quality of the PLEXTALK PTN2 is outstanding. Even this writer with
a hearing impairment can hear it loud and clear from across the room. The synthetic voices for text-to-speech are the familiar Samantha and Tom and are sufficiently distinct. When playing music or an audio book, the sound quality is excellent. Those 27 Keys At the bottom of the unit is the familiar "Play/Pause" key in the middle with arrow-shaped "Rewind" and "Fast Forward" keys to either side. Directly above this trio
is
the 12-key telephone-style keypad used frequently for navigation, menu selections, and other functions. In a column to the left of these buttons are four distinctly-shaped keys: the "Menu," "Bookshelf," "Go To" (heading, page, etc.), and "Bookmark"
keys. Directly above the telephone-style keypad are three control columns: "Tone,"
"Volume," and "Speed." Although the user's guide counts these as three buttons, I count them as six since each has an up and down control with a distinct split between them. On the right-hand side of the machine is an "Information" key, a "Sleep" key, the "Power" button, an "Eject" for CDs, and a close pair of title keys ("Previous" and "Next"), which are used when navigating from one media type to another or one folder to another within a given media source. Again, these appear to be two buttons although the user's guide refers to them as one. When first powered on, the PTN2 remembers the last content played and announces that content's source. If that is the material you wish to hear, you can simply press "Play." The "2" and "8" keys will give you information regarding the mark-up
available (levels 1, 2, and 3, for instance), and the "4" and "6" keys are used to move backward and forward accordingly. The "Go To" key, depending on the type of content played, allows you to move by heading, page, or percentage within a given file. The
"Bookshelf" key is used to rotate among CD, SD card, and USB thumb drive, all of which can be onboard at any given time. Navigating among the various media sources can also be done using the "Title" key on the right. The "Bookmark" key can be used to set up to 10,000 bookmarks. There is, however, no voice or highlight bookmark feature available but, instead, only numbered bookmarks, the numbers for which can either be user defined by entering a number from the keypad or automatically set by the PTN2. Once
bookmarks have been set, however, you can access a bookmark list, navigating through your bookmarks with the "4" and "6" keys or by entering the number of a specifically desired bookmark to move directly to it. The Mask The PTN2 comes with a snap-on cover called a mask that is molded to fit securely over the face of the unit with pieces that grip the sides. When the mask is
in place, only a few of the unit's keys are available to the user. These include the three keys at the bottom ("Rewind," "Play/Pause," and "Fast Forward"), the five keys at the right ("Power," "Sleep," "Eject," "Information," and "Title"), and the "Tone" and "Volume" controls at the top. One question that immediately arose is why
"Tone" and "Volume," but not "Speed," controls have been selected as the most essential to have available to a user with more limited technical ability. That small
caveat aside, this may be a useful feature in some situations, such as for teaching
or when the unit is used by children or those with limited tactile sensitivity. What Can It Play? The PTN2 can play a wonderful array of file types and formats: DAISY, .TXT,
.DOC, HTML, and a variety of audio formats, including WAV, MP3, and OGG. If a file
contains both DAISY text and audio, the PTN2 will only recognize one or the other. I loaded the unit with content of every type (a CD, an SD card, and a USB thumb drive all at once) and found the results both impressive and puzzling. While the unit was able to navigate among all three sources, representing a wide array of format types, some content was inaccessible. On the USB drive, for example, there was a folder of audio files and a folder of text files played perfectly. A third folder,
however, containing both audio and text files of the same content, revealed only the
text. If I hadn't known the audio files were there, I would not have been able to
discover them. You can work around this problem by removing the text files from the folder or by placing the audio files in a separate folder, but the initial roadblock is bewildering. Other PLEXTALK products share this particular quirk of requiring all content to be placed in its own folder, and in this instance, even if the content is the same but is represented in more than one format, each must have a folder of its own. Quirks aside, it warrants mentioning that included in the smorgasbord of content loaded for the above experiment were books drawn from three of the most popular sources for readers who are blind or visually impaired (Bookshare, NLS BARD, and Audible.com), and the PLEXTALK PTN2 played all of them beautifully. A Few Special Features The PLEXTALK PTN2 does a few things that competing products do not, and it does them very well. First, as mentioned above, the PLEXTALK plays audiobooks and other materials downloadable from Audible.com . Secondly, although it has no other recording capabilities, the PLEXTALK can backup an audio CD, including commercially available CDs, to an SD card. The process is a simple one but does take some time. To back up a CD with approximately 50
minutes of recording, for example, the process took about 25 minutes. The procedure
is completely simple (press the "9" key to begin and "8" to confirm), and the PLEXTALK chiming sounds continue throughout the process to let you know something is actually
happening. When finished, the unit announces that the backup is complete. When CDs are
copied in this manner, they are placed on the SD card in a folder entitled "PLEXTALK Backup," which is created by the unit itself. On a more random note, the PTN2 does have time and date announcement features, a sleep timer, and an automatic shut-off after 15 minutes when operating on battery. While none of these are likely to be deal breakers for many customers, they
are convenient features that warrant mentioning. Conclusions The PTN2 is a compact unit with fabulous sound quality that will meet most listening needs of customers who are blind or low vision. It plays content from CD, SD, and USB sources and can play a wide variety of formats from the most popularly used content sources. In addition to music and audio books, it offers clear text-to-speech capabilities and is, thus, able to play plain text, Word, and HTML documents. It does not have wireless or recording functionality other than the ability
to back up a CD to an SD card. Product Information Product: PLEXTALK PTN2 Price: $375 Available from: available from a variety of dealers, including IRTI, Active
Forever, Maxi-Aids, and others.
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
The voices are the exact same quality. And yes to all the others. On 05/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
I have some questions about the ptn2: 1. I see it uses the same tts as the plextalk pocket. Is the tts higher quality than what is on the plextalk pocket? 2. can this player play audio cd's? data cd's with mp3's on them? Daisy cd's? Does it remember your place on each cd?
-----Original Message----- From: Aidan Maher Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 11:47 AM To: Plextalk User Discussion List Subject: Re: [Plextalk] Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi
I just hope that people can realize the wunders of this machine by themselves. It just seem to me sometimes that only after a review like this some people actually wake up. I like this woman riting, but she also make me angry. She didn't even mention the fact that ptn2 can use skippable elements wich only a few players can do at present. And the folder is called plex backup, not plextalk backup.She should no that. She is clever enough I am sure.
On 04/11/2012, Russ Kiehne <russ94577@gmail.com> wrote:
Did anyone happen to see this from AccessWorld?
Product Evaluation: The PLEXTALK PTN2 DAISY and Audio Book Player from Shinano Kenshi Deborah Kendrick Upon reading a product evaluation I wrote of a stand-alone tabletop DAISY and audio book
player , a representative of Shinano Kenshi wrote asking for an evaluation of the PLEXTALK PTN2. First Look The PLEXTALK PTN2 is roughly 9 inches by 7 inches and about one inch high, giving it a footprint very much like the digital talking book player distributed
by
the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). The
PLEXTALK PTN2 has 27 buttons (or keys) on the top face of the unit, an external speaker grille in the upper right corner, roughly 2 by 3 inches, and a connector for an AC
adapter on the back. On the left edge are slots for a secure digital (SD) card and
a
USB port in addition to a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front edge is a slot for
standard CDs; the battery compartment is on the bottom, along with rubber feet for stability. There is no carrying handle; the unit can run on either AC current or battery power. In the box with the unit is an AC adapter, user's guide on DAISY CD, and a snap-on cover with holes exposing only the basic, essential keys. (More about that below.) Initial Test Drive After taking the unit out of the box, it's fairly easy to test it immediately. As is always wise when using any product for the first time, plug it in and press the "Power" button. Anyone familiar with other PLEXTALK products will recognize
the charming chimes indicating that the unit is working on the issued command. It immediately chimes once, announces "Please wait" in a clear female voice, and then repeats the PLEXTALK chiming waiting sound for about ten seconds before announcing whatever media is detected onboard. The inclusion of the user's guide on DAISY CD offers
a
perfect opportunity for acquainting oneself with the product. The sound quality of the PLEXTALK PTN2 is outstanding. Even this writer with
a hearing impairment can hear it loud and clear from across the room. The synthetic voices for text-to-speech are the familiar Samantha and Tom and are sufficiently distinct. When playing music or an audio book, the sound quality is excellent. Those 27 Keys At the bottom of the unit is the familiar "Play/Pause" key in the middle with arrow-shaped "Rewind" and "Fast Forward" keys to either side. Directly above this trio
is
the 12-key telephone-style keypad used frequently for navigation, menu selections, and other functions. In a column to the left of these buttons are four distinctly-shaped keys: the "Menu," "Bookshelf," "Go To" (heading, page, etc.), and "Bookmark"
keys. Directly above the telephone-style keypad are three control columns: "Tone,"
"Volume," and "Speed." Although the user's guide counts these as three buttons, I count them as six since each has an up and down control with a distinct split between them. On the right-hand side of the machine is an "Information" key, a "Sleep" key, the "Power" button, an "Eject" for CDs, and a close pair of title keys ("Previous" and "Next"), which are used when navigating from one media type to another or one folder to another within a given media source. Again, these appear to be two buttons although the user's guide refers to them as one. When first powered on, the PTN2 remembers the last content played and announces that content's source. If that is the material you wish to hear, you can simply press "Play." The "2" and "8" keys will give you information regarding the mark-up
available (levels 1, 2, and 3, for instance), and the "4" and "6" keys are used to move backward and forward accordingly. The "Go To" key, depending on the type of content played, allows you to move by heading, page, or percentage within a given file. The
"Bookshelf" key is used to rotate among CD, SD card, and USB thumb drive, all of which can be onboard at any given time. Navigating among the various media sources can also be done using the "Title" key on the right. The "Bookmark" key can be used to set up to 10,000 bookmarks. There is, however, no voice or highlight bookmark feature available but, instead, only numbered bookmarks, the numbers for which can either be user defined by entering a number from the keypad or automatically set by the PTN2. Once
bookmarks have been set, however, you can access a bookmark list, navigating through your bookmarks with the "4" and "6" keys or by entering the number of a specifically desired bookmark to move directly to it. The Mask The PTN2 comes with a snap-on cover called a mask that is molded to fit securely over the face of the unit with pieces that grip the sides. When the mask is
in place, only a few of the unit's keys are available to the user. These include the three keys at the bottom ("Rewind," "Play/Pause," and "Fast Forward"), the five keys at the right ("Power," "Sleep," "Eject," "Information," and "Title"), and the "Tone" and "Volume" controls at the top. One question that immediately arose is why
"Tone" and "Volume," but not "Speed," controls have been selected as the most essential to have available to a user with more limited technical ability. That small
caveat aside, this may be a useful feature in some situations, such as for teaching
or when the unit is used by children or those with limited tactile sensitivity. What Can It Play? The PTN2 can play a wonderful array of file types and formats: DAISY, .TXT,
.DOC, HTML, and a variety of audio formats, including WAV, MP3, and OGG. If a file
contains both DAISY text and audio, the PTN2 will only recognize one or the other. I loaded the unit with content of every type (a CD, an SD card, and a USB thumb drive all at once) and found the results both impressive and puzzling. While the unit was able to navigate among all three sources, representing a wide array of format types, some content was inaccessible. On the USB drive, for example, there was a folder of audio files and a folder of text files played perfectly. A third folder,
however, containing both audio and text files of the same content, revealed only the
text. If I hadn't known the audio files were there, I would not have been able to
discover them. You can work around this problem by removing the text files from the folder or by placing the audio files in a separate folder, but the initial roadblock is bewildering. Other PLEXTALK products share this particular quirk of requiring all content to be placed in its own folder, and in this instance, even if the content is the same but is represented in more than one format, each must have a folder of its own. Quirks aside, it warrants mentioning that included in the smorgasbord of content loaded for the above experiment were books drawn from three of the most popular sources for readers who are blind or visually impaired (Bookshare, NLS BARD, and Audible.com), and the PLEXTALK PTN2 played all of them beautifully. A Few Special Features The PLEXTALK PTN2 does a few things that competing products do not, and it does them very well. First, as mentioned above, the PLEXTALK plays audiobooks and other materials downloadable from Audible.com . Secondly, although it has no other recording capabilities, the PLEXTALK can backup an audio CD, including commercially available CDs, to an SD card. The process is a simple one but does take some time. To back up a CD with approximately 50
minutes of recording, for example, the process took about 25 minutes. The procedure
is completely simple (press the "9" key to begin and "8" to confirm), and the PLEXTALK chiming sounds continue throughout the process to let you know something is actually
happening. When finished, the unit announces that the backup is complete. When CDs are
copied in this manner, they are placed on the SD card in a folder entitled "PLEXTALK Backup," which is created by the unit itself. On a more random note, the PTN2 does have time and date announcement features, a sleep timer, and an automatic shut-off after 15 minutes when operating on battery. While none of these are likely to be deal breakers for many customers, they
are convenient features that warrant mentioning. Conclusions The PTN2 is a compact unit with fabulous sound quality that will meet most listening needs of customers who are blind or low vision. It plays content from CD, SD, and USB sources and can play a wide variety of formats from the most popularly used content sources. In addition to music and audio books, it offers clear text-to-speech capabilities and is, thus, able to play plain text, Word, and HTML documents. It does not have wireless or recording functionality other than the ability
to back up a CD to an SD card. Product Information Product: PLEXTALK PTN2 Price: $375 Available from: available from a variety of dealers, including IRTI, Active
Forever, Maxi-Aids, and others.
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
_______________________________________________ Plextalk mailing list Plextalk@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/plextalk
participants (4)
-
Aidan Maher -
André van Deventer -
emma goodwin -
Russ Kiehne