Hi Robert,<div><br></div><div>Pratik is painting a gloomier picture than is the case. The thing is called Kindle for PC with Accessibility Plugin and you can get it for free here:
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000632481">http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000632481</a> </div><div><br></div><div>If you have a screen reader installed (for example NVDA, which, again, is free) when Kindle fires up, you will be able to use NVDA to navigate the controls of the interface and the home screen (there is some verbal "junk" in the interface in NVDA, not so with JAWS, but it's livable). </div>
<div><br></div><div>For book reading, the Plugin's native TTS takes over. It downloads with a high quality male and female voice, which you can toggle between. You can navigate by sentence on a page or have the whole page read in its entirety. There is no way to select or copy text with a screen reader. That will require sighted use and a mouse. But you can set a note on an entire page and the notes are accessible with a screen reader. (Oddly, the notes cannot be removed via screen reader, though they can be edited). </div>
<div><br></div><div>You can also set and search on bookmarks and text.</div><div><br></div><div>This behavior is NOT limited to books with TTS enabled by the publisher. It will work with any Kindle book and there are more than 900,000 of those now. </div>
<div><br></div><div>It's far from perfect, but it is a marginally decent accommodation.</div><div><br></div><div>Also, if you buy a book in Kindle, it is relatively trivial to break the DRM and convert it to EPUB for playback in other devices. </div>
<div><br></div><div>Best,<br clear="all"><br>ken<br>--<div>Ken Petri</div><div>Program Director, OSU Web Accessibility Center</div><div>102D Pomerene Hall, 1760 Neil Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43210</div><div>Office: 614.292.1760 | Mobile: 614.218.1499 | Fax: 614.292.4190<br>
<a href="http://wac.osu.edu" target="_blank">http://wac.osu.edu</a> | <a href="mailto:petri.1@osu.edu" target="_blank">petri.1@osu.edu</a></div><br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Feb 9, 2012 at 9:39 AM, Robert Beach <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:rbeach@kckcc.edu">rbeach@kckcc.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple"><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">Hmmm, sounds rather gloomy. There is a book I need that is not available at any other resource (that I can find), but is available for the Kindle. Since it is a textbook and not a leasure read, I really would like to have at least paragraph navigation. Also, since I don’t know if TTS is turned on or off in the book, I hate to go that route.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">Thanks for the feed back.<u></u><u></u></span></p><div class="im"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">Robert Lee Beach<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">Assistive Technology Specialist<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">Kansas City Kansas Community College<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">7250 State Avenue<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color:#1f497d">Kansas City, KS 66112<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><a href="tel:913-288-7671" value="+19132887671" target="_blank">913-288-7671</a><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><a href="mailto:rbeach@kckcc.edu" target="_blank">rbeach@kckcc.edu</a><u></u><u></u></span></p></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
</div><div><div style="border:none;border-top:solid #b5c4df 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in"><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif""> <a href="mailto:athen-list-bounces@mailman1.u.washington.edu" target="_blank">athen-list-bounces@mailman1.u.washington.edu</a> [mailto:<a href="mailto:athen-list-bounces@mailman1.u.washington.edu" target="_blank">athen-list-bounces@mailman1.u.washington.edu</a>] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Pratik Patel<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, February 09, 2012 8:31 AM<br><b>To:</b> 'Access Technology Higher Education Network'<br><b>Subject:</b> RE: [Athen] Kindle software<u></u><u></u></span></p></div></div><div><div class="h5">
<p class="MsoNormal">
<u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">Hello Robert,<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">There is a specific piece of software that can be downloaded for some accessible output. It hasn’t been improved.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">There are built-in voices that can be used to read out loud. You can use speed control. You can read page by page. You won’t be able to read by paragraph, line, word, sentence, etc. There is no support for a screen reader to read the book; nor is there support for braille displays. For books that do not have TTS enabled, you will get no speech.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">Hope this helps.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">Regards,<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">Pratik<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><div><div style="border:none;border-top:solid #b5c4df 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in"><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif""> <a href="mailto:athen-list-bounces@mailman1.u.washington.edu" target="_blank">athen-list-bounces@mailman1.u.washington.edu</a> <a href="mailto:[mailto:athen-list-bounces@mailman1.u.washington.edu]" target="_blank">[mailto:athen-list-bounces@mailman1.u.washington.edu]</a> <b>On Behalf Of </b>Robert Beach<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, February 09, 2012 9:30 AM<br><b>To:</b> Access Technology Higher Education Network (<a href="mailto:athen-list@u.washington.edu" target="_blank">athen-list@u.washington.edu</a>)<br><b>Subject:</b> [Athen] Kindle software<u></u><u></u></span></p>
</div></div><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">Hello all,<u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">I know this was discussed some time ago, but I need an update/reminder.<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">I know there is an accessibility patch for the Kindle software for PC that supposedly makes it work with JAWS. I also remember the reviews weren’t very exciting when I first heard it discussed. What kind of luck are folks having with this setup? Have there been any improvements? What draw backs might I expect to find?<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">Thanks.<u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">Robert Lee Beach<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Assistive Technology Specialist<u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">Kansas City Kansas Community College<u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">7250 State Avenue<u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">
Kansas City, KS 66112<u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="tel:913-288-7671" value="+19132887671" target="_blank">913-288-7671</a><u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="mailto:rbeach@kckcc.edu" target="_blank">rbeach@kckcc.edu</a><u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p></div></div></div></div><br>_______________________________________________<br>
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<br></blockquote></div><br></div>