Some of the best access which can be found for visually impaired people is obtained by using an iRiver portable media player with the Rockbox software installed. This powerful combination means that you have a player which is well constructed with well defined tactile controls, a large drive storage capacity, the ability to transfer audio files quickly and easily using Windows-based skills you probably know, and an interface which allows you to completely control your player using speech prompts.
The iRiver H320 and H340 physically look the same, however the figures 20 and 40 refer to the amount of storage available on the drive: 20 or 40 GB.
If you are not confident enough with computer technology to install the various Rockbox components onto an iRiver supported player, you can easily use the iRiver H320 or H340 without it. the hardware is quite usable.The player is rectangular in shape. Looking at the front panel, on the left are two keys vertically arranged, with play at the top and stop at the bottom. These also power the unit on and off. To the right is a square button which can move in four directions, up and down to increase or decrease the volume, left and right to move through tracks. The left and right actions also allow you to move through audio tracks. to skip forward or back within a track or to move through folders. Each folder for example could contain an album.
The right set of keys are for repeat and other menu options.
On the upper and lower sides of the unit are the various connectors for the supplied charger, microphone, line in/out and two USB ports. The USB2 connector (on the bottom righthand side) is for connecting to a computer for file transfer. The port to its immediate left is the "Media Port" for transferring protected music content to the player, such as that provided through the Napster To Go service. However this does not appear to be supported in the UK.
While you may need some sighted assistance to initially get used to the menu items, the menu structure can be learned and I think iRiver particularly should be congratulated for their hardware design in the sense that the controls and connectors are very tactile, as against some players where a touch sensor pad is used which is difficult if you have no vision.
Transferring files to one of the iRiver players is easy. When connected to the computer, it appears as a drive within Windows Explorer and files can be easily copied to it. Folders can in addition be created in this way.
The problem is that these excellent quality units are now quite difficult to obtain. Assuming you can purchase one, you would expect to pay approximately £200 for a 20 GB unit and £250 for the 40 GB device.
Being mainstream players, of course the iRiver H320 and H340 are not capable of playing DAISY content. It is also not possible to play Audible or protected music content on them.
Rockbox is a voluntary and extremely worthwhile project which provides a spoken alternative interface for navigating portable media devices. Once Rockbox is installed onto a player, it can speak all menu items of its interface, it can spell folder and individual track names, and it can be customised to speak folder or track titles either through synthetic speech or even using pre-recorded human speech. The latest builds of Rockbox, due to the player orientated specific speech files, allow additional player functions to be spoken,such as when the player is powering down and so on. Never before have we been able to independently navigate to a folder or track and adjust settings with complete confidence on a mainstream device!
It should be borne in mind that Rockbox is a completely self-contained interface for working with portable media devices. It does not use the firmware as provided as part of the individual player on which it resides. So in the context of the iRiver H320, H340 or H100 (older supported players), you can still use Windows Explorer to transfer music onto the device. The disadvantage is that Rockbox will only play certain file types. These however are the most popular including MP3, which seems to have been universally adopted as a popular file format in which to encode material, especially music. However, books from Audible are unable to be played, together with protected music content. A person can easily switch back to the conventional iRiver firmware at any time in the unlikely event this is required, although oral feedback will of course not be heard when navigating the iRiver when this is done.
Rockbox for the iRiver Port is freely downloadable but it is currently in beta form.
If the detailed instructions for installing Rockbox onto the iRiver players are followed, and provided you are comfortable with installing software generally, there is absolutely no reason why a visually impaired person could not install Rockbox independently. One Blind iPod List Member, Steve Nutt, has even devised a method of updating the iRiver firmware without sighted assistance, which is a necessary component of the installation of Rockbox.
This is what he says:
- Copy your firmware to the root of your Iriver's hard disk.
- Disconnect the Iriver.
- Turn it on, and then hold down the selector, the middle of what I call the joystick for about a second. This gets you into Iriver's own menu system. The menu option you want is General, which happens to be the first option. So press the middle of the joystick again briefly to get you into General.
- Once in General, arrow down three times, to upgrade firmware, and select it by pressing briefly in the middle of the joystick.
- You will now be asked visually if you are sure you want to upgrade the firmware, no is the default, so press left once for yes, then press the middle of the joystick briefly. You are now updating your firmware.
- Do not, I repeat, not, press any buttons on your Iriver at this point. Wait for it to power down, and you are done.
Download voice files for Rockbox in order to make your iPod player speak.
Learn how to allow Rockbox automatically to speak folder and filenames
CopyRight Kerri-Ann and Brian Hartgen - 2008