iPods for the blind

[Thank The Cheese]

Good morning everyone

My poor grandma is going blind, and within 2 years will be completely without sight. The other day, I had a great idea: buy her an iPod, and load it with audiobooks.

The only problem with this is that to use the iPod, and select tracks/books, you realy need to be able to see.

All Apple would need to do is include a screen reader with the iPod that announced what item is selected. It's a reletively simply feature to add, and would open up the doors to so many people. (EDIT: ok, it's not that simple a thing to implement, because they'd have to write a text-to-speech app for the iPod, but even so, Apple is usually very good with catering for disabled people)

My question is: is there any way you can make iPods more accessible? and if not, is there another MP3 player out there that is accessible for the blind?

[Shookster]

Yes, a TTS thingy would be needed. The interface is perfect for blind users though. I can easily navigate it in my pocket without looking at it.

[Thank The Cheese]

Originally Posted by Shookster

Yes, a TTS thingy would be needed. The interface is perfect for blind users though. I can easily navigate it in my pocket without looking at it.

Yeah but that's only after learning it visually first. Like touch-typing. Plus, even if she could easily navigate to, say, the Audiobooks menu, how can she know which chapter from which book is selected.

hmmm :/

Also, she has never used a computer in her life, so it would have to be real easy!

[fryke]

You could use an iPod shuffle. And someone - maybe you - could put some audiobooks on it for her. You don't have to put twenty on it at a time, you know, and the interface is simple. No screen-dependency, either.

[JetwingX]

Thats exactly what i was thinking fryke. No GUI means no problems for the blind

[iball]

Sounds like a job for the iPod Linux crowd...

[Thank The Cheese]

Yes, that's true Fryke. She lives a long way away, and I only see her maybe twice a year, so I was thinking I would need a 30/60GB iPod to load it to the brim to see her through until my next visit. But still - good idea (not sure about the size tho. A bought a novel just recently that was 700MB)

[senne]

Set the iPod (hard disk ipod) in shuffle-mode and tell her to only press the play-button...