Book Port™ and Book Port TransferUser's Manual
Copyright 2002-2006
American Printing House for the Blind, Inc.
Book Port™ and Book Port Transfer2006.04.19
Book Port is a portable device that reads electronic books, takes notes, and plays audio files. Blind students and professionals find that its combination of synthetic speech and digital audio capabilities makes Book Port the perfect tool for nearly any reading need. Measuring only 2.75 by 4.75 by 1 inches, its small size, large storage capacity, and battery operation and low power consumption make it the perfect hand-held device to take reading with you wherever you go.
Book Port features its own high quality text-to-speech synthesizer (for reading electronic text and Web pages,) and it plays digital audio files such as MP3, audible.com, and Digital Talking Books.
Book Port contains state-of-the-art hardware such as a universal serial bus connector (USB) to make the connection between the device and your PC as simple as possible and a Compactflash® card slot for removable mass storage. It contains a built-in microphone and supporting hardware to let you record and playback your own memos on the device. Book Port features its own date and time clock, multiple alarms, and a sleep timer that automatically turns off the unit after a predetermined amount of time in case you fall asleep while reading. Combine these features with its note taking capabilities, and you find it a tool you never want to be without.
The software that comes with Book Port makes it easy to send a variety of file types including documents and Web sites from your computer to Book Port without leaving the application in use, and it provides capabilities especially geared toward blind students and professionals. Such enhanced capabilities include multiple levels of phrase detection for spoken word content digital audio files and reverse translation for electronic contracted braille files . Digital Talking Books such as those from "Bookshare.org and Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic get sent to Book Port as if the device were especially designed for them. Sending Web pages to the device for portable reading is as easy as right clicking the Web page, and then choosing Send to Book Port from the context menu that appears. You may also send files directly from Windows Explorer by highlighting the file or files, picking Send To, then selecting Book Port from the Send To menu. And, best of all, if the unit doesn't happen to be connected when you need to send a page or file, the software queues up the material and sends it the next time you connect Book Port to your computer.
The software used to send files from your PC to Book Port shows a preview of the content of the files you highlight, so it is easy to decide what to send by more than just the name of the file. In addition, if the file contains digital audio, the software lets you hear the contents of that file, and the preview window shows statistics about that file. If the file is contracted braille, the preview window shows the reverse translated version of the first portion of that file.
When you plug Book Port into one of your computer's USB ports, the software automatically starts, and it remembers the last folder from which you sent files, leaving you in position to immediately begin picking more files to send.
Book Port contains a telephone-like keypad with six additional keys for controlling speed and volume and for controlling the built-in digital audio recording capabilities. The numbers on the keypad perform navigation functions both within a book and for moving from book to book. When you move to another book or article, Book Port automatically marks your place in the file you left, so when you return to that book, the unit resumes reading where you left off.
When you read electronic text, Book Port lets you move through the text by letter, word, sentence (or line), paragraph, and page. It lets you move through digital audio files by three levels of phrase detection which are categorized by sentence, paragraph, and section. If you send a Daisy Digital Talking Book to the unit, you also enjoy the additional navigation provided by that file type. This often includes pages and chapters in audio books.
Book Port's magazine support makes it easy to move from article to article in magazines you read. This is a great way to browse the excellent magazines available from newsletters that contain specific sections of content.
Book Port connects to your PC with its USB connection. There is no need to identify port numbers, IRQs, or any of the other arcane parameters associated with traditional serial ports. When you connect the unit, the software that comes with Book Port automatically recognizes the device and starts the application to help in the task of finding and sending files.
Book Port comes with a type I Compactflash card. Since this card is a standard off-the-shelf computer product, it is readily available from a variety of retail outlets, and its price continually decreases. Since the medium is removable, there is virtually no limit to the amount of material you may keep on hand. When you purchase additional flash cards, be sure to specify type I. Type II cards are a different size, and they will not fit into the slot on your device.
Book Port is powered with two AA batteries that are user replaceable. It runs for well over 60 hours with electronic text on a set of batteries. Digital audio demands a little more from the power supply, but the unit's power consumption is remarkably conservative even on the most demanding content.
Book Port directly accepts files of the following types:
| Type | Description |
| TXT | Text |
| HTM | Web Pages* |
| HTML | Web Pages* |
| BRF | Contracted Formatted Braille |
| BRL | Contracted Unformatted Braille |
| aa | Audible.com Type 4 |
| MP3 | Compressed Audio |
| WAV | Uncompressed Audio |
| NCC.HTML | Daisy 2.x Digital Talking book |
| OPF | Daisy 3.X Digital Talking Book |
| DOC | Microsoft Word 97 or later** |
| RTF | Rich Text Format** |
*Note that Web pages are sent directly from within Internet Explorer™.
**Note that in order to send Microsoft Word™ files, you must have Word 97 or later installed.
If you wish to send files to Book Port of types other than those listed, such as a document in your word processor's native format, use the word processor's Save As command to save the document as a text file, then send that file to Book Port. Most word processing programs support a Save As feature that lets you save the document as a text file.
Book Port requires the following minimal system:
This document contains the entire documentation to Book Port and the Book Port Transfer software. It is current and accurate as of the date of this writing, but there may be new or additional information at www.aph.org/tech or on the What's New menu option in the Book Port group of the Programs menu on the Start menu.
While evry attempt is made to keep the electronic documentation on both your PC and Book Port itself up-to-date, it is impossible to keep the audio version so current. You may prefer to use an audio version of the manual, however, and while it is not as recent as the electronic version, it should provide enough information to give you the basics. That audio version of the manual is located at www.aph.org/tech/bp_doc.mp3.
This manual is designed to get you started quickly. It begins with a quick start section that gets you reading with Book Port immediately. Next, the manual takes you through the numerous functions supported by Book Port and provides detailed information about how and when to use those functions. After that, the manual covers the details of the software that you use to send files from your computer to Book Port, and it explains file management and tips for effective use of both the hardware and the software. Finally, the manual takes you through a tour of places and techniques for obtaining material to send to your Book Port.
The table of contents is arranged to double as a quick reference and to show the hot keys that perform specific functions in Book Port and the Book Port Transfer software.
This document uses the "+" to indicate a series of keys that should be pressed together. The notation Alt+F, for example, means to hold down the Alt key, then while that key is still down, press the F key. Once the F is down, release both keys. You should not type the +; it is merely used to show that two or more keys should be pressed together. Similarly, there are multi key commands on Book Port, and those commands are represented in the same way. The command, for example, to obtain the unit's battery status is accessed by pressing the D and F keys together. That command is represented, in this manual, as D+F.
Press the Help key to access Book Port's documentation at any time. When you press Help, the device notes the file and position of the file you are reading, then it opens the help file and begins reading it. The help file is a normal Book Port file that contains the documentation for the device and its software. There is nothing special about the help file except that the device contains a shortcut key to open and close this file. All the other reading commands are identical to the commands available for any file you read.
When you finish reading help, press the Help key again, and the device returns you to the file you were working with when you opened the help file.
You may use the keys 3+6 to move forward by major sections and C+F to move by subsections. You may also use 1+4 to back up by section and A+D to back up by subsections. These section and subsection commands make it easy to find topics of interest in the help file.
In addition to this documentation for information about Book Port's operation, you may wish to subscribe to the Book Port email list. This list lets you speak to other users and directly to the developers of the product and provides you an opportunity to make suggestions and observations that can help the product improve.
To join the Book Port email list, send an email message to bookport-request@freelists.org and put the word subscribe in the subject line of the message.
In addition to the Book Port general discussion list, APH also maintains an announce only list. This list does not accept posts from users. It is designed to help you keep up with developments on Book Port without having to deal with the traffic on the general discussion list. To join the Book Port Announce list, send an email to bpannounce-request@freelists.org and put the word subscribe in the subject line of the message.
Note that in order to install this software in a network environment, you must have administrative privileges. Note, too, that once the administrator installs the software, he must plug the device in at least once while logged into the administrative account so the device drivers may install properly.
To install the program that transfers files from your PC to the Book Port, insert the Book Port CD into your computer's CD-ROM drive. Within a few seconds, the disc should start spinning and the Setup program should start. If your CD-ROM drive does not automatically start the Setup program, press Ctrl+Esc (or press the Windows key), then press the letter "R" to open the Run dialog. At the Run dialog, type d:\setup and press Enter. You may need to replace the "d:" with the actual letter of your CD-ROM drive. If you don't know the letter of your CD-ROM drive, open the My Computer icon on your desktop, open the CD-ROM drive that contains your program CD, then open the program Setup.
Once Setup starts, follow the instructions displayed on screen. When the software is installed, you will not need the CD to use the program.
To start the software, find its icon on the desktop, or go to the Start menu and open the Programs folder. Use the arrow keys to find the program's name and press Enter. You may also connect Book Port to your computer to start the software automatically.
Seller warrants to the Buyer that the products it sells will be free from defects in material and workmanship for a period of ONE (1) YEAR from the date of original retail purchase by the original consumer purchaser.
If the original consumer purchaser discovers a defect in the product, Seller will, at its option, repair or replace the product at no charge to either original consumer purchaser or Buyer, provided the product is returned during the warranty period, transportation charges prepaid, to Seller. Proof of date of original consumer purchase must be provided with each product returned for warranty service. A complete description of the problem must be included when returning product for warranty service.
THIS WARRANTY IS IN LIEU OF ALL OTHER WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. APH DISCLAIMS ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. APH's RESPONSIBILITY TO REPAIR OR REPLACE A DEFECTIVE PRODUCT IS THE SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY PROVIDED TO THE CUSTOMER FOR BREACH OF THIS WARRANTY.
The box that Book Port comes in contains the following items:
Check the contents of your shipping carton, and contact APH customer service promptly if any of these items is missing.
Position Book Port on a table or other flat surface with the keys facing up toward the ceiling and the headphone jack and USB connector away from your body. For future reference, this is called its operating position, although most of the time, its true operating position will be in your pocket.
The headphone jack is the left most jack on the panel away from you. Use the headphone jack to insert the supplied ear buds or to insert the plug for externally powered speakers. Note that Book Port contains no internal speaker, so, in order to use the unit, you must connect earphones or speakers.
While Book Port comes supplied with ear buds that provide maximum portability, you may prefer headphones that provide a richer audio experience. APH sells an excellent set of earphones (catalog number 1-07088-00) that you may wish to consider.
Members of the Book Port list have found the following headphone brands and models to be particularly good. APH does not sell any of these, so you will have to consult your favorite online dealer or visit your music shop to obtain any of these.
Along with the earphone jack, the panel away from your body (when Book Port is in its operating position) contains the USB connector. The USB connector is the right most jack. Use the supplied cable to connect Book Port with your computer through this jack and your computer's USB connection when you are ready to send files from the computer to Book Port. Once you install the Book Port Transfer software, each time you connect the device to your computer, the Book Port Transfer software automatically appears to aid in the task of sending material from your PC to Book Port.
It is important to disconnect Book Port from the USB connection when you finish transferring files to the unit. Leaving the unit connected causes unnecessary battery consumption. The Book Port Transfer software helps remind you to disconnect the unit when not in use by sounding a tone every few seconds while there is no activity from the software.
The right side of the unit contains a slot that holds the CompactFlash card. Notice that the unit comes with the card already inserted. If you change the card, insert the new flash card so the small lip is oriented down. Use this lip to grasp the card for removal.
Do not remove the CompactFlash card when Book Port is connected to the USB port on your computer or when Book Port is talking or playing a digital audio file. Doing this can damage the files on your CompactFlash card.
You should use the CompactFlash card only with Book Port and not share it with other devices such as cameras or other MP3 players.
While Book Port comes supplied with one compactflash card, you may wish to purchase additional cards. You might use separate cards for different types of reading material, or, if you plan to use Book Port for reading Digital Talking Books, you may appreciate cards with larger storage capacities. Additional compactflash cards are available at most computer retail stores.
The back of the unit contains a belt clip and the battery compartment.
Before using Book Port for the first time, you must install two AA batteries (supplied with the unit). To install the batteries, follow these steps:
When you successfully install the batteries, Book Port responds, "Book Port Ready."
Battery level indication is based on the use of alkaline AA batteries. If you use other types of batteries such as NiCads or Lithium Ion, the battery level indication may not be accurate. The indicator, however, should report consistently, so that once you notice a low level battery condition, the indicator should report a similar number on the next set of batteries of that type.
If there is not sufficient battery capacity left to perform an operation, such as downloading files or updating operating firmware, Book Port notifies you that the batteries need replacing before the operation can be completed. If this occurs, replace the batteries with a new set and try the operation again.
It is recommended that you use alkaline AA batteries to power your Book Port.
While Book Port is one of the most economical means of reading in terms of power consumption, it is difficult to state the exact number of hours of reading you may expect from a pair of batteries. The actual time you may obtain from a pair of batteries depends on a number of factors including the kind of reading material (etext or digital audio), the volume at which you read, and the type of batteries in use. At a minimum, you may expect about 60 hours of reading etext from a pair of alkaline batteries, but don't be surprised if you see much better performance than this.
Book Port has no On/Off button. Any key on the unit performs its function at any time, and when the unit remains idle for more than 10 seconds, Book Port automatically turns itself off.
Before getting started for the first time, plug the ear buds into the ear phone jack and install the supplied AA batteries. Place the ear buds into your ears.
Book Port comes with its manual already in the unit, ready for use. This is probably the first material you will want to read, and you may begin reading it by pressing the Read key (discussed in the next section.)
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Book Port uses a telephone-like keypad to control what you want to do. In addition to the 12 normal phone keys, the unit contains two additional rows of three keys each. These keys are labeled A, B, and C on the first of the two rows, and D, E, and F on the second row. The Read key, 2, makes Book Port start Reading. Pressing Read (2) again (while the unit is reading) stops Book Port. Use the rest of the keys on the keypad for navigating among files or within a book, setting reading voice parameters, and controlling the reading environment. |
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The Read key performs a different function depending on whether or not Book Port is reading when you press the key. When the unit is not reading, it is idle. After Book Port remains idle for about 10 seconds, it turns itself off to provide longer battery life, but you may bring it back into action with any key on the keypad. There is no difference in the function a particular key performs when the unit is idle and when it has turned itself off. For the purposes of this manual, the off condition is also called the idle condition. Book Port emits two short beeps when it turns itself off, and you should use this signal as a means of determining that it is absolutely safe to remove or change the Compactflash card.
Like the Read key, many keys perform different functions depending on whether the unit is reading or idle. The 7 and 9, for example, move letter by letter through the text while the unit is idle so you may examine and mark text if necessary. There is little use for such a feature while the unit is actually reading, so instead of moving by letter, the 7 and 9 keys move by page during reading.
You may hold down a key for a few seconds to get additional functionality from that key. When you hold down a key for a few seconds, Book Port beeps to let you know you accessed the additional functionality associated with that key. The Read key, for example, acts as the Say Time key when you hold it down for a few seconds. The actual amount of time required to hold down the key is adjustable. See Settings Menu for more details.
The letter keys remain static in their functionality and are used to control the speed and volume and to record memos.
Some of the keys on the unit behave differently depending on the kind of file you read. The Next Letter key, for example, performs a different function when reading an audio file, because there is no concept of a letter in audio files.
Pressing 2 starts reading the current file. Press 2 again while reading to stop reading.
The most common key you use while the unit is stopped is the Read key. When you press Read, Book Port begins reading the current file. Reading begins at the beginning of the file unless you already read part of the file. In the case where you had already read part of the file, Book Port resumes reading where you left off. It continues reading until you reach the end of the file, you stop it with the Read key, or the sleep timer expires.
When Book Port reaches the end of the file, it announces, "End of <file name>" where <file name> is the name of the book you are reading.
If the sleep timer expires, Book Port says, "The sleep timer reached 30 minutes, press Read to continue."
If you have the Automatic File Advancement setting turned on, Book Port begins reading the next file when you reach the end of the current file.
While the unit reads, you may navigate through the file in a variety of ways. The exact navigation you get depends on what kind of file you read. If you are reading a regular electronic file such as a text file, you may navigate a line, sentence, paragraph, or page at a time with the keypad. If, on the other hand, you are reading an audio file, you may navigate by sentence, paragraph, section, or a fixed amount of time. If you read Digital Talking Books, you get even more precise control while navigating through the book's structure. The exact navigation you get depends on how the publisher prepared the file, but, in general, you may move not only by sentence and paragraph, but by page, multiple levels of sub-section, and section.
In addition to navigating through a file with the keypad keys, you may also change to a new file, alter speech settings, obtain status information, or alter other settings about how the Book Port behaves.
While the unit reads, you have these keypad options:
 Back Sentence |
 Stop Reading |
 Next Sentence |
 Back Paragraph |
 |
 Next Paragraph |
 Back Page |
 Status |
 Next Page |
 Back File |
 Settings Keypad |
 Next File |
 Speed Down |
 |
 Speed Up |
 Volume Down |
 Help |
 Volume Up |
Book Port supports both electronic text (etext) and digital audio files. When reading etext, Book Port uses its text-to-speech synthesizer to announce the material. Etext is much more flexible than digital audio, and it takes up much less space. Other advantages of etext are the ability to move through the text a word or letter at a time, to spell words, to change the punctuation pronunciation, to search for specific text, and to change the voice that reads the text. The disadvantage of etext is that you hear a synthesized voice instead of a real human voice, and some people have trouble getting used to synthesized speech. The synthesizer used in Book Port is of high quality, however, and most people quickly become accustomed to its sound and pronunciation.
Digital audio, on the other hand, is merely a recording of sound. Obviously, this provides a better quality listening experience, especially if the narrator possesses a pleasant reading voice. Unfortunately, as with the recording made on ordinary analog equipment, you can listen to only what was originally recorded, and the amount of space required to store the sound file is much larger than that of an etext file that contains the same material. The Book Port software does provide many advantages over analog playback equipment including the ability to detect phrases in the narration.
While it is possible to precisely control the amount of movement in electronic text, moving through audio files is different. The Sentence, Paragraph, and Page keys on Book Port use the amount of silence between phrases to move through audio files, so the exact amount of movement may be somewhat imprecise. In addition, there are files where no pauses exist. Think, for example, of music files. If you attempt to move by sentence through a file containing music, you will most likely move for 60 seconds in the indicated direction.
Press 2 for one beep to get the date and time.
The 1 and 3 keys move back and forward respectively by sentences. They work the same way whether or not the unit is reading when you press the key. If Book Port is stopped when you press one of these keys, it reads the previous or next sentence and moves your reading pointer to the beginning of that sentence, then the unit stops. If Book Port is reading when you press the key, it moves to the new position and resumes reading there.
If you check the Send Text as Line Oriented box in the Options dialog, the 1 and 3 keys move by line instead of by sentence.
The 4 and 6 keys move back and forward by paragraphs while reading. When the unit is idle, these keys move back and forward by words (for electronic text). When reading a digital audio file, the 4 and 6 keys move by paragraph whether or not the unit is idle.
Pressing 5 while idle reads the current word. If the current file is digital audio, this key reads two seconds of the file and stops in idle mode.
Press 5 for one beep to make Book Port spell the current word in files that contain text. This key has no effect in digital audio files.
When idle, Book Port treats the 7 and 9 keys as Previous and Next Letter keys. While reading, the 7 and 9 keys move to the previous and next page in the file.
Normally, when you have the punctuation pronunciation set to skip punctuation characters, you don't hear those characters. The exception is when moving by letter with the letter movement commands. When you move letter by letter, Book Port always announces the character, regardless of the punctuation setting.
As you move from letter to letter, Book Port notifies you that a letter is capitalized by raising the pitch of the pronunciation of that letter.
If you reach the beginning or end of the file while using the letter movement keys, Book Port beeps, then repeats the current letter.
In addition to the structural movement commands available for use with spoken word content audio files, Book Port lets you move by time.
When using an audio file, you may move back and forward by time with the Back and Next Time commands. Normally, these commands move by two second intervals, but you may set the movement time with the Audio Seek Time menu item.
The section keys let you move from section to section in a file. Digital Talking Books often use sections to indicate important changes in content. In text files, you decide what makes a section with the Sections tab in the Options dialog in the Book Port Transfer software.
The subsection commands move by subsection. Subsections are applicable only in Digital Talking Books that have been properly marked with subsections.
Normally, Digital Talking Books contain up to six section types. Book Port supports only five section movement commands.
Level 1 headings are handeled with the section commands.
You may use the keys 4+7 and 6+9 to move by level 2 headings.
Level 3 headings are handled with 7+* and 9+#. #+A and #+C move by level 4 headings. Level 5 and six headings are handled with the commands A+D and C+F.
Pressing 8 while reading makes Book Port announce the percentage read. Holding 8 down for one beep provides additional statistics.
The additional statistics include the size, current position (as a percentage), the last modified date of the file, and the amount of space remaining on the flash card.
When idle, pressing 8 announces the current letter. One beep provides a phonetic pronunciation of the current letter.
Press 1 (for one beep) to move back to the beginning of the file.
Press 3 (for one beep) to move to the end of the file.
The Previous File (*) and Next File (#) keys move to the previous and next file in the unit. Use these commands to point to any file on the device, then use the Read key to begin reading that file.
The position in the new file depends on where you were in that file when you moved from it. If you have not read any of the new file yet, Book Port starts reading at the beginning of the file. If you had previously read a portion of the file, Book Port moves you to the last read position in that file.
If the unit is reading when you use the Previous File or Next File commands, Book Port continues reading in the new file.
If the file you move to is a folder, Book Port says, "Folder" after announcing the folder's name.
Press the * or # key for one beep to move to the first file or the last file in the current folder. If you press the Last File command, then use the Next File command, you move to the first folder (if you have any folders on your card.) If you do not have a folder, Book Port says, "Last File" and repeats the name of the current file.
If you use the Next File command and you have folders in your list of files, you move to the first folder in your list of folders. Once you point to a folder, the First File and Last File commands move to the first and last folder in the list of folders.
If you move to a folder, you may open the folder by pressing 2 or by pressing 0 and # together. When you open a folder, Book Port remembers which file in that folder you last used, and it moves you to that file where you may resume reading.
Note that if you are not pointing to a folder when you press the Open Folder command, Book Port beeps and takes no action.
To close a folder, press *+0. When you close the folder, you back out one level of folders, and you will point to that folder, so you can either move to another file or folder or re-open that same folder with the Open Folder command.
Pressing 0 opens Book Port's Settings menu.
When you press 0 to enter the Settings keypad, the meaning of the keys changes. Once in the Settings keypad mode, use the keys 2 and 8 as Up Arrow and Down Arrow to move from item to item in the menu, and use 4 and 6 as Left Arrow and Right Arrow to adjust the setting for the item.
The A and C slow down and speed up the speech rate. Press A repeatidly to continue solwing down the rate, or press C repeatidly to increase the rate of the synthesized speech. These functions do not currently work with digital audio files.
Hold down A for one beep to slow down the speech rate to is slowest setting. Hold down C for one beep to speed up the synthesizer to its fastest rate.
Press D to lower the volume. Press F to raise the volume.
Press D for one beep to lower the volume to its lowest setting. Press F for one beep to raise the volume by five units.
Book Port's Swap File command lets you switch between the current file and the last file you read.
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When you stop Book Port, the unit gives you several flexible ways to navigate, mark text, and find text. When Book Port is idle, it lets you examine and manipulate the text more precisely than when it is reading. The 7 and 9 keys, for example, move from character to character instead of from page to page as they do while the unit is reading. Similarly, the 4, 5, and 6 keys move to the previous word, announce the current word, and move to the next word in the file when the unit is idle. |
As you read, you will find times where you would like to mark a spot in the text so that you may later easily return to that point. This is precisely what marks let you accomplish.
Book Port supports virtually unlimited numbers of book marks in each file.
To set a mark, press the Set Mark key sequence. When you set a mark, Book Port announces, "Mark Set" to confirm your request.
To clear a mark, move to the mark, and press the Set Mark key sequence. When you do, Book Port clears that mark and responds, "Mark Cleared."
To move from mark to mark, use the Back Mark and Next Mark key sequences. These commands work whether or not the unit is reading when you use the command. If the unit is reading when you use the command, Book Port moves to the mark and resumes reading at the new position. If the unit is idle, it moves to the new mark and reads the current sentence.
If there is no mark in the specified direction, Book Port beeps and takes no action.
In addition to using marks to move to interesting points in a file, you may use Book Port to find specific passages of text. There are two ways to define the text to find; with the braille method and by marking an occurance of that tex.
To enter text to find, either press 7+8+9 or use your Book Port's braille keyboard to enter an F-chord. Once you press the Find command, Book Port says Enter Text to Find and lets you use the braille keyboard to enter the text.
*Note that due to hardware limitations, when you enter F-Chord, you must use the left space key.
If you make a typing error, use the Backspace key to erase the character left of the cursor, or use the Delete key to erase the character at the cursor.
When you finish typing the text to find, there are three things you may do:
Pressing any of these keys puts the text you typed into the find buffer.
Once you have the text in the find buffer, use the Find Previous and Next commands to locate the text.
In addition to using the braille method for entering text, you may mark an existing passage of text. Follow these steps:
Once you define text to find, use the Find Previous and Find Next key sequences to move the reading pointer in the indicated direction to the next occurrence of that text. These commands work the same in both Reading and Idle mode, except that when using the command in Reading mode, the unit continues reading at the new position. In Idle mode, the unit moves the reading position to the next occurrence of the text then reads the current sentence.
If there is no further occurrence of the text to find, Book Port beeps and takes no further action.
Note that there is an 80 character limit to the amount of text that may be specified as the text to find. If you press the Define Find key sequence, and there is no Find Text Start in the previous 80 characters, Book Port treats the Define Find command as the beginning of the find string. If there is a Find string defined within the previous 80 characters, the Define Find key sequence identifies the end of the text to find.
You may clear the beginning or end of the find string by moving to it, then pressing the Define Find key sequence again.
Book Port's power move commands provide a quick means of moving through large sections of a file. Here is how it works:
When you press one of the power search commands, Book Port moves half way from the current position to the other boundary of the power search. If this is the first time you use this command, that boundary will be the beginning or end of the file. When you use the command, Book Port moves and responds with the new percentage of the file position.
If you use the command again without pressing any other keys, the position in the file where you were when you used the command gets treated as the new boundary in that direction. So, if you were at the beginning of the file and you pressed the Next Power command, Book Port moves your reading position from the beginning of the file to half way to the other boundary of the file which, in this case, is the end of the file. This puts you in the middle of the file and Book Port responds, "50%." Now, if you press the Back Power command, the unit moves you from the 50% point to half way to the other boundary which is, in this case, the beginning of the file, and Book Port reports, "25%." If you then used the Next Power command again, Book Port would move you half way between the 25% point and the 50% point.
This command works in both idle and reading modes. If you were in reading mode when you use the command, Book Port moves to the new position and continues reading from that point.
You may press B and E together to delete the current file or folder. When you press B and E, Book Port responds, "Press again to delete this file or any other key to cancel." To delete the file, press the B and E again, and Book Port responds, "File Deleted." After deleting the current file, Book Port makes the previous file the current file.
When the current file is a folder, Book Port deletes the folder and all its contents. Due to the amount of time it may take to complete the request to delete an entire folder, Book Port announces, "Deleting." then confirms when the action is complete.
If the current file is locked, Book Port will not delete the file until you unlock it. If there are files in the current folder that are locked, Book Port tries to delete all the files in the folder and all sub folders except those files that are locked.
If you accidentally press the Delete command, you may press any other key to cancel the action.
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The Settings keypad lets you adjust several aspects of Book Port's behavior. When you press 0 to access the Settings keypad, several things occur. First, if the unit was reading, this command stops reading mode and places the unit in idle mode. In addition to placing the unit in idle mode, pressing the 0 key redefines the keyboard layout to make it more efficient for changing menu options. The 2 and 8 keys become an Up Arrow and Down Arrow respectively, and the 4 and 6 keys become Left Arrow and Right Arrow. The 5 becomes Select and is used to open the Date and Time sub menu. Book Port remembers the last place in the settings menu that you visited, so when you open the settings menu, Book Port puts you where you last adjusted parameters. This makes it easy to fine tune some of the operating settings with minimum key strokes. If, for instance, you adjust pitch more than other settings, and you had last used the Settings menu to adjust the pitch, when you press 0 to access the Settings menu, you may immediately use the Left and Right keys (4 and 6) to decrease or increase the pitch of the synthesized speech. |
|
| Name | Default | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Volume | 44 | Raise and lower the volume |
| Frequency | 5 | Raise and lower the frequency |
| Pitch | 60 | Raise and Lower pitch |
| Speed | 4 | Raise and lower synthesizer speed |
| Voice | Precise Pete | Select reading voice |
| Enable Alarms | Yes | Enables or disables all alarms |
| Audio Seek Time | 2 Seconds | Selects amount of time for audio move commands |
| Spanish | No | Specifies the file is Spanish |
| Minutes Spoken | 0(Select to reset) | Shows how many minutes Book Port has spoken since last reset |
| Sleep Timer | 30 minutes | Adjusts amount of time before unit self stops |
| Lock Beep | Yes | Adjusts the preference for having the keys beep when the unit is locked |
| Automatic File Advancement | No | Moves to the next file when at end of current file |
| Date and Time | Current Time | sub menu that letss you set the date and time |
| Page Number | Current Page | Shows and sets the page number |
| Punctuation | Some with Numbers | How much punctuation gets spoken (on a per file basis) |
| Lock File | no | Locks current file |
| Sensitivity | 15 MS | Specifies how long to hold down a key before the 1 beep function occurs |
When you use the Up Arrow and Down Arrows to reach a sub-menu, such as the date and time menu, use the Select key (5) to open that menu. Once the menu is open, it behaves exactly the same as its parent menu. To close the sub-menu and return to the main menu, press the 5 key again.
The volume setting adjusts Book Port's volume. This setting affects both the synthesized speech and the audio files you read.
The speed setting adjusts the rate of speech of the synthesized voice. The range is from 0 to 9.
The pitch setting lets you raise and lower the pitch of the synthesized voice.
The Frequency option adjusts the synthesizer's frequency setting.
The voice setting lets you change the personality of the synthesized speech. Changing the personality is accomplished by changing several characteristics of the voice including the . These groups of settings have been given names to help make it more convenient for you to recognize your favorite personality.
The punctuation setting lets you alter the kind and amount of punctuation you hear when reading with the synthesized speech. The choices are None, Some, Most, All, None with Numbers, Some with Numbers, Most with Numbers, and All with Numbers. The four selections that include the words "with numbers" let the synthesizer announce numbers as you would normally say them. If you select one of the choices without numbers, the synthesizer pronounces numbers as individual digits.
By default, Book Port's alarms are enabled and ready to use. If you expect to attend a movie or some other event where you do not wish to be interrupted by an alarm, you may turn off all the alarms at once by setting this option to No.
The sensitivity setting lets you adjust the amount of time required to hold down a key before the one beep function for that key is accessed.
The minutes spoken option in the settings menu is more for informational purposes than it is a setting. It lets you know how many minutes the unit has spoken since the last reset. This can be useful when gauging battery life.
The sleep timer setting controls how long Book Port reads before it turns itself off. This feature helps in those cases where you may fall asleep while reading. The sleep timer prevents the unit from continuing to read throughout the night and makes it easier to find your place when you do fall asleep. If you find the sleep timer expiring too frequently, increase its setting. Set the sleep timer to 0 to turn it off.
The sleep timer resets itself with any key you press on the unit, so if you know you are running out of time, you may press a key (such as the Say Time command) to make the timer start again from the beginning.
The date and time settings let you adjust the unit's internal clock. Use the 2 and 8 keys as Up Arrow and Down Arrow to move to each section of the date and time. Use the 4 and 6 keys as Left Arrow and Right Arrow to adjust the setting. Press the select key, 5, to set the date and time with the selected values.
The menu's Page Number option serves two purposes. First, it informs you of the current page number. Second, it lets you move to another page in the current book. To move to another page, press the 5 key to select the Page Number menu option, then use the numbers on the keypad to type in the number of the desired page. Finally, press the # key to complete your request or press the * key to cancel. When you press #, Book Port will either move to the desired page or it will beep if you entered a page number that is not valid for the current book. Note that the Page Number function accepts only Arabic numbers, so if you want to turn to a page at the beginning of a book that occurs before page 1, you will have to go to page 1 then use the Back Page key to move exactly to the desired page.
Be aware that not all books you send to Book Port contain page number information. In the case of a file that does not contain any page information, Book Port uses an approximation to represent pages.
The Page Number feature is a particularly useful command, and you may wish to take advantage of the fact that Book Port remembers the menu option you last used, so you may simply press the 0 key to access the menu and have the page number immediately accessible.
The file lock setting helps you prevent accidental file erasure. When a file is locked, you cannot delete that file.
If you send a Spanish file to Book Port, you may use this setting to let the device know to apply Spanish rules of pronunciation to the file.
The Audio Seek Time menu option lets you adjust the amount of time that the Back and Next by Time commands move through audio files. The possible values are (in seconds) 2, 10, 30, and 60.
The Echo Keys option lets you decide if you want to hear your keys while you type in the note taker or when you type a search term with the Find command. When set to "yes," this option echoes each keystroke, so you hear feedback about what you type. When set to "no," the unit says nothing while you type.
By default, Book Port's keys beep when you press one of them while the unit is locked. This is a useful indication to remind you why the unit seems to do nothing when you press a key and nothing happens. Unfortunately, the keys can get accidentally pressed while in a purse or bag, and you hear beeps each time that happens.
If you prefer to turn off the feature that makes the keys beep when you press one of them while the unit is locked, change the Beep Lock menu item to No.
The automatic file advancement function lets Book Port begin reading the next file when it reaches the end of the current file.
Once you set the options as you prefer, use 0 to close the Settings menu and return to the Reading keypad.
In addition to reading digital audio books and electronic text, Book Port lets you record audio memos and, of course, play those audio memos just as if you were playing any other audio file. Book Port keeps your audio memos in a special folder called Memos.
You may move to the Memos folder through the normal navigation commands, or you may use a special shortcut key to get directly to the audio memos. That shortcut key is the B key for one beep. Press the B key for one beep again to return to the previous place. When you press B for 1 beep, Book Port responds, "Memos" and moves you to the last file you had played in the Memos folder, just as it would do with any other folder on the unit. When you press B for 1 beep from the Memos folder, Book Port moves you back to the file you were using before you entered the Memos folder and announces the name of that file. This gives you an effective means of moving to and from the Memos folder without losing your place in any other file you were reading.
In addition to using the Move to Audio Memos key, you may also use the Record key to record a memo and move directly to the Memo folder.
Pressing E for one beep starts recording. You may record for as long as the amount of storage on your flash card permits. If you are not already in audio mode when you press the Record key, Book Port puts you in audio mode, then starts recording. Book Port emits one short beep when you start recording to alert you that the recording process has begun.
When you press the Record key to create a new memo, Book Port always creates a new file in which to store the new recording. The unit automatically gives the new file a name that consists of the current date and time.
Once you start recording, you may press E to pause the recording. When you pause, Book Port beeps twice to let you know the unit paused and is ready to resume recording. Press E again to resume recording. When you finish recording, press B to stop.
Note that in addition to using B to stop a recording, there are also alternative methods of stopping. Moving to another file, for example, stops recording and moves to the new file.
When you finish recording a memo, press B to stop recording. You may also press B for 1 beep to stop recording and return to the previous mode.
When you record an audio memo, Book Port saves your recording as a standard PCM file, so you may use other software tools on your computer to edit or manipulate these recordings. As you move from memo to memo on Book Port, the unit announces the date and time the note was created as its file name.
Book Port uses a sample rate of 11,025 hz and records its memos in mono format. This means you get about 95 seconds per MB of storage space. So, with each 64 MB of storage, you get a little over 100 minutes of memo recording time.
Pressing 1 and 3 together locks Book Port so that none of the other keys has any effect. This may prove useful when transporting the unit to prevent accidental battery usage. You may also wish to lock the unit while it is playing to let you move about without accidentally hitting a key. Once the unit is locked, pressing any key makes the unit beep to inform you that it is locked, but the normal function of the key is not used.
Press 1 and 3 together again to unlock the unit.
If you prefer the unit to be silent when locked, use the Lock Beep setting to turn the beeping feature off.
As with any computer running software applications, Book Port may, on very rare occasions, hang up or behave erratically. The Reset command makes the Book Port software start over with known default values and should recover from any situation where the unit seems to act oddly. Pressing 2 and B together makes Book Port reset itself.
If pressing the Reset key sequence does not bring the unit back to a normal operating state, it may be necessary to remove one of the batteries. Once you replace the battery, the unit should restart itself and announce, "Book Port Ready."
Firmware is the software that runs on Book Port. Like software, the firmware gets a version number to help track the exact version of the code running on your unit.
In addition to announcing Book Port's firmware revision, the command announces the unit's serial number. Note that you may also obtain this serial number in the About dialog of the Book Port Transfer software if you access that dialog while the unit is connected to your computer.
Pressing the battery level key sequence makes Book Port announce the status of the batteries. The unit announces the status as a percentage of a fully charged set of batteries. When you place a new set of batteries in the unit, the status message should report near 100%.
Press this command to preserve your settings before changing batteries.
While using Book Port, you may occasionally find you wish to move a file from one folder to another. You may have accidentally placed the file into an incorrect folder, or you may realize after reading the book, that you would like to keep the book around for reference purposes.
Use the Cut File command to mark a file that you wish to move. When you press the Cut File command, Book Port responds, "Move" and takes note of the location of that file in preparation for the next steps you will take to complete the moving process.
If you attempt to cut a file that is locked, the unit reports, "File Locked" and does not put the file's name and location information into its location memory.
Once you have used the Cut File command to mark a file for movement, use the navigation keys to open the folder where you wish to place the file you marked. Once you move to the desired folder, use the Paste File command to move the file from its origital location to the new location. When you press the Paste File command, Book Port moves the file and responds, "File Moved."
Note that you cannot move files from the Notes folder.
The Format Card command lets you format the compactflash card in Book Port. Formatting erases all data on the card, and the device makes you confirm your intent by pressing the key sequence again. When you press the Format command, Book Port responds, "Press again to format the memory card," and the device waits for you to confirm your action by pressing the key sequence again.
When the format command finishes formatting the card, Book Port resets and responds "No Files," because all the files have been erased with the Format command.
In addition to its use as a reader and notetaker, Book Port serves as an alarm and appointment tracker. You may set up multiple alarms, and you may record memos that get played when the alarm time arrives.
When you have set an alarm and the alarm time arrives, Book Port beeps its speaker to alert you about the appointment. It emits three short beeps at intervals for up to five minutes or until you acknowledge the alarm. If you are reading when the alarm triggers, Book Port stops the reading and waits for you to acknowledge the alarm. If you associated the alarm with a file on the unit, Book Port switches to that file. If the unit is connected to your PC when an alarm triggers, that alarm will begin beeping when you disconnect from the PC.
To acknowledge the alarm and make the unit stop beeping, you may press the Play key. When you press Play, the unit announces the time and date of the last alarm that triggered. To continue reading, press Play again. If the alarm is associated with a file, that file becomes the new current file. You may use the Swap File command to switch back to the original file that you were reading before the alarm triggered.
You may set an alarm that instructs Book Port to start beeping when the alarm's time and date matches the current time and date.
To set an alarm, follow these steps:
The Alarm menu is similar to the menu that appears when you select Set Date and Time from the Settings keypad, except the alarm menu contains two additional commands: Recurring and Sound.
When setting the date and time for an alarm, remember that you move from item to item with the 2 and 8 keys, and you choose one of the values for that item with the 4 and 6 keys. Use 5 to finalize your selection and set the alarm. Use 1 to cancel your selection.
Once you set the date and time for an alarm, you may also decide to make the alarm recur. The recurring settings are Once, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly.
The sound option lets you control how Book Port alerts you when an alarm time arrives. The choices are External Speaker, Internal Speaker, External Speaker with File, and Internal Speaker with File.
The External Speaker option beeps the external speaker, so you may hear the alarm even if you are not using your earbuds.
The Internal Speaker option beeps the internal speaker, so you must have speakers or ear buds to tell when an alarm triggers.
When either the Internal or External Speaker options is selected and an alarm triggers, the unit beeps until you press the Play key to acknowledge the alarm.
When you use one of the options that associates an alarm with a file, Book Port plays that file when you acknowledge the alarm. If the file that is associated with an alarm is no longer available, such as the case when you switch cards, the unit states, "File Not Found," but the alarm still beeps.
You may review your alarms by moving from alarm to alarm with the Back Alarm and Next Alarm command keys.
These commands move through your alarms as if they were arranged by date and time. This means that pressing the Next Alarm command moves you to the file associated with the alarm that will trigger next. If you are on an alarm file, the Next Alarm command moves you to the alarm that follows the current one chronologically.
Each alarm is expressed with its recurring status, its time and date, and the name of any file associated with the alarm.
To edit an existing alarm, use the Back Alarm and Next Alarm commands to get to the desired alarm. Next, press the Set Alarm key.
To disable an alarm, use the Next Alarm and Back Alarm commands to point to the alarm of interest, then use the Disable Alarm command. Once the alarm is disabled, it no longer triggers at its appointed time. You may, however, enable the alarm again by using the Disable/Enable Alarm command when pointing to the alarm in question.
In addition to disabling an alarm, you may completely remove the alarm with the Delete Alarm command.
The second way to delete an alarm is to delete the file associated with an alarm.
It is very important to realize that in order for an alarm to trigger at the desired time, you must have your Book Port's Date and Time settings set to appropriate values that represent the current date and time. See the Settings Keypad for more information on setting the date and time.
There are times when you will wish to disable all the alarms without going through each one individually. You may do so by accessing the Enable Alarms setting in the main menu. By default, Enable Alarms is set to Yes.
You may set as many alarms as you wish.
Alarms are not tied to the flash card in use when you set the alarm. The file you associate with an alarm, however, is tied to the flash card on which that file exists. If you switch cards and an alarm with associated file from the original card triggers, Book Port still announces the alarm, but it cannot play the associated file if it cannot find that file. In this case, Book Port announces, "File Not Found."
If Book Port's keyboard is locked when an alarm triggers, you may acknowledge the alarm without unlocking the keyboard.
Once you finish reading the Book Port manual, you will want to put some files of your own into the unit. The software that came with Book Port is designed to make this a simple and flexible job.
Once you install the software that came with your Book Port, you may use the Book Port Transfer tool to send files from your PC to Book Port.
When you plug the USB cable into Book Port, Book Port Transfer appears automatically. You use this software to manage the transfer of files to your device.
When you start Book Port Transfer, you see a list of files that are candidates for transfer to Book Port. Use the arrow keys to highlight the file or files to send to the unit, then press Enter or use the Send button.
You may use the standard Windows commands to select more than one file at a time to send to Book Port.
In addition to using the list to find files to send, you may use the list to move from folder to folder. If you highlight a folder, you may open that folder by pressing Enter. You may move to the parent of the current folder by pressing BackSpace.
Book Port Transfer remembers the last folder you used from which to select files to send to Book Port, so you may begin selecting additional files from that folder when you first start the program or you may move to any folder of your choice.
As you move from file to file in the file list, the name of the highlighted file appears in the File Name window. If you selected multiple files to send, all those names appear in the File Name window.
The file or files that appear in the File Name window are the ones that get sent to the unit when you press the Send button.
You may use the File Name window to type the name of another drive or folder from which to select files. To select a different drive or folder, type the name of that drive or folder, then press Enter. Once you change the name of the folder that the software is pointing to, go back to the file list to select the files from that folder.
The Files of Type combo box lets you limit what shows up in the PC file list. This may make it easier to find certain kinds of files by limiting what shows up in the list to files of the specified type. If, for instance, you were looking for a specific MP3 file, you would set the Files of Type to "audio."
Press the Send button to send the file or files you select in the PC File List to the Book Port. Book Port displays a progress dialog and optionally emits progress sounds to help you determine the status of the file send process.
Note that it is not necessary to use the Send button to send files. You may, instead, just press Enter to send the highlighted files from the file list.
The Send Audio button lets you convert any text into audio before sending it to the Book Port. Normally, it is not a great idea to convert text to audio, because you loose all the advantages of text--the speed, flexibility, and the ability to search and spell, but if you absolutely hate the sound of the speech synthesizer built into Book Port, and you have a good one on your PC, you may wish to consider this option.
To control the specific voice and rate of the synthesized speech produced by your PC, use the Synthesized Speech button in the Options dialog.
The Favorites control keeps track of folders that you visit. It makes it easy to return to folders you recently visited. Just arrow down to the folder you want to use, then press Enter or go back to the files list with Alt+L.
If you have a subscription to audible.com, Book Port Transfer always places your audible.com library folder at the top of the Favorites list when you start the program.
In addition to the file list and the File name edit box, notice the preview window. This window shows you the first part of the contents of the highlighted file. You may move to this window and use the arrow keys to scroll the contents to see more of the file.
If the highlighted file is an audio file, the Preview window plays that file. While the file is playing, you may use the keys F3 and Shift+F3 to speed up and slow down the playback of the file. For more information, see the Audio Options section of this manual.
To stop the preview, press Esc.
In addition to F3 to speed up the audio, you may use the key F7 to repeat the audio preview.
Note: if previewing files from audible.com, you must activate your Audible Desktop Player before the preview works.
Book Port Transfer shows you a list of the files currently on your Book Port. You may use this list to navigate the Book Port file system, examine file properties, create new folders on Book Port, and to delete files from the unit.
The Book Port Folder edit window provides two functions: It identifies the name of Book Port's current folder, and it lets you type the name of another folder that you wish to open on Book Port.
The Book Port Files list shows you all the files and folders on Book Port.
In addition to the files on Book Port, the transfer tool shows you the folders on the unit. As you highlight a folder, press Enter to open that folder. Press Backspace to close the current folder and return to its parent.
The current folder is the place new books get added to Book Port, so, if you want to place your technical manuals in a folder called "technical," you should navigate to that folder before sending the new material.
To create a new folder on Book Port, connect your Book Port to the computer with the supplied USB cable. Next, move to the Book Port file/folder list (Alt+F) and press the Applications key on your computer keyboard. (This key is usually located to the right of the Space Bar, just left of the right CTRL key and is equivalent to clicking the right mouse button.)
Once you press the Applications key, Book Port Transfer shows you a context menu with several options. Move down to the New Folder item and press Enter to select it, then type in the name of the new folder you wish to create.
Once you move to the Book Port file list, you may remove a file located on the Book Port by pressing the Del key. Remember that you may also delete files from the unit on its keyboard. See Delete File. If you attempt to delete a locked file or a folder that contains locked files, the transfer utility warns you about the fact you are trying to delete locked files and deletes them if you indicate that it is all right.
The context menu provides a Properties item. This option lets you lock files, examine the name of the file as it appears on Book Port, determine the file's date and time, and determine the size of the file. Additionally, if the file appears in Book Port's Notes folder, you may also mark the file for synchronization.
Once you display the properties window, Book Port Transfer lets you lock or unlock a file. You lock files to prevent them from accidental deletion.
If the file appears in Book Port's Notes folder, you may optionally mark the file to be synchronized with a file on your PC. If you check the Synchronize checkbox and you have never retrieved the file, the software prompts you where to store the file on your PC. The Note Synchronization section of this manual explains the options available for synchronization.
If you are looking at the Notes folder with the transfer software, you may point to a file on Book Port and access additional functions via the context menu.
These two menu items let you quickly either mark a file to be synchronized or to change a synchronized file to no longer be synchronized.
The Retrieve context menu item lets you retrieve files in the Notes folder of your Book Port and store them back onto your PC.
Book Port Transfer features a status line that conveys several pieces of useful information.
When Book Port is connected and Book Port Transfer is running, you may use the status line to determine the amount of used and free space available on your flashcard.
The Queued button lets you send queued files that may still be in the queue. Files can still be in the queue if you cancel the Send Queued Files dialog that appears at program startup when there are files in the queue or if some files failed to get sent because of a card full condition. You may decide not to send these queued files for a number of reasons, and this button lets you send them at any time if they exist.
One reason for waiting to send queued files is the case where you may wish to change the folder where you want to send the files. To do this, just change to the desired folder, then press the Queued button.
The Queued button is disabled if there are no queued files.
For more information on the Send Queued Files dialog, see Sending Files Offline.
The Options dialog provides several functions that let you customize the software's behavior. These functions are divided into three categories labeled at the top of the dialog with General, Sections, and Advanced tabs.
Normally, Book Port Transfer treats your files as if they contain literary content. The software identifies sentences, paragraphs, and pages wherever possible. There are, however, many files that work more efficiently when line oriented. Think, for example, of poems, lists, or programming listings. When you check this box, the software filters the file so the Previous and Next Sentence keys on the Book Port actually move by lines rather than the more literary unit of sentences.
Not all audio files are created equally. If you use audio files that contain spoken word content, you will want to take advantage of Book Port's ability to detect phrases in the spoken word content and its ability to let you navigate to those phrase boundaries. If, on the other hand, you send music files to the device, you won't want to waste time searching for phrases that will never be found. In addition, checking the Send Audio Files as Music button lets Book Port filter the file so the sentence keys move 2 seconds in the indicated direction, the paragraph keys move 10 seconds, the page keys move 30 seconds, and the section keys move one minute. This provides excellent navigation for files that contain music.
The unfortunate side effect of detecting phrases is time. It takes considerably longer for the software to examine the file to determine the kinds of pauses that determine characteristics about spoken word content between phrases. What this means is that if you are sending music to the device, you'll want to check the Send Audio Files as Music checkbox. That way, the software won't waste time trying to look for pauses in the narration of spoken audio content where there is none.
In general, if you usually send spoken word audio content to the device, you'll want to leave the Send Audio Files as Music checkbox unchecked. If, however, you send a file with music content, and you have this option unchecked, you'll recognize this fact by the audio feedback Book Port Transfer Provides. If you hear the program making noises like it is attempting to recognize pauses where you know it will never find them, press the Cancel button, go to the Options dialog, and check the Send Audio Files as Music button. Then, send the file again, and you'll see that the Book Port Transfer software skips the process of trying to detect phrases in the audio file.
If the Send Audio Files as Music option is not checked, the Options dialog offers some advanced functionality that lets you alter the speed of the audio file's playback. These functions are accessed with the Audio Options button.
Experienced audio listeners will quickly desire a means of speeding up the playback of spoken word audio content. Since there is not a way to perform this speedup with commands on the Book Port device, the transfer software offers a method of using your PC to perform the speedup then sends that reduced file to the device. There are two settings you can use to both reduce the size of an audio file and make the listening experience less time-consuming.
The audio compression settings work with all audio files.
The pause compression features of the transfer software provide a convenient means of reducing the amount of space between sentences, sections, and other divisions in the audio. If the Compress Pauses checkbox is checked, the software eliminates a percentage of any pause it finds that is longer than a minimum pause length that you specify.
The Compress By edit box lets you type a percentage value the software uses to reduce pause lengths. If you entered 50 in this box, the software reduces the length of each pause it finds by 50 percent.
The Ignore Pauses Less Than control lets you enter a value in milliseconds the software uses as a minimum pause length. If any pause the program finds is less than this length, the software ignores that pause.
Once you have set advanced audio options, you may wish to preview the file before sending it to the device. The Preview window plays the file with the new time compression settings. Unfortunately, the preview window does not currently offer a means of testing the pause compression setting.
Normally, Book Port uses the first line of the file's contents as its way of letting you know what file is current. These names get announced, for example, as you move from file to file with the * and # keys. This information is usually much more descriptive than the actual file's name, especially when using files from Web Braille or Bookshare.org. The drawback of using the first line of the file's contents as the title is that you may end up with several files with the same title. This is seen when you download books from Web Braille that comprise multiple volumes. Each of the files in the book usually contains the same title, but this is usually not a problem.
The File Name is Title button lets you use the file's actual name as the title that gets announced when you navigate by file on Book Port. Be aware that many files have especially cryptic names, so you may wish to use this option sparingly.
The "Prompt When Deleting From the Book Port" box is checked by default and gives you an extra measure of protection from accidental file erasure. Recall that you may delete a file from the Book Port with the Book Port Transfer software by highlighting the file and pressing the Delete key. If this box is checked, the software confirms your action by asking if you are sure you wish to delete the file. Removing the check from this box lets the software delete the file immediately when you press the Delete key.
The Use Sounds button lets you decide whether or not you want audio feedback when you send files to Book Port. Normally, Book Port Transfer provides audio feedback in the form of tones that indicate the progress of the file filtering and transfer process. If you send multiple files, this audio feedback also includes a "file complete" sound for each file that gets transmitted, a sound to alert you if the Book Port is not connected, a sound when the Book Port gets connected, and an "all files complete" sound to signal the final step of the transfer. Many users appreciate this additional audio feedback, but if you prefer silence during the transfer process, you may uncheck the Use Sounds box in the Options dialog.
The Note Synchronization options define how Book Port Transfer treats the relationship between the notes on your Book Port and those on your PC. For more information about notes on Book Port, see the Book Port as a Note Taker section of this manual.
You may set any note you send to or retrieve from the device as synchronized, check synchronized files at device connection, or tell the software to check for updated files on command. If there are files to update, Book Port Transfer displays a dialog that shows which files are about to get updated and lets you turn off any of them that you do not wish to transfer.
Files get flagged for updating if you have set the file to be synchronized and one of three conditions is true:
When the Send/Receive Notes as Synchronized checkbox is checked, any note you send to or retrieve from Book Port gets treated as a synchronized file. This means that Book Port Transfer compares the file in your notes folder with the one on your PC and offers to update the older of the two files with a copy of the newer one. If you do not wish to treat every file you send to or from the notes folder as a synchronized file, you may set the state of an individual file by opening the properties dialog for that file.
If the Synchronize Notes when Connecting checkbox is checked, Book Port Transfer offers to update any files when you connect the device to your PC. If you prefer to manually perform this check, see the Synchronize Now button discussed below.
Pressing the Synchronize Now button makes the software compare the synchronized notes with the files on your PC and offers to update the older of the two with the newer one.
This button opens the Adjust Speech dialog where you may select among the voices available on your system and the rate of that voice.
The Sections dialog gives you some flexibility about how Book Port navigates through files that may contain defined sections of text. Such files include magazines or newspapers that contain specific characters that divide the articles.
When you set up section markers, Book Port Transfer goes through your list of section markers from top to bottom, and when it finds a match in a file, it assigns the keys on the Book Port to move to that section in the file. Use this feature to arrange your list of section markers to make the most specific rules toward the top of the list, so the more general rules can be used for a variety of files.
If the Use Section Markers box is checked, Book Port Transfer looks through each file you send and tries to identify sections. If you think this may interfere with how you wish to navigate through a file, or if you prefer not to navigate by sections, leave this box unchecked.
The Markers List shows you all the section markers you have identified and set in the order that you want them applied to the files you send to Book Port.
Once you highlight a section marker, you may edit it in the Type or Paste Marker edit box. You may also use this edit window to type new markers once you add them with the Insert New button.
To add a new section marker, press the Insert New button and type or paste the text that makes up the mark that separates articles. Be careful not to use something too common, or your section keys will move to places you do not intend.
Some files may contain more than one section marker. Book Port Transfer uses the first marker in the section marker list that matches the text in the file you are sending to mark the file. You may, however, change the order of the list with the Move Up and Move Down buttons.
The Remove button lets you remove a section marker. Use this button when you no longer need a section marker, or if you accidentally create a section marker that exhibits unexpected results.
The Advanced section of the Options dialog contains the controls and information for more advanced purposes.
Normally, Book Port Transfer shows you the first part of a file so you may determine easily if it is, indeed, the file you wish to send to the device. If the file contains text, the preview window contains that text. If the file contains audio material, the software plays the file and the preview window contains information about the audio file. This is usually very helpful information, but there is one drawback. If the files you are looking for are housed on a slow device, the auto preview can take more time than you may feel it is worth. This check box lets you turn off the auto preview function.
Normally, when you attempt to send files to Book Port and the device is not connected to your computer, the software shows you a dialog informing you that the files you attempted to send will be queued up for sending the next time Book Port is connected to your computer. If you prefer to let the software just queue the files without prompting you, you may uncheck this option. If this option is not checked, Book Port Transfer still informs you that the files are queued by sounding the device not connected tone
Normally, Book Port Transfer checks for updates for both firmware and software when you connect Book Port to your computer. The program also checks for updates to just the software when you start the software from your desktop without Book Port connected. This is a great way to keep current about new versions, but it takes a second or two to perform this check. If you prefer not to check for updates at startup, uncheck this checkbox.
Normally, when you start the Book Port Transfer software and there is a Digital Talking Book in one of your CD drives, the software prepares to send that book to the device. The software checks each of your CD drives for the presence of a Digital Talking Book, so this procedure may add a small amount of time to the startup process while the software examines your drives. If you prefer to avoid this potential delay, uncheck this button
By default, Book Port Transfer sends files to the root (top level) folder when you first connect the device to your computer. You may, of course, change the folder to which files get sent every time you connect the device, but it is often more convenient to specify a folder that gets used as the default, so you do not have to change to the same folder every time you prepare to send files to Book Port.
Recall, it is a bad idea to send all of your files to the root folder, because there are limits on the number of files that can be stored in the root folder. It is also a bad idea to store too many files in any folder, but at least the folders can take them. Instead of a transfer that fails from having too many files in the root folder, you will notice gradually degrading performance when you attempt to store an excessive number of files in a sub folder.
The Default Book Port Folder control lets you specify an alternate folder that the software treats as the default place to store files.
Normally, the Book Port Transfer software uses the default Windows temp folder as a scratchpad. If you have another disc that has more room than the default disc, you may use this control to type a path that the software uses instead.
The Options dialog provides buttons to check for software and firmware updates. When you use these buttons, Book Port Transfer checks for the availability of an update and either informs ou if you are already using the most current versions or lets you know that there is an update available. If there is an available update, the Update Available dialog provides a Details button which you may use to read about the new features in the update before you install it.
By default, the software checks for updates each time you connect the device to your computer, but you may have turned this feature off. If this is the case, use these buttons to check for updates on demand.
Press the Update Software button to check for updates to the software. If updates are available, the program lets you know, then it asks if you would like to install those updates. If you select "yes," the program downloads then installs the updates. Note that you must be connected to the Internet for this option to work.
Pressing the Update Firmware button makes Book Port Transfer check the firmware for updates. If firmware updates are available, Book Port Transfer lets you know and asks if you would like to download and install these updates. You must be connected to the Internet for this option to work, and Book Port must be connected to your computer, so the software can see the unit's version number.
Updating the firmware on your device is serious business, so it is recommended that you perform this action only after taking some precautions. First, insure that your battery level reports at least 50% capacity. Next, never attempt a firmware update while using rechargeable batteries.
If you use Windows ME or Windows 2000, use the scandisk or chkdsk utility to insure that your Book Port's flash card is free from errors. Under Windows XP, you should use the Error Checking option under the properties for the disc.
Once you download a firmware update, Book Port automatically applies the update as soon as you disconnect the unit from the USB connection. It is a good idea to connect your ear buds and put them in your ears before you disconnect the unit from the USB port, so you may hear the messages that get announced as Book Port updates its firmware.
Before you can send files from audible.com to your Book Port, you must activate Book Port as one of your audible.com devices. You do not need, however, to specifically use the Activate button. If you select an audible.com file and your Book Port has not been activated, the software automatically enters the activation dialog.
Activation means that you have permission to use the protected content available with a subscription to audible.com.
There are no limits on how many times you activate Book Port, and you may have up to eight individual users for each Book Port.
To activate Book Port, make sure you have established an internet connection and you have your Book Port connected to the computer through its USB port. When you press the Activate button, the software contacts the audible.com site and asks you to supply your audible.com user ID and password.
Audible.com allows each individual to have three devices activated at the same time. If you have a need for more than three devices, you will have to deactivate one of them in order to use another. If you wish to deactivate Book Port, use the deactivate button. As with activation, you must be connected to the internet and the Book Port must be connected to your PC. You must also supply your audible.com account ID and password.
Audible.com is one of the most respected providers of digital audio material in the world, and it contains one of the best libraries of audio programs you will ever find. When you subscribe to this service, you download a program, Audible Manager, that lets you download content from the audible.com Web Site that you have purchased. Once the content is on your machine, you may use the Book Port Transfer tool to send that downloaded content to your Book Port for portable listening.
Book Port is an audible.com ready device. Before you use Book Port to read audible.com content, you must subscribe to audible.com, and you must activate Book Port. If you select an audible.com file and your device is not activated, the software prompts you to activate it. When your Book Port is activated, Book Port Transfer includes the books that you have purchased in your Audible Manager library in the Favorites control.
If you do not already subscribe to audible.com, you may wish to consider a special offer brought to you by APH and Audible. See www.audible.com/aph for details about this special offer.
You obtain audible.com content through the audible.com Web site and the Audible Manager program that you get when you subscribe to this service. The audible.com Web Site lets you browse or search for titles to purchase. When you find something you wish to buy, you add it to your shopping basket. Once you have added all the desired programs to your shopping basket, use the Checkout button to complete your purchase.
Once your purchase is complete, the programs you purchased get added to your Audible Library.
The Audible Library is where you work with the programs you have purchased. When you purchase a program, it gets instantly added to your library in the New Individual Programs section. Once the title is in your library, you can listen to it or download it as many times as you like--it is your library, and your selections will always be there.
The Get It Now button in the library lets you select how you will listen to your audio. You may either listen to the program via the Internet or download the title to your hard disk. If you wish to send the program to Book Port, you will want to download the title to your hard disk.
Audible programs are available in a variety of formats. Most portible players support one or more of these formats. Book Port uses type 4 files only. Type 4 files are the highest quality and are the largest to download.
Once you go to your library, select the Get It Now button, and specify the type 4 format, you are ready to select your delivery method. There are two delivery methods: listen and download.
When you choose to listen, the audio content is streamed over the Internet, and you must be connected to the Internet while listening.
When you download a title, the Audible Manager places the program on your hard disk, so you may listen to it at any time, even when not connected to the Internet, or you may send that title to your portable device such as Book Port.
Once you activate Book Port as an audible device and download some content from audible.com, use Book Port Transfer's Favorites list to locate your audible.com files and send any type 4 file to your unit.
When you select an Audible.com book, Book Port Transfer displays the Select Audio Book Range dialog to let you pick how much of the book to send.
When you send an audible.com file to your Book Port, that file is tied to your Book Port. You may not remove the flashcard and use it to read an audible.com book on someone else's Book Port. If you try to listen to audible.com content on a Book Port other than the one you activated, Book Port says, "This file is not encrypted for your Book Port" and the content does not play.
Book Port reads Digital Talking Books as outlined in the specifications drafted and adopted by the Daisy Consortium and the National Information Standards Organization. The books in these file formats are commonly called Daisy 2.X and Daisy 3.X books or Digital Talking Books.
While Digital Talking Books can be anything from full text to full audio with any combination of the two between, most books turn out to be either full audio or full text. The Digital Talking Books available from Bookshare.org are usually full text, and those from Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic are usually full audio. Book Port supports both.
Recall from the discussion of etext and digital audio differences that the size of digital audio books is quite large. It is for this reason that Book Port Transfer looks at the amount of space available on your Book Port before sending a full audio book to the unit. When you select an audio Digital Talking Book, Book Port Transfer displays a dialog requesting information about how much of the book you wish to send to the unit.
The Select Audio Book Range dialog lets you decide how much content of an audio book gets sent to your Book Port. If your flash card has enough space, you may send the entire file. If the card does not contain enough space, you may use this dialog to decide which portion of the book to send.
The Select Audio Book Range dialog contains two boxes. The items in these boxes depend on the content you are sending. If you are sending a Digital Talking Book, the selection items are sections of the book that have been marked up. If, for example, the book were marked up with chapters, sections, and pages, each item in the lists would be a chapter, a section, or a page. If you are sending a book from audible.com, each item is a 5 minute interval of the book.
The first list lets you pick where to start. Normally, the beginning of the book is highlighted in this box. If, however, the book already exists on your Book Port, the highlighted item points to the current reading position in that file.
The second box lets you select how much of the file you wish to send. If you have room on your flash card, the End of Book item will be highlighted. Otherwise, the maximum amount of material will be selected. The software prevents you from selecting more material than will actually fit on your card.
As you move the starting position, the range highlight automatically adjusts to maximize the amount of audio to send.
Normally, when this dialog appears, you may simply press the Enter key to get the correct starting point and the maximum amount of material.
In addition to opening the Book Port Transfer utility, you may use several other convenient methods of getting files onto your Book Port.
You may send the current web page directly from Internet Explorer to Book Port. To send the page, right click the page or press the Applications key and select Send to Book Port.
If your Book Port is not connected, the software places any web pages you attempt to send into a queue where the Book Port Transfer utility looks the next time you start it. If your Book Port is connected, the transfer utility will send those files waiting in the queue.
You may also send files directly from Windows Explorer to your Book Port. When you installed the Book Port Transfer software, the setup process added a new item to your Send To menu called Book Port. Simply highlight the file or files to send, then right click or press the Applications key and pick Book Port from the menu.
One of the best features about Book Port is the ability to take your reading with you wherever you go. Unfortunately, current news, especially local news, is a problem, because it takes too much time to individually send Web pages of your local paper or favorite magazine. Spyder changes all that. With Spyder, you get a Web page, then tell the program where you want to start and where you want to end, and the program grabs each link on the page, downloads the target of that link, puts a section marker at the beginning of each page, then sends the whole file to your Book Port at once. Of course, if your Book Port is not connected, the Book Port Transfer software queues up the files, so you may instruct Windows Scheduler to run Spyder before you arise in the morning, then connect the unit to grab the queued files before you leave for work.
There are several ways to start Spyder. One is to point to a Web page with Internet Explorer then press the Applications key or right click. When the context menu appears, select Book Port Spyder. You may also pick Book Port Spyder from the icon in the Book Port's program group. The final way to start the program is with one of the icons that you create from within the program.
The method you use to start Spyder depends on what you are doing. If you run across a Web page for the first time or decide you want to start getting the content of that page, you would normally open Spyder through Internet Explorer's context menu while you are viewing that page in Internet Explorer. You then move to the Links list for that page on Spyder's main screen. Once in the Links list, set the Begin and End links to reflect the content you want to send to Book Port.
If you want to grab the contents of that Web site now, move back to the item in the list that represents the link where you want to start, then press the Go button.
If the Web site is one that you want to use fairly often, use Spyder's Create Shortcut button to create a desktop icon that opens Spyder and grabs the links you specified. To use that new shortcut, simply point to it on the desktop and press Enter. The shortcut will launch Spyder with command line parameters that let it know to start grabbing the specified range of links from that Web page.
Spyder works in two ways; first, you may right click on any Web page from Internet Explorer then pick "Book Port Spyder" from the context menu to open Spyder with that Web site's information. If you have already selected the begin and end links for that page, Spyder remembers them and is ready for you to press the Go button to start collecting the link targets. You may also start Spyder with a command line parameter of the uniform Resource Indicator (uri) to make the program start grabbing the link targets of that page with no interaction on your part.
You may also start Spyder with the Book Port Spyder icon. When you start Spyder this way, the program shows you a list of all the Web sites Spyder knows about, and you may move to the Web Site list box then select the Web site you are interested in. When you leave the list box, Spyder updates the Links list box with the list of links from that Web site.
The main screen presents a series of controls that let you decide how to treat each Web site.
The Web site list shows the Web sites you used with Spyder. Each item on the list holds information about the Web site including the beginning and end links you specified. When you start Spyder from Internet Explorer, the uri of the current Web page gets added to this list.
To remove an item from the list, highlight that item, then press Delete.
To open the Web site, simply move to another control on the page.
The Name edit box shows the uri of the item in the Web sites list. You may type another name to go to that Web site and add its uri to the Web Sites list.
The Links list shows a list of all the links on the selected Web site. Once you mark the beginning and End points on this list, Spyder remembers them and moves the highlight to the begin point on the list when you open that Web site.
The Go button starts the process of gathering the contents of the links on the Web site. Spyder starts gathering the links' contents beginning with the currently highlighted link and stopping at the link you previously set as the End link.
The Begin button marks the spot where you want to begin gathering the link targets. Note that when you use the Begin and End buttons, it is better to start with the End button, then move to the Begin button, because when you use the Go button, Spyder starts from the currently highlighted link.
The End button marks the highlighted link as the last link to gather. This actually works by counting from the end of the page and marking the number of links from the end. That way, when there are a variable number of links on a commonly visited site, you will always stop at the nth link from the end.
The Open button takes the currently highlighted link and adds it to the Web Sites list.
The Create Shortcut button creates a desktop icon that gathers the links from the specified Web site. Once you define the begin and end points for a Web site, you use this button to create a desktop icon to gather the contents of the links you specified. Once you verify that all works as you desire, you use this shortcut with Windows Scheduler to gather the information from that Web site while you sleep.
The Close button ends the program.
There are still a number of issues to be resolved. This list provides an outline of them:
There are often times when you find books or Web pages you wish to read on Book Port, but your Book Port may not be connected. You may, for instance, be browsing the Web and run across interesting articles that bear further reading. You may send those articles to Book Port even if you don't happen to have your Book Port with you by storing them in the queue.
You send files to the queue exactly the same way you would send files to the device if the device were connected. The next time you start the transfer tool with Book Port connected, the program offers to send all the queued files to the unit.
If you attempt to send files to the unit from Windows Explorer or from Internet Explorer and the unit is not connected, Book Port Transfer notifies you with a tone that the unit is disconnected and the software shows you a dialog stating that the files you just sent will be stored in the queue for sending when you next connect the unit. You may, in fact, turn off the notification dialog, so your only indication that the files went to the queue instead of to the device is the disconnected tone.
If you are using the program without having Book Port connected to your computer and you attempt to send files, the software shows you a dialog reminding you that the unit is disconnected and that the files will be queued for sending when you next connect the unit.
When you connect Book Port to your computer or when you start Book Port Transfer manually and there are files in the queue, the software shows you the Queue Management dialog and presents several choices about what to do with the files in the queue. Your choices are Send Now, Browse, Delete, and Close.
If you select the Send Now button, the software immediately sends the queued files to Book Port and then deletes the files from the queue.
Note that if you start the program manually without having the Book Port attached to your PC, the Send Now button will not be available.
If you pick the Browse button, the software opens the queue folder where you may selectively remove any files from the queue. When you close the queue folder, you return to Book Port Transfer's main screen.
If you select the Delete button, the software removes the files from the queue then opens the main screen where you may perform any of the normal operations.
If you select Close, the software keeps the queued files and shows the main screen where you may perform any of the normal operations. To return to the Queue Management dialog, use the Queued button.
You may employ other software that gathers files that you will later wish to send to Book Port. Such programs may include podcast aggregators that automatically download updated content from a variety of sources. It would be nice if these programs could send the files they download directly to the Book Port queue, so that you would not have to find the files to send then worry about deleting the files from the PC once they have been read.
One easy technique for handling this situation is to configure the other program to put its files directly into the Book Port queue. Book Port's queue is a folder on your hard drive. Under Windows XP and 2000, the location of that folder is c:\Documents and Settings\Your Name\Application Data\APH\Book Port Transfer\Pending . (Replace your actual log on name with the "Your Name" portion of the folder name.) Under Windows ME, the folder is c:\Windows\Application Data\Book Port Transfer\Pending.
Once Book Port Transfer successfully sends the files in the queue folder to the Book Port, the pgogram automatically deletes the files from the pending folder.
The Book Port Transfer software accepts several command line parameters. For the most part, if you are not a programmer, you may ignore these command line parameters. If, however, you like to customize your system, these options provide some powerful capabilities.
The name of the executable program is bp.exe. By default, you find this program in c:\program files\aph\book port transfer\.
The command line options work like this:
bp.exe <options> file1 file2 ... fileX
The simplest command line option is to send the file or files specified on the command line. In this case, the command line would look like this:
bp file.txt
The /del command line switch instructs the software to delete the original file once it gets transferred to the unit. This command line switch applies to all the files on the command line.
The /bpfolder command line parameter lets you send files to a specific folder on Book Port. You specify the name of the folder by separating it from the command line parameter by a space. If, for example, you want to send a file named usnews.txt to a folder named mags, the command line might look like this:
bp.exe usNews.txt /bpfolder mags
If the folder you name does not exist, Book Port Transfer creates the folder on the unit, then it puts the files into that folder.
The /q command line parameter instructs Book Port Transfer to handle any errors silently. Normally, if there were an error, the software shows an error message. You may, however, wish to suppress such error messages.
There is one error that does not get suppressed even with the /q command line switch. That error is a full condition that prevents the file from getting sent to the unit.
The /noprogress command line switch suppresses the progress dialog. You may wish to use this command line switch when using Book Port Transfer to send files to your unit from a batch file.
In addition to its use as a reading device, Book Port serves as a basic note taker. You may create new notes on the device, edit those notes, or you may send text and html files from your PC and edit them on Book Port.
To use the device as a note taker, you should familiarize yourself with the