Moving to the music

For lots of people, it’s really quite simple. You go along to your favourite high street or online store and pick up the must-have gadget of the moment. This year that’s likely to be the iPhone from Apple but, as we reported last month, if you’re less than gimlet-eyed or nimble-fingered it’s not worth getting it out of the box.

The first choice many disabled gadget geeks face is whether to go for a mainstream product or something which has been specially designed. Mainstream is likely to mean cheaper while specially made kit is generally easier to use and suited to our needs. It’s also worth saying here that, although a lot of specially-made stuff is directly targeted at the visually-impaired market, it’s my belief that other disabled people would find it worth checking out.

The simplest, most usable MP3 player I’ve come across is the Zen Stone 1GB from Creative. It doesn’t have a screen but it hardly needs one. When you plug it into your computer, it is recognised automatically as an extra drive and you can cut and paste music or audio books into it very easily. It’s also amazing value for money with an RRP of about £28, but if you shop around on the web you’ll certainly find it a lot cheaper – I’ve seen it for £17.

Screenless seems to be the order of the day on the bespoke side of the market. That’s because the equipment is designed and laid out to be operated by touch. A good example of this is the Book Courier from Springer Design, sold here by Computer Room Services for £225. Laid out like a phone keypad, each key is differently shaped to make it easily identifiable. In terms of what it offers, this is quite a box of tricks. You can listen to music MP3 files – although the stereo image is reversed for some reason – and you can also play audiobooks as MP3s or as downloads from www.audible.com, where it’s recognised as a registered player. What makes it particularly attractive to visually-impaired users is its text-to-speech capability. This means that you can import electronic text from computer files and have it read to you in one of half a dozen synthesised voices. Once you get used to it, this is less whacky than it sounds.

The latest arrival on the portable media player block is the Victor Reader Stream from multinational access-tech supplier Humanware. What people like about the Stream, which has all the versatility of the Book Courier, is its size, look and build. The Courier’s rubberised keypad does become less reliable over time, but the Stream’s is more robust. It will play a range of audio formats including MP3 and the one used for specially-produced talking books (such as those from the RNIB). It also does text-to-speech – opening-up access for any print-disabled people. Once again, for me it has huge potential to go beyond the community for which it was originally intended and designed.

• Creative Zen Stone,£28, but widely available for less. Book Courier, £225 (www.comproom.co.uk)Victor Reader Stream, £190 (www.humanware.com)