The U.S. Government's unseen digital cassette player replacement device

[@vwestlife]

*For those asking for a teardown:* I wish I could oblige, but the case has two deeply recessed Torx screws, and neither of my two sets of Torx bits are long and thin enough to reach them, so I am unable to take it apart.

[@TechGorilla1987]

What length do you anticipate needing?

[@coolelectronics1759]

I would actually be very interested to see what is under the hood! Half expecting to see several high quality craftsmanship and mil spec construction. Perhaps even prevision for other pilot prototype equipment for the blind!

[@bassblaster505]

Ide be interested in seeing the speaker and amplifier circuit if you were to open it in a future video

[@lucasrem]

Torx bits will never do the job

[@AntonioEligius]

You shouldn't do a teardown; it's government property, justice dictates that you should return it to them.

[@gaetan4164]

"A player few people have gotten a good look at, since it's only given out to blind people" I see what you did there

[@ManolloMancelli]

Some people don't

[@ToTheGAMES]

Hear hear.

[@bxdanny]

I didn't catch that the first time. But I have seen one of these players, since my blind neighbor had one. I didn't realize that the connector on those cartridges was just a USB port though.

[@DabblelyDiddly]

What I find absolutely baffling is how this device ACTUALLY tells a blind person WHERE THEY ARE IN THE FILE STRUCTURE OF THE DRIVE!!!! MACOS AND WINDOWS BOTH FAIL AT THIS! It's infuriating for someone who is trying to help a blind person use a computer. VoiceOver is so well done but yet can't even do that.

[@Radi0he4d1]

Can't it just read out the address bar?

[@Benjamin_S.]

Just press Control + L (Windows) or Command + L (MacOS) to select the address bar.

[@schmudej85]

As a blind person myself who regularly uses both MacOS and Windows, as well as Linux in various forms, your comment makes no sense to me. I work with these platforms literally every day (and I mean that) and have never had any problem knowing where I am in the file structure of any drive or folder, nor have I had a problem teaching others this same skill. I realize that KZbin comments are hardly the best platform for this discussion, however I can assist if you elaborate on exactly what the problems are.

[@acerbt]

I'm a blind user who has used computers for many years now. Screen readers on both windows and mac actually can and do read the location that you are in within the file system. Even voiceover on the iPhone and iPad does in the files app.

[@renosgarage7451]

I love seeing redditors get absolutely btfo like has just happened here

[@KanawhaCountyWX]

Also the player is specifically designed to play Daisy audiobooks, digital accessible information system. The books have special encryption on them and other things I'm not aware of.

[@kanalnamn]

Old Daisy-books were just regular mp3-files and som xml... but my limited knowledge are twenty years old. :)

[@coolelectronics1759]

yep I have a victor reader that can decode that format, I think drm is a big thing about that too as you need to punch in a code to unlock some books to play

[@KanawhaCountyWX]

@@davidew98 I know about the purchasing cartridges and throwing books onto a USB drive in addition to mp3 files. I have no experience with daisy books that are not from the library of Congress

[@SproutyPottedPlant]

RNIB ones aren’t encrypted, I don’t think they are anyway as they just play on my Victor.

[@xaenon]

@@davidew98 The format itself might not be, but the carts issued by LoC might have the encryption to prevent them from being played in non-authorized devices. This would all be to preserve the copyrights, naturally. Of course, the LoC player will happily handle regular USB thumbsticks and non-encrypted carts. I don't know enough about the LoC 'talking book' programs to speak with any authority, though. I wonder if the player has a limit on the bitrates it can play. I have a couple of older MP3 players that flat refuse to work with anything above a 160kb/s bitrate.

[@ejsl98]

I deliver and return the cartridges for these fairly often at USPS. They come in blue hard plastic cases with the title of the media stickered on the side, and pop off latches to open and close them. I was pretty confused the first time I picked up one as outgoing mail since there's no postage on them, only "Free Matter For The Blind" and a return address for the Library of Congress. But USPS actually offers free shipping on this kind of material.

[@wilkes85]

I'm amazed at how good that speaker sounds! Something like that would be convenient for playing music and podcasts around the house or something.

[@cedmusictube]

I spent many years engineering audio books for the LoC, both before and after this digital unit was introduced. Cool to actually see one of this! That was a very rewarding job but I/we got paid so little it was not sustainable.

[@lunakittyyy]

My mother is blind, I actually have one of these around! You can get green roughly cassette tape sized cards, that act like small USB sticks and they plug into the bottom, right above the handle. The cards are like any other USB stick, except really small in capacity as it's designed to hold only one book at a time. They're intentionally designed to not plug into a computer, with a lip coming all the way to the end of the card, meaning if you want to replace the contents, you'd need an extension cable to do so. Of course, you can also plug in a USB stick into the side port (Or even the one made for the cards, if you really wanna reach down there) and it'll function fine.

[@oscodains]

The audio is surprisingly good quality. My only experience with ‘books on cassette’ was in second grade, I remember there was so much noise and it was all bass it seemed so it was really hard to hear.

[@vylbird8014]

That'll be the C120 cassette type: To get a full hour of recording per side, the tape had to be made as thin as it could be without snapping. Audio quality suffered from this, but it was good enough for speech. Also the tape still snapped easily.

[@G.B...]

This thing looks good and sounds good, but the cassette mimic stole the scene. :-)

[@gregoryhess5300]

I used to have one of these when I attended my local blind school. I was given an advanced model in high school around 2010. I loved listening to books and music on it. It actually sounded good and lasted a long time on a charge. I could send back my book cartridge when I finished it and they’d send me a new one. Not sure if these machines are even issued anymore, but I loved it when I had it.

[@coolelectronics1759]

pretty sure they still are! I grew up with the victor reader series and still have my stream. Its too bad the batery swole up on it.

[@gregoryhess5300]

@@coolelectronics1759 ah! That’s nice. I assumed they discontinued it now that they have BARD.

[@atrac88]

I found one of these at a Thrift Store as well. The quality of the internal speaker is outstanding. The Canadian guy doing the voice prompts wore on my ears. At any rate I donated it back in hopes it would find a good home with someone who really needs it.

[@sonijam]

Wow, sounds better than I expected.

[@ct1660]

I actually came across two of these during ewaste collection events. Was going to save one out of sheer curiosity but decided against it.

[@igorszamaszow171]

Well that's sad. I would certainly grab one, it looks so cute.

[@ct1660]

@@davidew98 they were also non-functional (i know how these worked too)

[@Robert-Wilson]

The books that are made by the Library for this machine are encrypted so only it can play them back or if you have the app for your phone and it gets authorized can also play the books. The menu system is very advanced when it comes to playing the books that are encoded for it. The fward and back buttons can actually jump by chapters and other marked points. There is a built in user guide in the internal memory of the player. You can access it by holding down the play button for around 3seconds while there no cartage or usb plugged in.

[@danieldaniels7571]

My girlfriend is legally blind and had one for quite a while. I tried so hard to convert a book on a cartridge for it to mp3 with absolutely no success. The ones we listened to were produced specifically for the talking book library, and were really well done.

[@Robert-Wilson]

@@danieldaniels7571 yes they are. I am visually impaired so I get access to the books. How ever I prefer the app on my iPhone that they made for playing them instead of the bulky player. Only grip I got if I decide to take a break from logging in and downloading books I have to be careful of how long I don’t log in. If you don’t use your log in info to the nlsbard.loc.gov/ system in a 6 month time span your login is locked out. Then have to go threw the local people to get it reactivated.

[@danieldaniels7571]

@@Robert-Wilson When her vision was at its worst she couldn’t use a smartphone. Fortunately after several retinal surgeries they were able to restore some vision to one eye. Enough to use smartphones and computers without additional accessibility software. My vision is fine, but I prefer the bulky design of that player as I have a strong dislike for touch screens and computer menus, and prefer the tactile feel of physical buttons.

[@acerbt]

The advanced player has extra controls for navigation in media. There are buttons below where the speaker is located that are used for quick navagation between files or in a book. There is also an info button that gives you book info and player status if you press it, but also opens and closes the user guide if it is held at any point. There is a bookmark button that allows you to save markers you can return to later. Bookmarks are an option for the advanced navigation controls if you use the navigation menu button.

[@megamanfan3]

I never expected something from the US government to be of excellent build quality.

[@danieldaniels7571]

My girlfriend is legally blind and had one of these for quite a while. We listened to many great audio books on it. The cartridges we got from the talking book library for it used a proprietary file format I was never able to convert to anything I could play on anything but that player. The audiobooks in the talking book library are unique and different audio than the commercially released audiobook versions of the same book.

[@ciaprisoner]

My grandma had one of these before she passed, always thought it was odd that the cartridges were just oversized USB drives

[@Goober_Illo]

Honestly as someone who used one for years. I loved them. It made them hard to lose and we're labeled in large print. Alot of the modern audio players don't get this and throw microscopic SD cards with unreadable labels.

[@RebrandSoon0000]

My dad has the talking book player, he's legally blind and it helps a lot.

[@rml695]

Just FYI, selling those is not legal. As you said they probably didn’t catch the info on the bottom, so if you have not done so, I would recommend looking into returning the player. They’re still in circulation. Before this they had tape players, and when making the switch, they asked the cassette players be returned. At the very least I would suggest calling the library and talking with them.

[@jamesslick4790]

Nice sound quality. Better than I would have expected! Pretty cool little machine! 👍😊👍

[@5argetech56]

You can also use a USB extension Cable plugged into the slot in the front. There are loads of Podcasts and audio books to use on such a device. Another Gem! Thanks Victor.. :)

[@turtlecatpurrz]

Having been a patron of the library of Congress talking book in braille library for years, I know that they repair and resend out those devices as long as they have their hands on them. Any time those go back to the government they get referred and resent out. It’s impressive how well maintained actually. If that one made it back to the library they would give it a new battery and probably do a bit of a deep cleaning and send it out to a new patron.

[@techbaffle]

I wasn't expecting the speaker to sound that good! Very well designed device

[@nightbirdds]

I'm visually impaired and have a more modern version of this sort of player. The cartridge format was more or less phased out, since the player itself is the size of a deck of cards, now. They still support the format, but now they need an adapter to connect them, and it's a bit unwieldy. Mostly, now we just do direct-to-player over wifi. One thing that is worth pointing out, if you do want one of these, they're made by a company called HumanWare. If you want one, they will sell them to you directly through their site. Just be ready for some sticker-shock.

[@nrdesign1991]

It has great voice quality for the announcements, if a bit choppy.

[@AKAtheA]

choppy?? this is one of the best implementation of a talking appliance I have seen...

[@jeffk7734]

A lot of those talking book players are either showing up on eBay and at thrift stores. None of the talking book machines ever recorded. I am blind, and never have used the digital version, but used the cassette player version for many years.

[@TheNugettinage]

How often would you read using this? Do you use completely digital formats now, like on your phone?

[@jeffk7734]

@@TheNugettinage I mainly use my phone, and a CC Witness MP3 player for personal and mainstream MP3 files. I need to get reestablished with the library program here in New York, and in which case I’ll just use my iPhone.

[@coolelectronics1759]

I want to come across one of the old record player ones one day!

[@jeffk7734]

@@coolelectronics1759 well keep searching eBay and your local thrift stores and hopefully you’ll get lucky!

[@coolelectronics1759]

@@jeffk7734 like the time I watched ET and became obsessed with the speak and spell and hoped that I'd come across one some day and one day I finaly found one for $4 membrane version working at a thrift store when I was in highschool in 2012! The batery cover was missing but you should of seen the excitement on my face to own one of the props from et!

[@theannoyedmrfloyd3998]

"...and then he was gone..." Story of my life.

[@uNpOpuLArOpInION69]

Oh man :( Hope you have a nice day tho

[@oliwier000b]

"...and then he was gone..." Story of my father and the milk he bought 10 years ago

[@Goober_Illo]

I had both the simple and advanced models through elementary and middle school. Needless to say they do their job well and are probably bulletproof. My local school districts have given me mutiple odd devices over the years to keep up and this honestly was the tamest of them all.

[@coolelectronics1759]

hey what is different about this one vs the advanced version? Part of me wants to see if I can trade mine in for an upgraded version after coming across several comments mensioning there was an advanced version

[@Goober_Illo]

@@coolelectronics1759 It's pretty great if I remember correctly. Gives the option to swap between mutiple books at once. Adds bookmarks and easier navigation in general as opposed to just holding the buttons a century for something to happen.

[@TheLazyComet]

My dad has one of these. He is not blind but dyslexic and has has the talking book vinyl player, 2 revisions of the talking book cassette tape player, and one of these. I had no idea you could put MP3's on this, so he's gonna be thrilled with that

[@vwestlife]

Thanks. Probably anyone who has difficulty reading printed text may be eligible for one of these players.

[@TechGorilla1987]

@6:32 - That's a pretty groovy rendition of Fleetwood Mac's Black Magic Woman. Love it. I also REALLY love that cassette. Our 2008 Lexus has a cassette player as well as a 6 disk changer. My wife still rocks her Depeche Mode tapes.

[@HailAnts]

Fleetwood Mac? Learn something new everyday!

[@TechGorilla1987]

@@HailAnts Yessir. Stumped me too when I first found out by accident....listening to The Chain - 25 Years compilation. Edit: Technically speaking, it's a Peter Green song.

[@Tat2Dragons]

@@HailAnts Are you familiar with the song The Green Manalishi? That’s another Fleetwood Mac (Peter Green) song that some people assume is a Judas Priest song.

[@BertGrink]

@@TechGorilla1987 I have met people who thought that Black Magic Woman was written by Carlos Santana 😆 And while I do like his version, I will always prefer Fleetwood Mac´s version; it has a much darker atmosphere imo.

[@AlTerego816]

I have just been scrolling thru the comments to see if anyone had noticed the BMW tune!

[@KanawhaCountyWX]

I used to have the advanced version of this, but I gave it back to my local library which was an NLS affiliate in exchange for a humanware victory to stream, which was a pocket-sized device that had far more functionality, and you could record stuff.

[@carltonleboss]

I'm assuming you're visually impaired then?

[@KanawhaCountyWX]

@@carltonleboss yep

[@carltonleboss]

@@KanawhaCountyWX Are you partially impaired of completely blind? It must be quite hard for you

[@jeffk7734]

I have a friend who has the Victor Reader Trek and loves it. The only thing missing on that is a web browser and E-mail program. He doesn’t have the funds for a Braille Note at this time.

[@KanawhaCountyWX]

@@carltonleboss I'm partially visually impaired, although the amount of sight I have is so severely limited I live almost entirely as if I was a completely blind person. It's actually not as difficult as many would expect, we just simply have to make accommodations and adapt to a different lifestyle.

[@KanawhaCountyWX]

Okay, so I found some new information about these machines. My friend and my grandmother both have these players now, and I was checking to see if they had the latest version of the upgradable firmware, and I noticed the firmware release notes made mentions of a file called options. XML. I did some digging, and I was able to find the library technician and service center technician manuals online from the government site. This unit has 64 megabytes of onboard flash storage, and runs an embedded version of Linux. You can enter multiple service modes on the player with different key combinations on startup. Furthermore, USB to serial adapters can be used for computer diagnostics using terminal emulation software. There's also a com port embedded on the board for chip level diagnostics, which the manual recommends finding dedicated chip schematics from the manufacturers. This on board com port does not have USB diagnostic functions. The player was made by a company whose name I forget, but they are Japanese.

[@thevacdude]

I'm blind in my right eye, this would help me, although I can still read. I used to get the braille books on tape, they came in a green plastic case back in the day. Thanks for the video, Kevin.

[@acerbt]

It’s interesting that you found one of these. Being a blind user myself, I have the advanced version of the player for reading digital books. I also on the NLS cassette player. It’s much more simple in nature but does play standard tapes. The library books however are recorded on tapes that are designed to run as a much slower speed. I’d have to listen to or read the manual for an exact speed, but it can run at both the slow and standard speeds so it could play any standard audio tape.

[@JessicaFEREM]

I got one of these at a thrift store years ago, and then gave it to a blind family member

[@LunaDragofelis]

do I know you from fedi?

[@JessicaFEREM]

@@LunaDragofelis oh yea im jessica from fedi lol

[@TRONMAGNUM2099]

As always, you post some of the most interesting content.

[@roberthansen2008]

I had one of those machines and then basically because of the app on my phone I send it back. But they're very nice to have. For people that like a good quality machine and you have a blindness issue or a visual impairment of some kind they really are great to have. The national library service ads books all the time to its collection.

[@pibbanon1987]

My grandfather has one of these, along with a sizable box of book cartridges. The brightly-colored and differently-shaped buttons make it fairly easy for him to navigate with the limited vision he has left. It's very interesting to learn how the interface works, I'll have to see if it will recognize his old MP3 player as a flash drive.

[@SpeakerFreak95]

I am sure I speak for several here, we need to see the insides! I wanna see that speaker!

[@westelaudio943]

Exactly, "don't turn it on, take it APAAAHT" :)

[@NijiDash]

"SpeakerFreak95" "I wanna see that speaker" Is this some kind of fetish I wasn't aware of? 😂

[@LostInTech3D]

@@NijiDash audiophilia

[@belperite]

@@westelaudio943 "And we're in like Flynn!"

[@vwestlife]

For those asking for a teardown: I wish I could oblige, but the case has two deeply recessed Torx screws, and neither of my two sets of Torx bits are long and thin enough to reach them, so I am unable to take it apart.

[@Musicradio77Network]

This is the same exact model that “radiotvphononut” has. He collected all of his talking book cassette players and record players as well, but I’m not a blind person. I remember seeing this one at a cleaning room in RCAL about two years ago and it plays perfectly.

[@SeaJay_Oceans]

It is very nice for the Library of Congress to help the blind. Thanks guys ! :-)

[@raymondmartin6737]

I had the early Norelco portable cassette player in the later 60', and in 1972, I fed the audio into it, with a Din cable to my Grundig Ocean Boy portable radio so while it wasn't a true boombox, but I could listen to my cassette tapes through the radio for better sound. Ray

[@MrSquishles]

They're actually working on replacing those with a phone app. The cartridges have this real annoying encryption thing for drm that's also being done away with. Lot of different models of the thing too. The website you order the cartridges from if you are blind is called bard

[@acerbt]

It's actually possible to buy empty 8 or 16 gb NLS cartridges on amazon and make a collection of audio programs or books yourself. Bookshelf mode exists for the times when you do need to select from multiple books on a single cartridge or USB stick.

[@TransitAndTeslas]

I didn’t expect government tech to be this high quality.

[@xXRedTheDragonXx]

My blind neighbor had one of these, and I had to help him with it sometimes when I visited. He got it from the local library and he used it all the time to "read" lots of books that he was really interested in. They released lots of different books on the cartridges, everything from Great Gatsby to The Bible. There was a phone number you could call and they would tell you the books that were available and they would send you a new one and send an envelope to send back the old one, or you could just go to the library and ask them what they had available and they could download new ones from a computer on to a blank card that you had to buy. It was a really cool system. Interesting the one you showed said it had a warranty expiration date in 2011, since the library asked him to bring it back in 2011, and gave him one that was significantly less user-friendly and that he didn't use as much. It looked slightly different to this version, but it didn't say it was government property.

[@RandomRetr0]

Never knew anything like this existed!!

[@LightTheUnicorn]

Neat find! Always cool to see a demo of these accessible devices!

[@CuriouserArchive]

I'd be curious if this supports the DAISY format. DAISY is an encrypted standard for ebooks and audiobooks specifically for visually-impaired people. Books in this format are commonly available online but most people can't make any use of them because there's no way to decrypt them.

[@boxbackknitties]

Something about those slide out handles. Really do love em!

[@DavidWonn]

As someone with recent visual impairments, I’d find this quite useful.

[@ajtstvandmusicarchivechann1585]

talk to your local library.

[@roberthansen2008]

I had my machine from 2009 and I sent it back to them and 2017. The battery lasts for several years. And nowadays they still have those and they definitely will reuse that machine. They always reuse those machines. So you know we also have apps on our phones that we can use.

[@ajtstvandmusicarchivechann1585]

Wonderful video, There is actually a different model of this device that has buttons for finding the next chapter of a book. I remember while in school for the blind those models were sought after by fellow classmates because congress would randomly send you either model. I still have mine and use it even now for both music and audio. Also the service known as NLS Bard has an app with the books on phone so its only a matter of time before these devices too are recalled.

[@elisasuperiordork6755]

I just about lost it when I saw this upload! I know this device very well... because my younger brother (who is visually impaired) had one of these until recently. He only used it a little bit, but I remember when we were young kids and he'd have an audio book playing. I don't actually remember what the cartridges looked like, because I almost never saw them- I just remember the chunky plastic cases that they came in. His machine and cartridges came from the Perkins library. They'd send you the cartridges by mail regularly- you'd keep them a little while, then send them back and they'd send you more. The machine we had didn't get a ton of use, and mostly just sat around collecting dust- meanwhile periodically my mom would pop the cartridges back in the mailbox, and they'd send us more. Eventually we decided that there wasn't going to likely be any more use for the machine so my parents initiated the process for getting it returned- they send you a special cardboard box, complete with styrofoam inserts to hold the machine, and there's a spot for the included mailing label to send it back. I forget when it first came to us, but I would suspect maybe around 2008 or 2009? I wish we held onto it but I suppose you *are* supposed to "do the right thing" and return them when you're done with them. I believe the one we had is the same as the model you've got (same exact button layout at least) but I didn't think to document it before it was sent back to where it came from.

[@coolelectronics1759]

its so funny the chunky cases are about the size of 1 8track!

[@wisteela]

What an impressive bit of kit.

[@1Soniccool]

The government wants to know if you have a digital talk player

[@radiotvphononut]

The Library of Congress talking book program for the blind first started issuing recorded materials on 33 1/3 rpm non-microgroove records in 1934. In the early '50's, they switched to microgroove records and by the late '50's, they started transitioning to 10" 16 2/3 rpm records. In the late '60's, the transition to 8 1/3 rpm records and then cassettes started. By '73, all recorded records were mostly 9" flexible discs and 10" rigid discs at 8 1/3 rpm. The only players that would play these records were "loaners" from the library of congress and those available for purchase from the American Printing House for the Blind (these played at 8, 16, and 33). The talking book library first started using cassettes in 1969 (1 7/8 ips, 2-track). By the mid-to-late '70's, cassettes started to be recorded at 15/16 IPS, 4-track. By the mid-to-late '80's, the number of cassette books and magazines had outnumbered material on records and the last records were 9" 8 rpm flexible disc magazines that were issued through the year 2000. In 2001, everything switched to cassettes. I got my first digital player in 2010 and I think my last magazine on cassette was in 2013. On the subject of cassette players, I have a Sony like the one you showed and it was modified to play 2 or 4-track books at 1 7/8 or 15/16 ips. I will say that the digital players are more reliable than the cassette players (probably because of no moving parts). Even though I like the new technology, I have an appreciation for the old technology and have a large collection of it. On that note, rumor has it that these digital machines will eventually be replaced with machines that will interface with a smart phone.

[@LaskyLabs]

This is actually of decent quality. Something that shocked me, coming from the US Government. But I guess the Library of Congress ain't skimping on this stuff.

[@gunnarparment5050]

I find it baffling that both Power and Play are marked with a single P in braille. 😀

[@kevinwaterman389]

A visually impaired person would be able to tell the difference by the shape and locations of the buttons

[@gunnarparment5050]

@@kevinwaterman389 Sure thing. My blind mother used cassette recorders and memorized the buttons that was almost *never* marked in braille, so of course, that's not a big problem. Just thought it was a bit funny.

[@KanawhaCountyWX]

On the advanced version the previous button is also marked with a p

[@HenryLoenwind]

That braille probably is there only because of some pencil pusher getting a high from following the letter of regulations. The device clearly is designed to be used by feel.

[@schmudej85]

Not the video I was expecting with that title. Well played, good sir.

[@alliejr]

At the dawn of digital music I had a better “USB” cassette device… it was exactly the same form factor as a compact cassette and would fit and work in any cassette player, but internally it was a flash device that converted MP3 data on an MMC card to analog audio for the cassette tape head to read and play. Even the cassette play, pause, FF and RW controls worked as expected. It was a fantastic transition device to bring MP3 audio into a car with a cassette player in the late 1990s. I might have it in a box somewhere if you’re interested.

[@TheNugettinage]

Those are not very uncommon, there's also bluetooth versions that allow you to convert an in car casette deck to be bluetooth compatible

[@vwestlife]

I've seen those. uxwbill did a video about one.

[@kylejscheffler]

@@vwestlife Personally, I prefer the Techmoan Approach: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pqHSZHydfbx3sKM

[@und4287]

Shame that the "4-way" control (like on that Norelco) never caught on.

[@surrodox]

Great video, never seen one of these digital audiobook players before, only seen the analog equivalents of it.

[@KrissBartlett]

Wow that quality on that is very good playback

[@bichela]

I am registered blind. I like this unit. Voice and prompts are nice too.

[@hattree]

I don't know if this was the mic or the youtube sound processing, but it sounded much better than I expected through the speaker.

[@JessHull]

I really like that guys voice inside the player. I could totally go on a nice date with that player. I wonder if it likes sushi....?

[@vwestlife]

Judging by his accent, he's Canadian.

[@coolelectronics1759]

I have this same player! Mostly collects dust as I never have any time to listen to the cartredges. I had the cassette one too but it broke and they didn't want it back and I think it was lost or was thrown away at some point. It needed a new belt and the idler was also slipping causing it to eat tapes. I also have the victor reader stream and have owned several versions of those players going back to the front slotloading one with the handle on the side! The voice prompts on the consumer readers for the blind under the victor reader brand all have been voiced by that same narrator guy you hear when you push buttons and power on/off the machine. Very cool you came across one of these! What a surprise I thought this video was going to be about the big reel-to-reel player you see on detective government shows when someone calls emergency services that records everything!

[@KanawhaCountyWX]

Also one more thing to note is that the unit has fairly extreme audio compression if you listen to music with extreme dynamics. It seems to be peak based compression, but it also brings up anything lower in volume. MP3 files with headers can also play havoc with the unit, making it pause for a few seconds and then produce some digital screeching noises before playing the actual file.

[@vwestlife]

I did notice the audio compression, but it didn't have any problems with MP3 files containing ID3v2 headers -- although I use MP3Diags to make sure mine are properly formatted.

[@KanawhaCountyWX]

@@vwestlife The most common things I've encountered issues with in terms of mp3 files are some slight, I'm guessing DRM headers? I got a free album with the purchase of some concert tickets 5 years ago, and the whole album had issues playing on the unit.

[@ajtstvandmusicarchivechann1585]

These units also have trouble reading mp3s when you have dozens of folders. I had a 64 gig usb drive filled with music and it would stop during playback, stop loading and such. had to downgrade to 32 gigs

[@KanawhaCountyWX]

@@ajtstvandmusicarchivechann1585 that could simply be an issue with fat 32 support

[@markusjuenemann]

Actually the Phillips-player was exactly the one which my parents gave me to listen to my Kid-stuff-cassettes when i was a child in the early 80s. A very good quality device and pretty much indestructible. It still works today!

[@skytheguy0438]

I have one of the original cassette versions and it still works great. I got it at the thrift store for if I can remember $7. The battery in it still even holds a short charge!

[@LdeinerProductions]

Vision impaired person here. I’ve had one of these for awhile and always wanted to do a video on this as well as a few other things for the blind. In case you didn’t know, the government has had devices like this as far back as the 60s, including a record player with 10-inch flexidiscs spinning at 8RPM and 12-inch 16RPM records, and a cassette player with 4 tracks (Techmoan did a pretty good video on those). On the video side of things, there is of course audio description, which is pretty common now on DVDs, Blu-Rays, and even on streaming services like Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+ (I wish others would follow), but you may not know it was on VHS as far back as the mid 90s. I had a VHS copy of Toy Story as a kid and that’s how I watched the movie for the longest time. Also there were apparently some TV shows that had it if you turned on SAP mode or something like that, but I never got that to work as a kid, so maybe my TV or local stations didn’t support it at the time.

[@vwestlife]

Yes, back in the analog TV era, some shows would have additional verbal descriptions via SAP. I'm sure there's some digital equivalent of that now.

[@LdeinerProductions]

@@vwestlife Yeah, my TV might not have had SAP at the time and I don’t have over the air TV or cable anymore so I wouldn’t know. I’m sure it exists somehow though.

[@chalo3428]

I think the new update ones are called Victor streams and they are smaller and they are for the blind I have one because I am blind thanks for sharing it

[@macktheinterloper]

If only Jay Bell had been born 20 years earlier, so I could have read Something Like Summer as a teen, and not a disillusioned adult ;)

[@Montgomerygolfgator]

Something like Autumn was the book that finally pushed me to come out, hearing Kevin's voice was a little like a kick to the chest in a good way. It totally caught me off guard haha. 🏳️‍🌈

[@orange_light_pictures]

Must say; even though my phone. The player seemed to have a nice warm tone; not harsh or sibilant, even through the built on speaker. Do you think you’ll be contacted by the state department or Library of Congress; asking for their player back.

[@jamiemarchant]

Probally not, I would imagine it's been discarded.

[@roberthansen2008]

If you have the proper Daisy format that the talking book library would give you you would have detailed chapter skipping forward and backward. So it requires that you have the daisy formatted books which the national library service does have that work on those machines.

[@PuffyDonut365]

Apprecite the Tune'age. Thanks Kevin.

[@TOLUIA]

Interesting! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player like that before.

[@french1406]

People with physical disabilities have access to these too. The commercial versions are sold in Canada.

[@rc52]

Very interesting! Leave it to Mr. VWestlife to show you some interesting gear from the past! Thanks for this post, I was wondering how good it sounded, could be something you can use nowadays with limited features. Pretty cool!

[@coondogtheman]

Nice machine, I wish I could find the advanced version. I'm not blind or visually impaired but i'd make a jukebox out of it. I like how good it sounds.

[@deathdogg0]

I'm blind and I had one of these. Not sure where it is now, but it was great for consuming books that's for sure. The folder navigation was absolute crap though. It was a very well-built device however. I'm not surprised it still works. I heard somewhere that the OS these things run could, in theory, be injected with new apps such as a browser, but not sure how easy that would be. NLS hasn't updated the software in years so not sure what use this is now, where everything can be downloaded. I now read books on my phone so this device has gone by the wayside

[@uxwbill]

The sound quality is quite impressive. I have a few Chinese-made MP3 player/radio combos that also remember "where they were" and was surprised to see that their firmware was well enough designed to keep track of this across multiple media. (These wrote no files either.) A while ago, I saw a "Victor" branded talking book CD player heading off to e-waste recycling. It had speed and pitch controls. I probably should have grabbed it.

[@pengwin_]

Dayum, my govt keeping all the good audio players for itself.

[@JuxCordaus]

Hey VW! Great video! Is there any way we could get a list of all the music you used?

[@bsdims]

I remember having one of these back iiiinnnn 2013 iirc during school. The carts were just white shells with a circle-shaped hole to pull it out. Of course they were labelled not just in braille, but in print too.

[@DJKR_20_PRO]

@vwestlife I have the NLS Standard Digital Talking Book Player, thanks for the nice video.

[@juanignacioaschura9437]

I look at the colours of those buttons and can't help thinking of a Gamecube controller.

[@nielsen145]

well we have a format here, called Daisy, this seems a perfect fit for this format. Daisy btw is an audio format with text and bookmarks.

[@coolelectronics1759]

and drm encryption

[@mc-zu6bo]

@@coolelectronics1759 The encryption is optional, and/or done at the drive level.

[@Kee-Lo]

HumanWare make these and are available commercially with the same operating system.

[@m.m.radiochannel1969]

This player is for blind or physically disabled or learning disabled. This unit announces parts of the book and has Braille markings on the controls. Google loc talking book program.

[@clydesight]

Thanks for another great video. The unit has remarkably good sound! We have come so far from the intro of the compact cassette. Will you obey the sticker and return the unit to the government, or just keep it, since it is probably an obsolete model and could be trashed. Love your videos, please keep them coming!

[@vwestlife]

I will return it if they want it back.

[@willkitto81]

This player will still be sent out to another patron, it's not that the warranty voids it being sent back out to another customer. I am blind myself and have been a library patron for years. I know this because I have taken advantage of this program. They will also send a replacement battery to the user providing that they know how to take the back access cover off of the battery storage and put the new battery in.

[@diditbreak]

I got a few of the USB cartridges from a thrift store a few years ago. Been meaning to hunt up one of these units to play them. Edit: it's in stereo because there's albums as well as books available.

[@KorraTransPhoenix]

My grandpa has one of those. He uses it every day.

[@AMDRADEONRUBY]

Nice a new video very interesting as ever my Friend. I hope Kevin you going to make them for years

[@TechGorilla1987]

@3:37 - You're the farthest thing from average, so I am anticipating a look inside the unit. In the same breath, I'm expecting a blob-chip to greet my eyeballs.

[@vwestlife]

Sorry to disappoint, but the case has two deeply recessed Torx screws, and neither of my two sets of Torx bits are long and thin enough to reach them, so I am unable to take it apart.

[@TechGorilla1987]

@@vwestlife I've a kit (several actually) that are thin torx (handled drivers) for electronics. I'd be happy to donate a set to the cause. My contact information is in my about section. You never disappoint, my friend. Your content is always welcome.

[@coolelectronics1759]

@@vwestlife time to wip out the dremmle

[@PJ-sv4iw]

I work at a nursing home and thought I recognized this player. Several residents have these things!

[@mkdsuser]

The track, if anyones interested from 7:40 - 7:51 is: 5 Years From Now Ft. Oh Tomwell, Higgz Boson (Prod. DJ Blacksheep) , What i cant find is an instrumental version of this track like we see in VW's video here... Hmmmm

[@beerrox711]

I love the fact VWestlife owns a copy of TØPs Blurryface... on cassette

[@rommix0]

Maybe his name is blurryface and cares what you think.