The ClassMate Reader now supports AudioPlus recorded books from RFB&D
Princeton, New Jersey and Longueuil, Quebec, June 23, 2008
Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic® (RFB&D®), America's educational library serving people who cannot effectively read standard print because of visual impairment, learning disability or other physical disability, and HumanWare, the leader in portable assistive technology for people with print disabilities, are pleased to announce that the ClassMate Reader now has the ability to play AudioPlus recorded books from RFB&D.
HumanWare has long been a supplier of the Victor Reader Family of digital audio book players to RFB&D's members, and the ClassMate Reader is HumanWare's newest solution for people with reading difficulties. When played on the ClassMate Reader digital players, RFB&D's AudioPlus recorded books can be navigated much like a print book, allowing the reader to move from chapter to chapter, section to section, jump directly to pages and individualize their pace preference.
"RFB&D's AudioPlus books are an essential learning tool for students and an important information source for professionals," says Stephanie Turner, RFB&D Product Manager of Market & Product Initiatives. "With Victor Reader audiobook players, and now the addition of the HumanWare ClassMate Reader product, RFB&D members have an even wider variety of tools they can use to access our books."
"As technology evolves it is great to work with RFB&D members to enhance their reading experience using the special navigable AudioPlus books," says Brenda McBride, ClassMate Reader Product Manager at HumanWare. "We are pleased to have the ClassMate Reader technology now available for people using RFB&D books".
With built in study features such as the Oxford dictionary and vocal notes, the ClassMate Reader was design for students by students. It can be part of a very efficient classroom strategy to get students to interact more with their reading, allowing them to understand what they read and struggle less with word decoding. The goal is to provide content in a Universal Design Learning (UDL) format.
RFB&D will provide and support the UAK (User Authorization Key) to enable playback of AudioPlus books. Users will be required to purchase the ClassMate Reader directly from HumanWare or through an authorized dealer.
About RFB&D
RFB&D (www.rfbd.org) serves close to 200,000 students from kindergarten through graduate school and beyond with its one-of-a-kind collection of digitally recorded educational titles. RFB&D's AudioPlus textbooks on CD provide unprecedented navigation, ease of use and proven effectiveness as learning tools for students with print disabilities. Students rely on RFB&D's unique accommodation to access the printed page and to achieve educational success. All of RFB&D's accessible titles are recorded by more than 7,000 volunteers working in 29 RFB&D recording studios nationwide.
About HumanWare
HumanWare (www.humanware.com) is the global leader in assistive technologies for vision, including products for the blind, print disabled and visually impaired. HumanWare's products include BrailleNote, the leading productivity device for blind people in education, in business and in their personal lives; the Victor Reader product line, the world's leading digital talking book players, myReader2, the new version of HumanWare's unique "auto-reader" for people with low vision and the ClassMate Reader, the only portable book player to offer synchronised text and audio for individual.
For further information:
RFB&D
RFB&D News Desk 800-803-7201, press 6
media e-mail inquiries
media@rfbd.org
Web : www.rfbd.org
HumanWare
Nicolas Lagace
tel.: (450) 463-1717
email: nicolas.lagace@humanware.com
Web: www.humanware.com