Tom's Diary

Questions: How do you burn to the NLS digital player blank cassettes?  How do you copy a new talking book onto a blank NLS cartridge? Answers follow.

The blank cartridges available for the digital talking book (DTB) players from the National Library Service for the Blind (NLS) are actually just USB thumb drives housed in bigger-than-typical cases.  I’ve purchased some 2GB units in February of 2010 for approximately $11 each.  Their larger size makes them easier to handle for people with arthritis and other ailments of the arms, hands, and fingers, and these easier-to-hold memory cards come equipped with a USB A-style male connector on the end opposite the finger hole. So, you can copy files to and from them just as you would a CompactFlash, SD, SD HD, or other external storage device.  However, you will need to obtain a male-to-female USB-A cable for this, which you must purchase separately.  Further, your computer must be USB2.0-ready to get the fastest data transfer rates.  This really speeds things along if you’re copying long NLS books.  So avoid using USB1.1 ports if possible.

When you connect these cassette-like memory cards to your Windows computer, you should hear the ba-blunk sound of a new USB device being recognized.  Then, some seconds later, a new drive letter will appear in your Windows Explorer folder list once the system installs the drivers for the card.  At this point, you can use copy-paste, drag-and-drop, the command prompt’s COPY or XCOPY commands, or any other valid Windows key stroke sequence to transfer files to and from the card.

You can store any files on the card you wish; they need not be NLS DTB files.  However, in this piece, I’m focusing on transferring the DAISY-formatted DTB book files from the National Library Service for the Blind, Recordings for the Blind, and other vendors.  So I’ll not discuss other file types further here.

To copy a DTB recording onto these flash-style memory cards, perform the following steps:

1. First, download the book (as a ZIP file from the NLS BARD web site or other similar provider).  You’ll need to set up an account on the BARD site first through your nearest regional library for the blind.  But once you’ve received your account information, you can browse the library’s collection through your broadband Internet connection (recommended), and download any number of books to your computer as long as you have enough space on your hard drive for them.
2. Once you’ve obtained a DTB book you’d like to read, connect a cartridge to your computer as discussed above.
3. To minimize confusion, delete any files and folders that may be present on the card (say, from other books that you’ve listened to).
4. Then, in Windows Explorer, find the ZIP file of the book you with to copy to the cartridge.
5. Right-click that file, and a context menu will appear.
6. On that menu, choose the  Extract All…  item.  This runs the extraction wizard.
7. Click the  Next  button.  This brings up a window that allows you to choose the place to extract the DTB files in the original ZIP file to.
8. Press the   Browse   button. The   Select a destination  window should pop up.
9. In that window, navigate to the   My Computer   folder and open it.  Then, find and select the drive letter of the DTB cartridge you just connected above.  Press the  OK  button.  The  Select a destination  windows closes, and you’re taken back to the  Extraction Wizard  window, and you should observe the drive you chose appear in the   Files will be extracted to this directory   edit box.
10. To begin the extraction to the card, press the   Next   button.  At this point, a progress bar appears, and the files in the ZIP file are decompressed and copied to your cartridge.  The time it takes to perform the extraction depends on the reading time of the book.  The longer the book, the bigger its files are, and the bigger the files, the longer the extraction will take.  Average-sized books extract anywhere from within five to fifteen seconds.
11. Next, disconnect the card from your computer but first, it’s safest to use the   Safely Remove Hardware   wizard first to make sure that any open files on the card have been properly saved and closed before you unplug it.
12. Insert the card into your NLS DTB player and power the player on.  After a short pause, the title of the book should be announced.  If so, then you’ve successfully copied a talking book to your card, and you can then read and navigate through it just as you would the already-populated cartridges you get from NLS.

Happy reading, and take care.

Tom Hesley

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06:00 PM: Oh and how could I forget?  I got my first look at Windows 7 today when I went to Pink’s house to assist her with backup restorations.  She runs this OS on her laptop.  It uses many of the same sounds as Vista does, and also incorporates the “spinning circle” to let you know that it’s busy doing something. 

I’ll have to spring for a copy of this latest version of Windows.  This computer I’m writing on is due to be reformatted.  However, I’m not sure I want to put XP back on it again, because of all those updates that It would be behind; I have the initial version of XP on CD in my archives.  So once that’s reinstalled, I’d have to download all three service packs again, not to mention the well over a hundred updates.  Naaah.  I think I’ll get Seven, which has all those updates already built in (I hope).  

I purchased a new Vista-compatible PNY graphics card nearly two years ago for this computer, intending to put upgrade it to Vista.  But with all the reports circulating then about Vista being such a resource hog and so plagued with bugs and issues, I held off.   Actually, I’m sorry I did.  I run Vista on one two of my laptops and have experienced no stability or performance problems with it in my capacity as a DJ and writer.  I’ve been able to cooberate none of the Vista gripes in my environment. 

Even after the Vista service packs came out, I still delayed because Windows 7 was on the wind, and with it being so close to release last year, I didn’t want to upgrade this computer to Vista, and then have to do it again soon thereafter. 

But now, the time is right.  Yes, I could wait for Windows 7, Service Pack 1.  But now, I’m tired of waiting for stuff.    I’ll upgrade sometime in the next couple months.  You know what they say: If you wait too long, you end up waiting forever. 

Tom Hesley

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Right before I went to see  [Emmy],   I received a Gateway PC to repair from a good friend of Mom’s  She explained that she’d taken it to a computer repair shop and that they told her that it’s infected with some sort of virus.  They advised that the machine is too old to bother disinfecting.  Finally, they suggested that she purchase a new computer (from them).  Of course. 

When she related what happened at trivia night three weeks ago, I told her that I’d take a peak at it for her.  So, here it sits, here I am back home from vacation, and now I’m about to begin the job of evaluating and repairing it.  I’ll post my progress in the comments below. 

Tom Hesley

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