Victor Reader Stream FAQ
Table of Contents
1 Audible.com Books and Audible
Manager
2 Bass, Treble, Tone, Pitch, Speed,
and Volume Controls
9 LEARNING ALLY (United States)
10 Microsoft Word Save as DAISY
Add-in
18 Serotek and System Access Mobile
Network
19 Transferring ZIP Books to the
Stream
A. Stream plays format 4 audible books. With the optional Stream SoftPak
it also plays Audible Enhanced books.
A. Yes. HumanWare has a partnership with
http://www.audible.com/humanware
You can
cancel at any time during the trial period and still keep your downloaded book.
A.
A. Yes. Visit:
http://www.audible.com/humanware to
sign up for a free 14 day trial of
A. First, be sure you have the latest version of
http://download.audible.com/AM50/ActiveSetupN.exe
When the
install program asks you to choose a player device, you may choose Victor
Reader Stream. Alternatively, you can also choose "No mobile Device"
during the installation because you can also add the Stream device later from
Once it is
installed, be sure to remain connected to the Internet and run
A. Yes. If you need to use a second SD card for
A. You can use
Instead of
transferring books with
C:\Documents
and Settings\All Users\Documents\
Or, if you
updated an older version of
C:\Program
Files\
You must not
create separate subfolders in $VR
A. The Tone control is a single setting to raise
or lower the tone of voice audio. If you set the Tone control to the middle or
0 setting it will not alter the voice. If you move the tone to lower settings
below zero it will lower the tone of the voice and settings above 0 will
increase the tone. This works well for the limited range of voice frequencies.
However, for the wider range of frequencies of music it is useful to be able to
control the lower (bass) frequencies and higher (treble) frequencies
independently. Therefore, separate Bass/Treble controls are used in place of a
single Tone control on the music bookshelf. On the Text bookshelf, the Tone
control is replaced with a Pitch control. The Pitch control directly adjusts
the Vocalizer text-to-speech (TTS) engine which provides a much wider range of
control to the sound of the TTS than does the Tone control.
A. Yes.
A. For your convenience, Stream remembers separate
volume settings for the built-in speaker and the headphones. This means you can set one volume level that
is comfortable for the headphones and a different volume level that you prefer
for the built-in speaker. When you remove the headphones Stream will reset to
the last volume level you set for the speaker and when you plug the headphones
back in Stream will reset to the level you last set for the headphones. There are 10 volume settings for the speaker
and 15 settings for the headphones.
A. Be sure the variable speed control is set to
normal speed (setting number 0). If you speed up or slow down the speed for
music files they will play in mono instead of stereo.
A. Approximately 15 hours for continuous play of
recorded talking books on SD cards.
A. Up to 4 hours.
A. Yes. It is normal that the battery becomes warm
during the recharge process. The player has a safety mechanism that will
suspend the charge if the battery becomes too warm. This could prolong the
recharge beyond the normal 4 hours. Thus, for maximum efficiency you should
recharge the player outside its carrying case and be sure it is not near a heat
source.
A. When the player is turned off and plugged to AC
power the LED will blink to indicate the battery is recharging. When the battery is fully charged, the LED
will stop blinking. If the player is in
use and connected to the AC power the battery will still recharge but in this
case the LED will not blink.
A. You can press INFO (key 0) to hear the battery
and recharge status.
A. Yes.
Press the Info key 0 followed by a double press of key 4.
A. Yes.
However, instead of blinking, the LED will glow steadily while
recharging and the power is on.
A. No.
A. No. The
Stream saves all bookmarks and settings in its flash memory which does not
require power to maintain the memory.
When the player senses the battery is very nearly depleted it will save
all settings and automatically power off.
A. Yes. You may purchase it from HumanWare.
A. No.
A. The
battery should be stored in a clean dry place respecting the following
conditions:
When storing for long
periods (several months) it is recommended that you charge and discharge 1 to 3
times every 3 months. For storage periods of 6 months, 3 full charge and
discharge cycles are recommended.
A. Stop playback near the start of the heading,
page, or file that you want to bookmark. Press the Where Am I key to determine
the heading, page, or file number. Then press the Go To key above key 1 to
select the appropriate function: Go To Page, Go To
Heading, or Go To File. Enter the number and then press the Confirm (pound)
key. Stream will position precisely at the start of the entered page, heading,
or file but playback will not start. Now insert your bookmark.
A. You can
quickly delete all the bookmarks in a book by pressing the bookmark key five
times then the number nine five times followed by the confirm key.
A. No. There is room for several thousand
bookmarks in the data base. Even if this limit is reached the Stream will start
reusing space from the least recently read book. The only reason to delete bookmarks is if you
do not want them.
A. Yes. While recording, press the Bookmark key once and a bookmark will
be inserted at that position in your recording.
A. Yes, if you enable bookmark alerts in the Stream Menu. To do this,
press key 7 to open the Navigation and Playback menu. Then press key 8 until
you reach the Bookmark Alert item. Then press key 6 to select the Enable
option. Then press the Play key to save your selection and exit the menu.
A. Yes. You will hear your audio bookmark recording when playback passes
over the bookmarked position.
A. If you have any talking books (DAISY or NISO)
in the root of your SD card, then Stream will not look for any other files in
the root. If you want to have talking books in the root you must put music
files in $VRMusic folder and any non-structured MP3 books in $VROtherBooks.
A. All text
files must be saved in the $VRText reserved folder.
A. Yes.
A. Yes, except for $VR
A.
Yes, if they are transferred as html files. You can transfer the DOC files as
html using HumanWare Companion program or with the Save As dialog of Microsoft
Word. To transfer with Word, select the Save As option of the
File menu to save your document to the $VRText folder of your SD card.
In the Save As dialog window select to save the document as an html file (filtered
web page) from the Save As Type list. This will save your
doc file to the Stream SD card as an html file type. The html file will maintain any structure headings that were in the
Word document. This means you can use
keys 2 and 8 on the Stream to select the heading navigation level and move
backward or forward from heading to heading with keys 4 and 6. Word may warn
you that saving the document as filtered html will remove Microsoft Office features.
Select to save anyway, because the Microsoft Office features are unnecessary on
the Stream and the filtered html file will take less space.
A. Yes, if you have purchased the optional
Stream SoftPak. Otherwise; you can also transfer DOCX files as html using the
HumanWare Companion or Save As dialog of MS Word.
A. No. You can use the Go To
Book feature. For example, if you have 50 books and you know the desired book
is located approximately in the middle of the list then you can press the Go To Book key above key 1 and enter 25 followed by the Confirm
(pound) key. Stream will move to book 25 and you can then use keys 4 or 6 to
move back or forward from that position.
A. Yes. The Stream lists the books
in alphabetic order by their path names. So, you could create two levels of subfolders
in your $VRDTB bookshelf. The first subfolder could be categories of books. For
example, you could create a subfolder for Newspapers, another for recorded
books, and a third for Text books. Then within each of these category subfolders
you would create the sub-subfolders for each of your books. This example, when
you browse the Talking Books bookshelf, Stream will list all the newspaper
books, then the recorded books, and then the Text books.
A. Yes. You could prefix the folder
name of each book with the date in year-month-day order. For example, if you
add Harry Potter on the 23 of April 2009, you could name that folder as “090423
Harry Potter”. Thus, the last book folder you create will always be at the end
of the bookshelf and you can reach it quickly by pressing key 4 once when you
enter the Talking Books bookshelf.
A. Yes, if you save the podcast files in the Other Books bookshelf. On
the Podcasts bookshelf each audio file is considered a book with its own
reading position and bookmarks. Thus, the Stream stops playing at the end of
the file and announces end of book. If you have a collection of podcasts that
are all related you may want to consider putting those in a single subfolder
under $VROtherBooks bookshelf. On this bookshelf each subfolder is considered a
book so the Stream will automatically play each file in the subfolder and
continue playing the next file until all the files in the subfolder are played.
It will also save only one reading position within the subfolder instead of for
each file.
A. Download
the Bookshare zip book to your computer.
Use Windows to extract the book files from the zip file into a folder on
your computer. Then copy the folder to the $VRDTB folder on your SD card. The
only files that are required are the four that end with .NCX, .OPF, .SMIL, and
.XML. However, it is ok to copy the entire folder as the extra files will not
affect book playback. Also, instead of using Windows, you may also use the HumanWare
Companion software to transfer Bookshare zip books. The Companion will
automatically unzip the book and create the folder on the SD card.
A. No. Stream software upgrades consist
of a zip file that is downloaded from HumanWare's web site. You simply download
that zip file and unzip the single UPG (upgrade) file from it to the root of an
SD card. Note that you do not need to install special unzip software. Windows
XP and
A. Yes. In
the Companion Help menu there are 2 items to check for updates to either the
Companion itself or the Stream. If you want to check if there is a new version
of the Stream, either connect your Stream or insert the Stream SD card into
your computer's SD card reader. Then select the Help menu item to check for
Stream updates. If a new update is available, the Companion will download it
and transfer the UPG update file to the Stream SD card. Then when you power the
Stream back on it will automatically process the UPG file to update the Stream.
A. If the Stream
becomes non-responsive, you can force a system reset and reload all software by
pressing and holding the Power button for 7 seconds. This is equivalent to removing the battery. If
this does not restart the Stream, you should contact customer support for
assistance.
A. This is for connecting an optional cartridge
holder that can be used to hold the book cartridges from NLS (National Library
Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped) in the
A. No.
A. At present, HumanWare does not provide technical support for MAC
connectivity. However, we are aware that many MAC users are successfully
connecting the Stream to their MAC computer. If the Stream does not connect
then an alternative is to use a USB card reader. HumanWare is working with
Apple to improve MAC connectivity.
A. The Stream uses a dynamic volume normalization
called AGC (Auto Gain Control) during playback for all bookshelves except
music. This dynamic volume adjustment is useful for recordings that may come
from varying sources and may not have consistent volume levels from one file to
the next or even within one file. To avoid the user having to frequently adjust
the volume, the Stream’s built-in AGC automatically raises or lowers the volume
during playback to a pre-determined level. However, the AGC is not applied to
music files because it is desirable to exactly reproduce the original music
recording. Thus, if exact reproduction of a recording is desirable then place
it on the music bookshelf.
A. Press
and hold the bookmark key and key 5 while powering on the Stream. You will hear
a message informing you that the player profile has been reset. Resetting the
profile will erase all your bookmarks, clear the reading position of all your
books, and reset your Menu options to default values. It will not affect your SD
card and it will not remove any book keys (e.g. NLS or Learning Ally keys). If
the Profile data base becomes corrupt your Stream may not power on or books may
not play properly. Resetting the Profile may sometimes correct such issues.
A. Yes. To do this you create shortcuts in the
Windows SEND TO folder that point to the appropriate bookshelf of your
You have
now created a shortcut to the $VRDTB folder on your
A. The HumanWare Companion is a free Windows XP or
Vista program that comes on the Stream CD or can be downloaded for free from
http://www.humanware.com/stream_software. The HumanWare Companion supports both
the Stream and the ClassMate Reader players. It provides several
functionalities:
A. No. It has been developed for Windows XP,
A. Yes.
However, LEARNING ALLY books are encrypted and any player must have a User
Authorization Key (UAK) from LEARNING ALLY to decrypt the books.
A. Visit http://www.learningally.org/help/
Also,
tutorials for using the Audio Book Manager with screen readers can be found at:
A. If you
purchased your Stream from Learning Ally the User Authorization Key (UAK) will
be pre-installed on the player. Otherwise; you may download the UAK at no
charge from Learning Ally by logging onto your online account. The UAK is
unique to the serial number of your device and cannot be transferred to or from
any other Daisy Book player. To obtain
the UAK you will need the following:
• You must
know your LEARNING ALLY user log-in information
• If you don't have an online account, or if you aren't sure of your
login information, you can call LEARNING ALLY member services at 1-800-221-4792
and they can provide you with the information.
• You
must know your Stream serial number. You can find the serial number by pressing
INFO (key 0) on the Stream.
A. Follow
these steps To Install the UAK Using a Windows computer.
Connect
the Stream to your computer, or insert the Stream SD card into your computer.
Once your Stream is authorized, you
may then delete the UAK files from the SD card. You only need to authorize the
Stream once even if you use multiple SD cards.
A. Yes. AudioPlus books are
available for download via the LEARNING ALLY web site at www.Learningally.org. To order books online,
you must be a LEARNING ALLY member and you will also need an online ordering
account.
A. Yes. You
must install the LEARNING ALLY Audio Book Manager program on your computer. The
first time you download a book from Learning Ally you will be asked if you wish
to install the Audio Book Manager.
A. The Microsoft Save As DAISY add-in is a free program you can
install on a Windows computer running MS Word 2007 or above to translate DOCX
Word documents to a DAISY book. After installing the program there will be an Accessibility
tab on the MS Word ribbon. Within the Accessibility tab there is a Save As DAISY option. This option has a sub menu to choose to
create a full text/full audio DAISY book from either single or multiple MS Word
DOCX documents. The resulting DAISY book will use the built-in Text-to-speech
(TTS) voice of your Windows operating system to create the full audio portion
of the resulting DAISY book.
A. If you
have Word XP or Word 2003, it is necessary to install the
Microsoft Office 2007 compatibility components which allows you to save MS Word
DOC files in DOCX format. Once the document is saved in DOCX format it can be
translated to DAISY.
A. The Save As add-in produces both a DAISY 2.02 and DAISY 3 (officially
called ANSI/NISO Z39.86 2005). The Victor Reader Stream, Stratus, ClassicX,
ClassicX+, and ClassMate Reader can play these books. The older Classic and
Classic+ can also play them providing they have software version 3.1 or higher.
The Victor Reader Wave will play only the DAISY 2.02 form of the translated
book. The Stream and Stratus M can play both the text and full audio portions
of the book. This means you can use key 9 on those players to switch between
the recorded and text portions of the book. Accessing the text portion will
allow you to benefit from spelling words and searching the text. If you burn
the DAISY book to a CD then the Victor Reader Stratus, Classic and, Wave CD
players will play the recorded audio portion of the book.
A. You can
download it from the projects area of the DAISY.org web site:
http://www.daisy.org/project/save-as-daisy-microsoft-word-add-in
This page contains
the downloadable add-in installation program. After installation you will find
a DAISY Translator folder in the Start Menu containing a Getting Started and
detailed Instruction Manual. Brief installation and user instructions are also
provided in the following FAQs. However, for a thorough understanding of the
Add-in, please refer to the documentation folder in the Start Menu of your
computer.
A. Follow
these steps.
·
The
download package is in an executable EXE program file.
·
Remove
any previous versions of the Save AS DAISY add-in that you may have installed.
·
Be
sure you close all programs on your computer.
·
Then
run the downloaded Setup.exe program
·
A
Security Window may pop up asking you to confirm if you want to run this setup program.
Select the Run button.
·
Follow
the dialogues of the DAISY Translator installation wizardd.
·
The
installation program will then do its work for several minutes. When done, a
window will pop up indicating the DAISY Translator is successfully installed.
Select the Finish button to exit the Setup Wizard.
·
Then
the DAISY Translator Getting Started window will open so you can review it if
you wish. It is also available for later review from the DAISY Translator
folder in your computer’s Start Menu.
A. You must
go through your Word document and ensure the section headings are marked with
the Word heading Style tags. It is these Style headings that are mapped as
DAISY book navigation tags when the document is translated to DAISY. If you do
not mark the headings then the translated DAISY book will not have any DAISY
navigation.
A. Highlight
each heading and then select the Styles option in the format menu and select
the appropriate heading level 1, 2, 3 etc. Heading 1 is the highest level
heading. Be sure to nest multi-level headings properly. In other words, you
should not have a heading 1 followed by a heading 3 without a heading 2 in
between. DAISY books can have up to six
heading levels. Note: A keyboard shortcut for applying level 1 to 3 headings is
to simply place the cursor at the start of the heading line and then press
Alt+Control+1 to assign heading level 1, Alt+Control+2 to assign level 2 and Alt+Control+3
for level 3. Note: Be sure to not accidentally include blank lines after your
headings as part of those headings. This is easily done when using the mouse.
If you are unsure you can use the Reveal Codes option of Word to ensure that
blank lines are not tagged as headings. For screen reader users you may be able
to announce the style of blank lines with a shortcut key (e.g. for JFW, use JAWS
key + F).
A. Once
you have marked your headings and saved your document as Word 2007 DOCX follow
these steps to translate the document to a synchronized full text/full audio
DAISY book.
Under Accessibility, select the “Save as DAISY” item.
A. Within
the destination folder you specified for the translated DAISY book you will
find two subfolders: one for the DAISY 2.02 book and one for the ANSI/NISO
Z39.86 book. You may transfer either or both of these subfolders to the $VRDTB
folder of your Stream or Stratus SD card. For the ClassicX you must burn all
the files within either subfolder to a data CD. For the Wave you must burn only
the DAISY 2.02 book files to a CD because the Wave does not support Z39.86
books.
A. In the
After
signing up for the NFB Newsline service, one can choose to have specific
newspapers sent to them via E-mail. When
this occurs, the DAISY newspaper will be received as an email with 4 attached
files that make up the daisy newspaper.
The following steps explain how to transfer these files to the
Stream. These steps assume that you are
using the Microsoft outlook E-mail program.
1. Insert the SD card into the computer's SD
card reader, or with the stream turned off, connect
the stream to the computer with the USB cable and turn it on. The unit should say "Player
Connected."
2. Open the NFB newsline e-mail.
3. Click the file menu or press ALT F.
4. Arrow down to Save attachments and press
enter.
5. Press enter on the ok button to save all
attachments.
6. When the save dialogue box appears, click the
save in drop down menu or press ALT I, and arrow down to the drive letter that
represents your SD card or stream and press ENTER on it. The drive is often referred to as a removable
disk.
7. Tab to the Folder view. Arrow down to the
$VRDTB folder and press ENTER on it.
8. Tab
to the OK button and press ENTER.
The
newspaper will be transferred to the streams SD card and will appear in the
talking books bookshelf. You can press key 1 until you reach the Talking Books
bookshelf and then press keys 4 or 6 to find the newspaper. When finished
reading, you can again press key 1 to return to the bookshelf and then press
key 3 to delete the newspaper from the bookshelf.
A. This is a
streamlined more flexible way to easily download your favorite NFB Newsline
publications directly to your Stream. Using a free software application, you
only need to plug your Stream into your computer with a USB cable, launch the
free application, and your favorite newspapers and magazines will be placed on
your Stream automatically. It is a powerful and flexible way to use
NFB-Newsline for Victor Reader Stream users. For more information visit:
http://www.nfbnewslineonline.org/
A. Registered
NFB-Newsline users should log in to their Newsline online account at:
http://www.nfbnewslineonline.org/ and
select the link for the NFB Newsline in Your Pocket. This link will give
information about the service as well as a link to the free download application
software for Windows. Instructions on how to download and install the software
are also available on this page.
A. First
dial in to your NFB-Newsline account with your telephone and use option 4 to
set up your list of favorite newspapers and magazines. This need only be done
once or whenever you want to modify your list of favorites. Then, each time you
wish to download your favorite content, follow these steps:
·
Power
off the Stream, connect the Stream to your computer using the long USB cable,
and then power it back on. Or, if you have an SD card reader on your computer,
you can simply insert the Stream SD card into it.
·
Select
the NFB-Newsline In Your Pocket desktop icon.
·
The
NFB-Newsline In Your Pocket program will run and look
for your
·
Select
the Windows Safely Remove Hardware option in your Windows system tray. When
Windows tells you it is safe to do so, power off the Stream and disconnect it or remove your SD card from the card reader.
·
You
will find your downloaded newspapers and magazines on the Talking Books
bookshelf of your Stream.
A. Yes. The
NLS Braille and Audio Reading Download (BARD) website provides digital talking
books and magazines for download to eligible NLS patrons. For more information
visit the BARD site at: https://nlsbard.loc.gov/
A. There are 3 steps to register to the NLS
BARD service and authorize your Victor Reader Stream to play NLS books and
magazines.
Step 1 -
Apply Online at the NLS BARD web site.
Access to
the BARD website is restricted to eligible readers. You require a login id and password
to use the BARD service. To apply for your username and password visit:
Select the
link for the BARD application instructions which explain the criteria for
participation. If you qualify, select the link to the BARD application form.
Fill out this enrollment application
completely and after activating the submit button the following page will offer
a link to choose your player. Activate this link and select the Victor Reader
Stream from the resulting list of players. If you are approved to participate, NLS
will send you an e-mail message with your BARD site username and password. If
there is a problem, you will receive a message explaining the problem. Note: If you forget to select the Victor
Reader Stream when applying you can still go back later after NLS approves your
application. Simply log in to the BARD site with your new username and password
and then select Account Settings to register your Victor Reader Stream.
Please note that your enrollment information
will be shared with the National Library Service, Library of Congress and HumanWare.
Step 2-
HumanWare will contact you
Once you
have registered your Victor Reader Stream with NLS, NLS will notify HumanWare. HumanWare
will then contact you by email with a link to a HumanWare web form where you
will need to supply your Stream’s serial number to authorize it to play NLS
books. Please do not try to complete the HumanWare web form until you receive
our email as we cannot process your request in advance.
Step 3 -
Sending the
After you
complete the HumanWare web form, HumanWare will respond within 2 working days
with a second email. Attached to this email will be an NLS authorization key
file to install on your Stream. The email will contain the installation
instructions. After you install the key file, you will be able to play NLS downloaded
digital talking books and magazines as well as digital book cartridges.
A. Follow these steps:
Go to the
NLS BARD site at https://nlsbard.loc.gov/
Log in to
the web site by entering your NLS username and password. Note that both of
these are case sensitive.
After
login, you will be on the screen to choose books or magazines. You can search
for books by title, author, subject, or keyword. You can find magazines by
title or issue date. The different sections of the page are marked with
headings. Individual books are also separated by heading markers making it easy
to jump from one book to the next with the heading shortcut keys of your screen
reader. The site also has a link to get help on how to search for books and magazines.
Once you
arrive at your chosen book simply click or press ENTER on its download
link.
Your computer will
ask if you want to OPEN or SAVE the book. Specify to SAVE It.
Your computer will
then ask where you want to save the downloaded book. The book download is a
single ZIP file containing all the necessary files for the book. Choose a
desired location on your computer where you want to save NLS books and select
the Save button. The download window will then open showing the progress of the
download. After the zip book is
downloaded you will need to unzip and transfer it from your computer to the SD
card. See the section, Transferring ZIP Books to the Stream.
A. Yes, if the Stream is properly authorized to
play NLS books as explained above. Once the player is authorized, the user may
attach an NLS book cartridge to the Stream using a short cable supplied with
the Stream. Once attached the user may play the cartridge book. To copy the
cartridge book you press key 3 while playing the book. HumanWare also sells an optional
book cartridge holder which can be attached to the back of the player allowing
the NLS book cartridge to be inserted and played as an integral part of the
player.
A. Yes. With
an NLS cartridge attached to the Stream via the short USB cable or optional cartridge
holder, the book on the cartridge can be copied to the Stream SD card by
pressing key 3 while playing the book. A prompt will ask you to confirm the
copy. A “please wait” message will repeat during the copy process. The copy will
take approximately 10 minutes depending on the size of the book.
A. No.
A. Yes. Overdrive is now offering some recorded books in MP3 format which
does play on the Stream. If your library offers Overdrive MP3 books you can
download the MP3 files of a multi-part MP3 book and put those files in a
subfolder of $VROtherBooks. To do this, use the Overdrive Media Console
software. On the screen where you choose
which parts of the book to transfer, press the Advanced
button. You will be placed on a screen where you can choose the folder you want
to use. The benefit of reading a multi-part MP3 book on the Stream is that your
reading position is saved since all the files are treated as one book when you
save them in a subfolder of $VROtherBooks.
A. To check if MP3 books can be downloaded from your public library’s
Overdrive service you can examine the drop down menu where you choose a book
format to see if MP3 is one of the choices. For more information about
Overdrive, visit www.overdrive.com.
A. If you press the Cancel (star) key within 10
seconds of the accidental move, the Stream will undo your navigation. For
example, suppose you were in the middle of chapter 5 and accidentally press key
6 and moved to chapter 6. If you then press the Cancel key within 10 seconds
you will be returned to your previous position in chapter 5.
A. With Stream
version 3.2 or higher press Go To Page followed by the
Fast Forward key.
A. While in the Text files bookshelf, press the Go
to key above key 1 which functions as a Go to Percent key for text files.
Simply enter the relative percentage offset from the start of the file that you
wish to reach. For example you can enter 50% to position at the middle of the
file, 67% to position two thirds of the way into the file and so on. You can
press Go to Percent followed by the Play key to return to the start of the
file.
A. Use the Go To
Percent or Go To Time functions to enter a percentage or time offset from the
start of the book. These functions are available for Other Books, Podcasts, and
Notes.
A. You can press and release the Rewind key instead of holding it down and
this will backup 5 seconds for each press. The same applies to the fast forward
key.
A. Yes. Instead of pressing the Play key to resume your playback, just tap
the Rewind key. It will back up 5 seconds and start playing.
A. If you are listening to your Stream while
carrying it in a backpack or purse, you may wish to lock the keypad so keys are
not accidentally pressed. To do this, start the book playing, then press and
hold the star key. To unlock the keypad
press the 1, 2, and 3 keys in sequence.
A. You must
create a subfolder for the book in the $VRDTB folder of the Stream SD card.
Then copy all the files from the CD into that subfolder. If
the CD has more than one book then copy all the folders on the CD to the $VRDTB
folder excluding the Discinfo file on the CD.
A. Yes. In
this case, create the subfolder for the book in the $VROtherBooks folder of the
Stream SD card and copy all the MP3 files for the book from the CD to the the
subfolder.
A. Yes. For a DAISY CD, be sure you are in the Talking Books window of the
Companion, insert the CD into your computer. The title
or titles of the books on the CD will appear in the list of titles. Check the
titles you wish to transfer and activate the Transfer button. After the CD
book(s) are transferred simply eject the CD and Companion will redisplay the
list of Talking Books on your computer. To copy an MP3 CD, be sure you are in
the Other Books transfer window of the Companion and follow the same procedure.
A. If you
have a DAISY book that is on 2 or more CDs then you put the files of each CD
into separate folders of $VRDTB just as if each CD was a separate book. For
example if you have a 2 CD book titled, History of Science, then create two
subfolders in $VRDTB called:
History of Science CD1
History of Science CD2
And put all the files from CD1 into
the first subfolder and the files of CD2 into the second subfolder. If you make a mistake and copy the CD2 into
the CD1 folder it does not matter. The Stream will still play the book
correctly and announce the book title part 1 and part 2 based on the actual
book contents not the folder names.
The Stream will announce the message
to insert CD2 whenever you attempt to navigate to any part of the book that is
on CD2. The message to insert CD2 is actually part of the book itself. It is
not part of the Stream's program. Similarly, if you are playing the CD2 portion
of the book and navigate to a part of the book that is on CD1 you will hear a
similar message to insert CD1.
Note that the INFO key 0 will report
the total time and total pages for the entire book i.e., all the CDs. So, if
CD1 was 1 hour with 50 pages and CD2 was 30 minutes with 25 more pages then key
0 would report a total of 75 pages and 1.5 hours total time for the book. If
you were reading the part of the book from CD1 and you requested to go to page
61 you would hear the book message to insert CD2. At this point you could press
Go To Page again to change your mind and enter a number less than 50 and remain
in part 1 of the book. Or, you could press key 1 for the bookshelf and navigate
to the second part of the book and press play to open it. However, at this
point you will be at the beginning page 51 of part 2 not page 61. In other
words, the Stream cannot jump from the first part of the book to the actual
page number you enter in the second part of the book.
So, when you hear a message to
insert a different CD, then at that point, you need to press the bookshelf key
1 and then press the left or right (key 4 or 6) to navigate to the other part
of the book on your talking books bookshelf. If you have created the two
folders in the $VRDTB folder for each CD then you will find both part 1 and
part 2 of the book on the bookshelf list.
A. You cannot copy commercial audio CDs using a
simple copy and paste with Windows Explorer. To copy audio CDs you must use
special CD extraction software to extract (often referred to as rip) the audio
CD format to a format such as MP3 or OGG Vorbis that can be played on Stream.
A. Simply copy all the folders of the CD to the
$VRDTB folder. Do not copy the Discinfo file.
A. No. Stream is designed first as an advanced
DAISY, MP3, and NISO player with a secondary voice recording capability. It can only record in mono and is optimized
for voice recording frequencies.
A. The Stream records audio notes in 3gp
compressed AMR-WB+ files (file extension is 3gp) for high quality voice
recording. To edit your audio note files
on your computer you need to convert the 3gp files to standard wav files on
your computer. To do this, HumanWare provides a free software program called
the HumanWare Companion which can be downloaded from www.HumanWare.com/stream_software
.
A. While browsing or playing audio notes just press the info key 0. It
will announce both the recording time remaining and the space available on the
SD card.
A. Yes. With the
standard Stream, recording is in AMR-WB+ which creates recording files of type
3GP. If you purchase the Stream SoftPak from HumanWare you may also choose to
record in MP3 or wav file types. More information about the SoftPak is
available at www.humanware.com/softpak.
A. No. The Stream
is designed for high quality mono voice recording.
A. Yes. Stream
will produce similar quality with 3GP and MP3 recordings but the MP3 files will
be much larger. Wav recordings provide the highest quality but take the most
space. For example, one hour of recording produces a 9 megabyte 3GP file, 41
megabyte MP3 file, or 303 megabyte wav file.
A. Recordings made in MP3 file type are
encoded at 96 kbps and are single channel (mono) with a sampling rate of 44.1
kHz. This means the recorded MP3 file size will be 12,000 bytes per second or
41.2 megabytes per hour of recording.
A. Recordings made in Wav file type are single
channel (mono) 16-bit PCM at 44.1 kHz for a resulting 705 kbps. This means the
resulting recorded wav file size will be 302.6 megabytes per hour of recording.
A. Recordings
made in 3GP file type use the AMR-WB+ encoder. They are mono with an internal
sampling rate of 25.6 kbps and 20.8 kbps. This means the resulting recorded 3gp
file size will be 8.9 megabytes per hour of recording.
A. Stream has no internal clock so the files it
creates cannot be assigned a date or time.
A. Yes. Using Windows you can move the Audio Note
files from the $VRNotes folder to one or more subfolders in $VROtherBooks and rename
them with appropriate file names. When you rename the files you must keep the
.3GP file extension. Stream will play them like any other book in the Other
Books bookshelf announcing the folder and file names using the text-to-speech. Note
that moving the notes in this way will not move any bookmarks you made while
recording. Also, the HumanWare Companion has a conversion tool to copy Audio
Note files to wav files on your computer so you can edit or archive them on
your computer.
A. The built-in microphone of the Stream is satisfactory for most voice
recording applications. The built-in microphone is omni-directional meaning it
will pick up sound in all directions which is useful for recording in group
situations such as meetings. However, if you have special needs such as
recording interviews or dictation you may want to investigate using a
directional microphone. Also, some people find a directional microphone helpful
for recording lectures where you are mainly interested in capturing the
instructor's voice at the front of the room. Most electret type microphones for
computer usage that have an input impedance around 2.2KOhms
are suitable for the Stream. Such microphones require plug-in power which the
Stream provides through the microphone jack.
The jack is a standard 3.5mm size. Also, the Stream records in mono so
there is no advantage to using a stereo microphone as you would also require a
stereo to mono adapter to plug it in.
A. Not really. These microphones require external pre-amps and an XLR
adaptor for use on the Stream. Unless you are a professional who understands
and requires the specific advantages of these types of microphones the
additional cost and complexity may provide more frustration than advantage.
Also, improper use of these microphones has the potential of damaging the
Stream through too high a signal input.
A. No. The output of most external devices is typically a line-out that
is matched to a line-in of the recording device. The Stream does not have a
line-in jack. It has only a microphone-in jack. You should avoid connecting the
output of other devices that need to connect to a line-in jack. Connecting
devices that require plugging to a line-in will likely provide too high an
input signal causing distortion or potential damage to the Stream.
A. The Stream is compatible with SD (Secure
Digital) cards up to 2GB and SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) cards of 4, 8,
16, or 32GB. If you purchase an SD card,
be sure the card bears the SDHC designation.
The “Class” designation does not matter because Stream is not optimized
for any particular class of SDHC card.
Reputable brand name media manufacturers are recommended for your SD or
SDHC cards. HumanWare uses SanDisk cards.
A. You need to format only if the card is not
accessible. If your SD card is not recognized by Windows when it is inserted in
your computer card reader or when the Stream is connected to the computer, it
may be possible that the card needs to be formatted. Also, if for any reason
data becomes corrupt, you may notice that some files/books will not play
properly on your Stream. This is also an indicator that reformatting is needed.
A. To ensure
the card is properly formatted you should use the Stream built-in format
utility. Simply insert the SD card into
the Stream, press the Menu key 7 multiple times until you hear the Format SD
card option. Then press the Pound key to start the format utility. You will
receive a warning that formatting will erase all the files on the SD card.
Press the Pound key again to proceed with the format or press the Star key to
cancel the format. The utility will
format your card and label it as VRStream. The label will be visible beside the
drive letter when you view the card in Windows. Once formatted, only the $VR folders
will exist on the card. You will need to recopy all your books and files from
the computer. Important: It is only necessary to format the card if you have
problems using it with the Stream or with your computer.
A. No. Stream saves current reading position and
bookmark information in a database stored in the player’s internal flash
memory. It does not save this information on the SD card.
A. No. Stream saves bookmarks and reading position
in its internal flash memory, not on the SD card. So, a write-protected SD card
will prevent you from recording audio notes or audio bookmarks and it will also
prevent you from deleting books.
A. No. Some computers have built-in SD card
readers. If your computer has an SD slot, then a convenient way to copy is to
place your SD card in that slot and copy the files to it directly. If you don’t have an SD slot in your computer
then you can connect the Stream to a USB connector of your computer using the
long USB cable provided with the Stream. To connect the Stream power it off,
connect the cable to the Stream USB (top left corner) and to the computer USB
port, then power the Stream back on. Stream will announce that it is connected.
The Stream SD card will then appear as a Windows USB drive on your computer.
You may also purchase a USB card reader and connect it to the USB connector of
your computer. Copying to a USB card reader is usually faster than copying to
the Stream through its USB cable.
A. Just wait a few seconds to give Stream a chance
to scan the SD card. The more files
you have on an SD card the longer it takes for Stream to scan the card
especially if there are many files in a folder. When you have many files, try
to organize them in multiple subfolders.
A. It depends on your computer. Windows recommends
that you use the Safely Remove option when write-caching is enabled for the USB
device. If write-caching is not enabled then the device is said to be optimized
for quick removal and the Safely Remove option is not needed. The Safely Remove
option is intended to prevent the SD card from becoming corrupted when
write-caching is enabled. To be safe, the Stream documentation always
recommends using the Safely Remove option. You can check and/or modify your
computer’s setting for write-caching. First connect the Stream or put a card
into your SD card reader. Then open the Control Panel, select System, then open the device manager in the Hardware tab. Then look
for your USB device on the list of disk drives. View the Properties of your USB
card reader and check the Policies tab to see if the device is enabled for
write-caching. The information in the Policies window explains the relationship
between write-caching and the Safely Remove option. If you do not wish to worry
about such technical issues then always using the Safely Remove option before
disconnecting your Stream or removing the SD card from your USB card reader is
recommended.
A. The Safely Remove Hardware icon may be hidden.
Press Tab on the Desktop to go to the Windows Start menu button and then press
Alt+Enter to open the Task Bar and Start Menu properties dialog. In the
properties dialog, ensure the check box for “Hide Inactive Icons” is not
checked.
A. You connect the USB drive to the top left
corner USB port of the Stream using the short USB cable provided with the
Stream.
A. You connect the USB drive to your computer’s
USB port and transfer files to it using Windows or the HumanWare Companion. The
procedure is the same as copying files to the SD card. Note that the Stream
does not automatically create the $VR reserved folders when you connect the USB
drive to the Stream so you must create these folders or, if transferring files
with the Companion, it will create the $VR folders for you.
A. No. The USB drive and SD card can both be
present at the same time. The books of each bookshelf on the USB will be listed
together with the books on the SD card. You will hear “USB” announced for book
titles on the USB drive and you will hear “SD” announced for the titles on the
SD card.
A. No. Stream can only read from the USB drive. It
cannot write data to the USB drive. Thus, audio notes will always be recorded on
the SD card. Since recording is not possible on the USB drive, the $VRNotes
folder is not used on the USB drive. Also, you will not be able to delete books
from the USB drive.
A. Serotek Corporation is a technology company that develops software
and manufactures accessibility solutions. Serotek sells subscription
memberships to its online community called, System Access Mobile, a network designed
to meet the needs of people with disabilities.
A. If you are a Serotek customer with a
subscription to their System Access Mobile Network, you can listen to most
content from that network on your Stream. Just connect the Stream to a computer
running System Access or open Internet Explorer and go to www.satogo.com, and within
minutes, you can transfer almost anything to your Stream, including described
video movies, RSS feeds, podcasts, and e-mail messages. The content is stored
in a $VRSerotek folder on the SD card. You can find detailed instructions at:
http://help.samobile.net/VRStreamSync.html
or you can listen to audio
demonstrations at:
http://www.samobile.net/content/cat14790.html
To learn
more about Serotek and System Access Mobile Network visit:
A. A DAISY
book consists of many files. To simplify download of DAISY books, DAISY
libraries package all the DAISY files of a given book in a single file called a
zip file. This way you need only download one zip file per book. To play the
book on the Stream you need to unzip all the DAISY files of the book into a
separate subfolder on your computer and then transfer the unzipped folder to
the SD card of your Stream.
A. You must unzip the book files to a folder on
your computer and then copy that folder to the Stream as follows:
A. Yes. The Companion will unzip and transfer the book for you. In the
Companion Talking Books window be sure to check the Include ZIP files box so that your downloaded zip file will show in
the list of books.
[End of document Rev 3 – 20120820]