Devices

DAISY Software

Talking books have made a worldwide transition from analog to digital. DAISY denotes the Digital Accessible Information System.

Daisy Consortium logo The DAISY Consortium was set up by talking book libraries to actively promote the DAISY standard for Digital Talking Books. It also promises to revolutionize the reading experience for people who have reading disabilities. Specifically, the Consortium's vision is that all published information is available to people with print disabilities, at the same time and at no greater cost, in an accessible, feature-rich, navigable format.

A DAISY book can be explained as a set of digital files that includes:

One or more digital audio files containing a human narration of part or all of the source text
A marked-up file containing some or all of the text (although this file is optional)
A synchronization file to relate markings in the text file with time points in the audio file
A navigation control file which enables the user to move smoothly between files while synchronization between text and audio is maintained

There is now a wide selection of authoring and production tools for DAISY books.

For DAISY book players see, Audio Playback Equipment.

American Printing House for the Blind
1839 Frankfort Avenue, PO Box 6085, Louisville, Kentucky 40206-0085, USA.
Tel: +1 502 895 2405
Fax: +1 502 899 2274
Email: info@aph.org
Web: www.aph.org/

Book Wizard Producer
Book Wizard Producer is a set of tools to quickly and easily record, edit and master a DAISY/NISO 2002 Digital Talking Book. Producer is compatible with source input of either a narrator who reads directly into the program or an imported audio file created from another source. Features: Creates any of six kinds of DAISY books; Creates an audio book from text; Creates an entire book from multiple sound files with a single command; Verifies and validates the books it creates; Edits Digital Talking Books.
Ref: D-03530-00
Price: $200.00
Last updated: 10/12/2007

Book Wizard Reader
The Book Wizard Reader software reads Digital Talking Books. Supports all Digital Talking Book formats including Daisy 2 books and Daisy 3 books. Requires: 300 MHz PC compatible computer running at least Windows® 98 or Windows 2000 or later. 96 MB RAM. 20 MB disk space for software and an additional 700 MB for high-quality speech. Internet Explorer® 4.01 or later. Sound card and speakers and a CD-ROM drive.
Ref: D-03531-00
Price: $49.00
Last updated: 10/12/2007

Daisy Consortium
Grubenstrasse 12, 8045 Zurich, Switzerland.
Email: www.daisy.org/support/contactus.asp
Web: www.daisy.org

LPStudio/Pro
The software provides extensive features when producing full text Digital Talking Books using external source documents. The user has extensive functionality and flexibility when working in recording windows. Two recording screen options are available - Advanced and Simple. The software is typically used in larger organizations with text production departments and audio recording departments. It is also usable in a singular context as a stand-alone tool, using the included Structure Editor to create NCC-only structures. Scripts for Jaws for Windows and maps for Supernova are available. The software is available to Members of the DAISY Consortium.
Last updated: 10/12/2007

MyStudio PC v2.04
This software is very easy to learn and operate. Additional features include generating synthesized speech from text. The software is typically used in any organization where structure documents (NCCs) are not created before recording onset. Also it is typically used by volunteers working at home or in a studio.
Price: Free to DAISY member organisations (a licence is required)
Last updated: 10/12/2007

Sigtuna DAR 3
The user has the ability to create, edit, and/or remove NCC headings and pages during the recording process (when in "ToC-only mode"). In addition, a user can add full text segments to an NCC-only Digital Talking Book using ATAU mode. The software is typically used in larger organizations as well as in stand-alone settings. It is available to Members of the DAISY Consortium.
Last updated: 10/12/2007

Danish National Library for the Blind
Teglvaerksgade 37, DK2100, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Tel: +45 39 13 4600
Fax: +45 39 13 4601
Email: software@dbb.dk
Web: www.dbb.dk

Structured Text Document Editor
The STD editor facilitates the generation of master-files in XML for any production of structured documents: e-books in HTML, source-files for Digital Talking Books, well-structured files for the Internet etc. Features include: An easy to use interface; Multiple view choices (XML, HTML, with stylesheets); Automatic index generation; Automatic generation of Mark Up Defenition Files (MDF); Generation of valid XML/HTML code without any code writing; Support of the most used tags in the dtbook.dtd; On-line help. System requirements: Windows 98, Windows 2000 Windows NT 4.0 or later. Pentium processor. 128 MB Ram. Please note: Due to the fact that the STD editor uses color-coding it may not be suitable as a working tool for certain groups of vision impaired people.
Price: $300.00 per licence for 1-4 licences; $200.00 per licence for 5-15 licences
Last updated: 10/12/2007

Synthetic Talking E-book Generator
The STEB generator produces a Digital Talking Book using synthetic speech. The production process takes approximately 1 hour to make 8 hours recording with synthetic speech. In particular the result is suitable for products like reference books, indexes, manuals etc. Features include: An easy to use interface; Generation of Digital Talking Books from an XML sourcefile; No interaction required during the generation process; Automatic change between speech engines of choice; Possibility of shifting between more than one speech synthesis if multiple languages are required; Ability to encode the audio output in MPEG II audio layer 3. The STEB generator is in compliance with the DAISY or NISO standard for Digital Talking Books. System requirements: Windows 98, Windows 2000 Windows NT 4.0 or later. Pentium processor. 64 MB Ram. The used synthesis must be MS SAPI 4 compliant.
Price: $3000.00 (location licence)
Last updated: 10/12/2007

Dolphin Computer Access Ltd
Technology House, Blackpole Estate West, Worcester WR3 8TJ, UK.
Tel: +44 1905 754 577 ext 235
Fax: +44 1905 754 559
Email: info@dolphinuk.co.uk
Web: www.YourDolphin.com

Dolphin Publisher
A tool for the creation of DAISY digital talking books that can be searched and navigated. Key benefits include: Use human recorded audio, synthetic speech or record your own audio directly into Dolphin Publisher for use in your talking book. Import html documents, copy and paste word documents or type directly into Dolphin Publisher. Includes HTML editing facility for simple corrections to be made within Dolphin Publisher. Includes copyright tools for publishers to protect content from unauthorised copying or playback.
Price: £2450.00 (includes full product for commerical/for profit organisations plus 1 user licence); £695.00 (includes full product for Educational/Charity/not for profit organisations plus 1 user licence)
Last updated: 11/12/2007

EasyProducer
EasyProducer converts standard Word files into DAISY digital talking books (synchronised audio and text) that can be searched and navigated. Key benefits include: Easy to use one-click operation instantly converts text into a DAISY DTB, no training required. Convert text documents into fully accessible DAISY books with sychronised text and audio. Create synthetic audio in a fraction of the time required to produce recorded audio. Convert an average textbook chapter in 90 seconds, compared to 2 hours when narrating onto audio cassette. Click to write files to CD for easy distribution and to listen on the move. Simple toolbar integration with Microsoft Word so you can work in a familiar environment.
Price: £348.00 (includes full product plus 1 user licence)
Last updated: 11/12/2007

EasyReader
The arrival of Digital talking books mean people with visual and print impairments can enjoy a multimedia learning environment. Through a combination of text, audio and images, learning can be immensely enriched. Key benefits include: Enjoy Digital talking books on your PC, without the need for a special hardware player. View the text, highlighted as it reads aloud, a useful tool when learning to read. Alter the colours, fonts, text size and layout of the book to suit you. Mouse or keyboard operation with the option to announce button functions. Attractive user interface with compact tool bar option. Plays various talking books: DAISY, Niso, eBooks and Bookshare books.
Price: £348.00 (v1.51 full product and 1 user licence); £30.00 (v2.31 full product and 1 user licence)
Last updated: 11/12/2007

Innovative Rehabilitation Technology
13465 Colfax highway, Grass Valley, California 95945, USA.
Tel: +1 530 274 2090
Fax: +1 530 274 2093
Email: info@irti.net
Web: www.irti.net

eClipseWriter
eClipseWriter can turn virtually any electronic text document into a DAISY 2.02 Digital Talking Book. With eClipseWriter you insert simple heading and page navigation markers into a document, press a button and eClipseWriter does the rest! Text is automatically turned into speech, and for more sophisticated uses you can also insert graphics, animations and pre-recorded audio files. eClipseWriter even has a built in talking word processor to help prepare text. Easily share DAISY media using a DTB-DNA feature. DTB-DNA lets you send a tiny file containing the instructions required to build a Digital Talking Book to another eClipseWriter user. The recipient simply opens the DTB-DNA file and builds an identical copy of the original talking book. DTB-DNA files are so small they can easily be sent as e-mail attachments even over dial-up connections. Compatible with Windows 98 SE, ME, XP, XP PRO, 2000.
Price: $49.95 (download); $59.95; $99.95 (with NeoSpeech voices Kate and Paul)
Last updated: 11/12/2007

PlexTalk
Shinano Kenshi Co., Ltd., 6-15-26, Chuo, Ueda-shi, Nagano-ken, 386-0012, Japan.
Tel: +81 268 28 8009
Fax: +81 268 22 5476
Email: info@plextalk.com
Web: www.plextalk.com

Plextalk Recording Software Pro (PRS Pro)
Plextalk Recording Software Pro (PRS Pro) is a DAISY2.02 production tool, which can import DAISY2.0 content for editing or upgrading. Three functions in one package: (Recording/Editing/CD-R Writing). Please note that PRS Pro can only produce DAISY books that are structured audio and it does not have the capability of producing full text DAISY books. System requirements: Windows XP (Home/Professional), Windows 2000, Me or 98 SE.
Last updated: 11/12/2007

Wyoming Health Center
1233 E. Second Street, Casper, Wyomoing 82601, USA.
Tel: +1 307 577 7201
Email: info@wmcnet.org
Web: www.wmcnet.org

DTBMaker
DTBMaker is a set of perl scripts which can be used to produce Daisy Digital Talking Books (DTB). DTBMaker was developed for the Wyoming Medical Center and is free, released under the GNU General Public License. A single application will produce all three Daisy formats (Daisy 2.02, Daisy/NISO 2002 and Daisy/NISO 2005). It supports both Cepstral and Apple Speech Manager voices as well as production of books from pre-recorded content. Applications available for Mac, Linux and Windows.
Price: Free from website
Last updated: 11/12/2007