M12Y

 


The Mac-cessibility Round Table Podcast #1 - Reboot

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The Mac-cessibility Podcast has been reborn as a round table discussion show, dealing with all things related to accessibility of Apple products. The show is planned to have a new episode once a month, starting with this week’s episode entitled "Reboot".

Topics covered:

  • Introduce this month’s panelists, including Holly Anderson, Darcy Burnard, Cara Quinn, Steve Sawczyn, and Josh de Lioncourt.
  • iPod Shuffle 3G, its multi-lingual support, and the possibility of more TTS languages coming in VoiceOver.
  • iTunes 8.1 accessibility changes.
  • iPhone software 3.0. Is accessibility coming? Are we getting closer?
  • The Author’s GUild’s objection to text-to-speech in Amazon’s Kindle 2. What does that mean for TTS in other portable devices like iPods or a possible future accessible iPhone?
  • Safari 4.0 public beta accessibility changes.
  • General discussion of the state of accessibility on the Mac platform. How is the Mac perceived by non-Mac users of the visually impaired community? Is the perception improving? What myths are still persisting? Has Apple’s participation at CSUN helped?

Other resources and show notes:


Apple Updates iTunes to Version 8.1.1 With Accessibility Fixes

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Today, Apple updated iTunes, its popular multimedia playback and management software, to version 8.1.1. The changes include fixes for VoiceOver support and iPhone/iPod Touch syncing, though what these fixes are specifically is unclear at present, save for the ability to tab from field to field through the iTunes interface, which had ceased to work in version 8.1. (Update! - This bug will not be entirely corrected until you have restarted VoiceOver after updating iTunes.)

Support for HD movie rentals on Macs and PC’s, something previously only offered on the AppleTV set-top box, was also part of the update.

In the last several days, Apple has added nearly three hundred new movie rentals to the iTunes Store, as reported by Ars Technica.


Variable Pricing (Sans DRM) Arrives Across Digital Music Retailers, Including iTunes

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On Tuesday, Apple began offering its entire iTunes music catalog without the chains of Digital Rights Management, and at 256KBPS, they’re twice the previous bit rate. This enhancement makes tracks purchased from the popular online retailer virtually indistinguishable from CD copies.

This boon for consumers comes at a price, particularly for fans of contemporary popular hits. In exchange for the right to offer music DRM free, Apple gave in to the industry’s long held desire to make their music available at varying price points. Tracks in the iTunes music store now vary between $.69, $.99, and $1.29 in the US, with the higher price primarily effecting current hits.

But Apple is not alone in these pricing changes. Both Amazon MP3 and Wal-Mart MP3 are offering tracks with similar pricing, ranging from $.64 to $1.29.

At MacWorld Expo in January, Apple promised that more tracks would be offered at the $.69 price point than the $1.29 one. If that promise pans out, then the higher prices for some tracks should be more than made up for by the removal of DRM and the lower prices on some tracks.


Apple Updates VoiceOver Kit for the iPod Shuffle 3G

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Apple quietly updated the VoiceOver Kit for the iPod Shuffle 3G to version 1.0.1 today. The download, which is currently oly available through the software update mechanism and not Apple’s web site, is 17MB and includes corrected pronunciation definitions for certain popular artists’ names and other unspecified bug fixes.

The iPod Shuffle 3G employs VoiceOver Kit to speak the menus on the popular music player in fourteen different languages, making it possible to easily navigate through the music, playlists, audio books, and podcasts on the device.