A3 scanners are a good solution for many problems. I don't think they
solve the problem of scanning from large volumes, such as collections of
journals, unless you don't mind the spine of the book being broken. It's
a shame Xerox/Kurzweil didn't just produce a simple scanner version of
their old bookedge scanner (with it's tilted design so even very large
books can hang off the edge) to sell with the software version of K1000.
I agree that many of the hardware scanners are just reboxed simple
flatbed scanners.
Many of the periodicals and journals that used to be only available in
huge printed volumes are now available online in electronic format so
maybe this will be a non-issue one day. The new copyright bill is working
it's way through parliament and hopefully this will help (list members
from the RNIB might be able to expand on this). More information at
http://www.rnib.org.uk/campaign/copyright_bill.htm
Ian Francis
On 6 Nov 2002 at 17:55, Andrew Hodgson wrote:
> On Wed, 6 Nov 2002 15:20:40 -0000, you wrote:
>
> >After many hours of web searches, telephone calls and research into this
> >subject (including postings to tech-dis and RNIB's internal access
> >technology discussion groups) we were unable to locate such a device. This
> >is a pity, since it could have offered a low-cost and practical solution for
> >visually impaired people wishing to transcribe the contents of large bound
> >volumes into an accessible format.
>
> Hi,
>
> Two points:
>
> 1. On this list, Mervin Robertson explained the fact that there are
> A3 scanners which are available for the PC and work with the K1000
> software; these would allow greater flexability with regards scanning
> books, and the whole package solution (after looking at some prices)
> is still less expensive than a hardware scanner.
>
> 2. The hardware stand alone scanners I have seen won't cope with
> books any more so than the average Epson or cannon scanner - you are
> still going to get the same problems. With most of these scanners,
> its just a rebadged scanner bolted onto another box, and twice the
> price of a software based solution.
>
> Andrew.
> --
> Andrew Hodgson, Bromyard, Herefordshire, UK.
> Email: [log in to unmask]
>
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