Help

Finding, Downloading, Unzipping, and Reading BrailleAudio Titles

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Introduction

This help page is a work in progress. Through a combination of audio demonstrations, which we call BA Tutorials, and explanatory text, we want to make it as easy as possible for you to get the most out of BrailleAudio. Please Contact Us if you have any comments or suggestions.

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BA Audio Tutorials

The following audio tutorials were created to supplement the written instructions on this page as a means of accommodating different learning styles.

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Finding Titles

There are two ways of finding titles on brailleaudio.org:

  1. By Searching the Catalog or
  2. By Browsing the Catalog

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Logging Into BrailleAudio

While it is not necessary to log into BrailleAudio before searching or browsing the catalog, doing so will cause download links to appear for matching titles. To log into BrailleAudio:

  1. Find and activate the Member Login link in the navigation region, or the Login to Download Titles link near the top of the Browsing Titles and Search Catalog Results pages.
  2. Type your user name in the user name field
  3. Type your password in the password field
  4. Find and press the Login button
  5. If your user name or password was typed incorrectly, an appropriate error message will be displayed
  6. A Forgot Your User Name or Password link is available on the Member Login page. After activating that link, Type your email address or user name in the edit field, press the Email User Name or Password button, and check your email for further instructions

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Searching the Catalog

  1. A search edit field into which words or phrases can be typed is present on the Home and Search the Catalog pages
  2. Type one or more words into the search edit field and press the Search the Catalog button
  3. The Catalog Search Results page contains the titles that matched what was typed into the search edit field in the previous step. If no matching titles were found, an appropriate error message is displayed.

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Browsing the Catalog

  1. Find and activate the Browse the Catalog link in the navigation region or on the Home page
  2. The Browse the Catalog page contains the following links under a level 1 heading:

Browse Featured Titles

Activating the Browse Featured Titles link displays a page containing all featured titles. Note, featured titles also appear on the Home page.

Browse Previously Featured Titles

Activating the Browse Previously Featured Titles link displays a page containing all previously featured titles.

Browse Titles Added Within the Last 90 Days

Activating the Browse Titles Added Within the Last 90 Days link displays a page containing all titles added within the last 90 days.

Browse Authors

Activating the Browse Authors link displays a page containing a list of author's names together with the number of titles by each author. Activate an author's name link to display a page containing all titles by that author.

Browse Media Formats

Activating the Browse Media Formats link displays a page containing a list of media formats together with the number of titles in each media format. Activate a media format link to display a page containing all titles in that media format.

Browse Narrators

Activating the Browse Narrators link displays a page containing a list of narrator's names together with the number of titles read by each narrator. Activate a narrator's name link to display a page containing all titles read by that narrator.

Browse Series

Activating the Browse Series link displays a page containing a list of series together with the number of titles in each series. Activate a series link to display a page containing all titles in that series.

Browse Subject Categories

Activating the Browse Subject Categories link displays a page containing a list of subject categories together with the number of titles in each subject category. Activate a subject category link to display a page containing all titles in that subject category.

Browse Titles for Adults

Activating the Browse Titles for Adults link displays a page containing all titles for adults.

Browse Titles for Children

Activating the Browse Titles for Children link displays a page containing all titles for children.

Browse Non-fiction Books

Activating the Browse Non-fiction Books link displays a page containing all non-fiction books.

Browse Fiction Books

Activating the Browse Fiction Books link displays a page containing all fiction books.

Browse Poetry

Activating the Browse Poetry link displays a page containing all poetry.

Browse Teachings

Activating the Browse Teachings link displays a page containing all teachings.

Browse Pamphlets

Activating the Browse Pamphlets link displays a page containing all pamphlets.

Browse the BrailleAudio Collection

Activating the Browse the BrailleAudio Collection link displays a page containing all titles in the BrailleAudio collection.

Browse the Torch Collection

Activating the Browse the Torch Collection link displays a page containing all titles in the Torch collection.

Browse Read by Mail Cycles

Activating the Browse Read by Mail Cycles link displays a page containing a list of read by mail cycles together with the number of titles in each cycle. Activate a cycle link to display a page containing all titles in that cycle.

Browse the Entire Catalog

Activating the Browse the Entire Catalog link displays a page containing all titles in the catalog.

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Downloading Titles

Whether the search or browse functionality was used to find titles, the format of the page which contains matching titles is virtually identical. Each title has its own heading meaning that they can be navigated by pressing h or shift-h. If you are logged into BrailleAudio, a download link for each title will be present on the page. For God Will Talk Through You by Bruce Van Natta, the download link will appear as Download ADB327 God Will Talk Through You (Audio DAISY Book). If you have previously downloaded a title, the link will begin with "Redownload." Simply find and activate the appropriate download or redownload link.

At this point it might be helpful to understand how BrailleAudio names its downloadable files. All files available for download on BrailleAudio adhere to the following naming scheme:

  • An abbreviation of the collection, BA for BrailleAudio or TT for Torch Trust for the Blind
  • A dash
  • The author's last name followed by an underscore
  • The author's first name or initial
  • If present, the author's middle name or initial(s) preceded by an underscore
  • A dash
  • The title with underscores in place of spaces
  • A dash
  • The media format prefix (ADB for Audio DAISY Book, ADT for Audio DAISY Teaching, BRB for Braille Book, ETC.)
  • The catalog number
  • The file extension, .zip

By way of example, the file name for God Will Talk Through You by Bruce Van Natta, which is part of the BrailleAudio collection, is BA-Van_Natta_Bruce-God_Will_Talk_Through_You-ADB327.zip, and the file name for The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson, which is part of the Torch collection, is TT-Wilkerson_David-The_Cross_and_the_Switchblade-ADB707.zip.

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Unzipping Titles

All files available for download on BrailleAudio are in .zip format meaning that they are compressed to make downloading faster.

The following explains how to extract or unzip a .zip file on a Windows computer on which third party archive utilities like 7Zip have not been installed. Before beginning, please ensure that your computer is configured to show file extensions for known file types. In windows 10, this can be accomplished by typing "show file extensions" in the search field and following the prompts. Showing file extensions will enable you to distinguish between the actual zip file and the folder created as a result of unzipping it. For example, unzipping Bruce Van Natta's God Will Talk Through You will result in a new folder called BA-Van_Natta_Bruce-God_Will_Talk_Through_You-ADB327.

  1. Start Windows Explorer
  2. Navigate to a .zip file downloaded in Downloading Titles, for example, BA-Van_Natta_Bruce-God_Will_Talk_Through_You-ADB327.zip
  3. Press the applications key or shift-f10 to open the context menu
  4. Press down arrow until you hear "Extract all"
  5. Press enter to open the Extract Compressed (Zipped) Folders dialog
  6. Press tab until you hear "show extracted files when complete checkbox," and make sure that the checkbox is unchecked
  7. Press tab until you hear "extract button," and press space to start the unzip process
  8. Wait while the file unzips

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Reading Audio DAISY Titles

BrailleAudio titles in the following media formats are audio DAISY files in the .mp3 format:

  • ADB, Audio DAISY Book
  • ADP, Audio DAISY Pamphlet
  • ADT, Audio DAISY Teaching

Audio DAISY titles can be read by:

Copying Titles to a Thumb Drive or NLS Cartridge for Reading on an NLS Player

  1. Connect a thumb drive or NLS cartridge to a USB port on your computer. Note, a special cable is required to connect an NLS cartridge.
  2. Start Windows Explorer
  3. Navigate to a folder created in Unzipping Titles, for example BA-Van_Natta_Bruce-God_Will_Talk_Through_You-ADB327
  4. Press control-c to copy the folder to the Windows clipboard
  5. Navigate to the thumb drive or NLS cartridge and press enter to open it
  6. Press control-v to paste the folder onto the thumb drive or NLS cartridge
  7. Press backspace
  8. Press the applications key or shift-f10
  9. Press down arrow until you hear "eject" and press enter
  10. Wait while your computer ejects the thumb drive or NLS cartridge
  11. Disconnect the thumb drive or NLS cartridge from your computer
  12. Connect the thumb drive to the USB port on the right side of your NLS player or insert the cartridge into your NLS player
  13. Listen to a BA Tutorial, Playing Books on the NLS Player Using the Bookshelf

Other Ways of Reading

Audio DAISY titles can be transferred to devices such as the HumanWare Victor Reader suite of products. Other compatible devices can be found at the following link, Compatible Digital Book Players. Another alternative involves the use of DAISY player software capable of decoding the .mp3 audio format like Dolphin EasyReader for Windows.

Using BARD Mobile on an iOS Device

The following instructions generally apply to other iOS apps like Dolphin EasyReader and Voice Dream Reader. Please substitute the name of the app you are using for BARD Mobile in steps 5 through 7.

  1. Launch the Files app
  2. Navigate to a .zip file downloaded in Downloading Titles, which is likely in the downloads folder on your iCloud Drive
  3. It is not necessary to unzip the title
  4. Flick down on the file name of the title until you hear "share" and double tap
  5. Flick right until you hear "BARD Mobile button" and double tap. Please do the following if the BARD Mobile button is not present, otherwise proceed to Step 6:
    1. Flick right until you hear "More button" and double tap
    2. Flick right until you hear "Edit button" and double tap
    3. Flick right until you hear "BARD Mobile"
    4. Flick left once to "Insert Activity" and double tap
    5. Flick left until you hear "Done button" and double tap. Note, sometimes it is necessary to double tap twice on the done button.
    6. Return to step 5
  6. BARD Mobile will launch
  7. Play the title in BARD Mobile in the usual manner

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Reading Braille Titles

BrailleAudio titles in the following media formats are .brf formatted Braille files suitable for reading on a refreshable Braille display or embossing on a Braille printer:

  • BRB, Braille Book
  • BRP, Braille Pamphlet

Due to the large number of refreshable Braille displays and Braille embossers available in today's market, we regret that we cannot provide detailed instructions for reading or embossing Braille files. Please consult the documentation that came with your particular refreshable Braille display, Braille embosser, or Braille translation software.

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