The Victor Reader Stream 2: A Review
Apr. 17th, 2013 05:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dogriverThe Victor Reader Stream 2 has created quite a bit of noise, in recent months, among blind and visually impaired people, both negative and positive. The first-generation player was revolutionary as being the very first unit of its kind to employ 21st-century technology and make a fully-accessible book reading experience for the blind. The Stream 2 builds on its predecessor, incorporating many of the features people have asked for.
Is the Stream still relevant in today's era of iDevices, tablets and other units which can also read these books? I submit that it is, for several reasons, two of which I will touch on briefly.
First, the reality is that not everyone has the capability or the dexterity to use a touch screen or to fiddle with small buttons. Of all the players I have seen, the Stream offers the most tactile contrast with its buttons from the surrounding surface. The buttons are large without being clunkily so, with clearly defined space between them. For someone with dexterity issues, this can make the difference between operating such a device and not operating it.
Secondly, some people simply prefer a dedicated book reader. It is into this category that I personally fall. I can certainly use my iPhone, and I appreciate it a lot, but when it comes to reading books, I want a dedicatd machine to do the job. If I travel, I may not be able to charge the phone, and having a dedicated unit serves to double my battery life.
So how has the Stream changed from its first incarnation? Physically, it is considerably smaller: 28% so, according to Humanware. The new design is sleeker, the USB port has been moved from the top to the bottom, and the headphone jack from the side to the top. The speaker now resides just behind the SD card slot at the top of the unit.
The keypad has remained almost unchanged between units. The keys maintain the same size and spacing as on the original. Buttons are slightly easier to press, which can be both a good or a bad thing. There is one additional button, the online button, between the goto and bookmark keys.
The battery has been redesigned as well. Instead of a battery that fits inside the unit with a cover snapping over it, we are now given a battery that clips onto the back of the unit, with the underside of the battery becoming the unit's bottom. The connection and fit are solid and sturdy. Tehre are two rubber feet, one on each end of the Stream, to prevent slipping while on a table. The Stream 2 is also shipped with a silicon skin which can be used to completely cover the back side of the unit.
The unit is capable of playing what the first unit could play. Some things, such as support for Audible.com, are not yet implemented, but will be very shortly. Also, features which, in the first Stream, were part of the soft pack, are now implemented into the unit by default. This means playback of file types such as M4A and others, the ability to record in MP3 and WAV format, etc. Additionally, the mike/line in jack are now stereo, so stereo recording is now possible in a variety of different file formats and attributes.
Those of you tired of the previous voices on the Stream, including the chain-smoking Samantha, the bored Tom and the pompous-sounding Daniel (all personal opinions, of course) might well find the Acapela voices the Stream now uses more to your liking. I personally find the listening experience much more natural and pleasant. I can see myself reading books with these voices, I really couldn't previously.
The clock is also a very welcome feature for the new Stream. I was frankly shocked when the first Stream didn't have one, and very glad that the current one does. Unfortunately, its usefulness is somewhat limited by the fact that the Stream can be turned completely off. This means that an alarm feature is unlikely, unless Humanware is able to have the clock turn the unit on sometime in the future. However this is a tradeoff I'm willing to live with, because it means the battery life of the Stream is much, much greater than its book-reader competitors.
The Stream 2 also allows for recharging via the USB port. In fact, this is the only option, the AC port having been completely removed from the unit. Humanware does provide a USB wall adaptor, so charging from AC power is quick and easy. Battery life is now given in percentages instead of the somewhat ambiguous high, medium, low and very low.
Updating the unit's firmware can now be accomplished in one of two ways. It can be done conventionally, by putting the firmware file onto your SD card, or it can be done via the Stream's built-in WiFi capability. When you connect to WiFi, the Stream very quickly checks to see if an update is available. It asks you if you want to install it. If you say no, you go merrily on your way, but if you say yes, it download the update and lets you install it. It might be useful to have the check for updates being configurable. Like the battery level, the update status is now also given in percentages during the update process. Americans who have NLS access may be intrigued to know that the installation of the NLS key is now automatically done as well via WiFi, if the user wishes. More WiFi features are promised soon. The Stream has faced some criticism for its lack of WiFi features at initial release, but it should be remembered that many other players had no WiFi functionality at all until months after their release.
As mentioned earlier, the recording process is much improved over the Stream 1. The microphone jack, now stereo, can also be configured as a line-in jack. Various file types can be recorded in either mono or stereo, and which type you use is easily adjusted in the menus. Some reviewers have stated there is an audible whine in the Stream 2's recording. Testing on several different Streams, I personally have not found any such whine. The ability to set recording levels, as can be done with a Plextalk Pocket or Book Port Plus, would be a huge benefit that is not currently provided. Though not an issue to me, many have also suggested that they would appreciate the ability to record in DAISY. I imagine that both of these two features could be added in a future release if enough people wanted them.
The new Stream speaker is much better than the first one, allowing for a clearer, louder, richer sound. At its highest volume, there does tend to be a little distortion. This volume setting was left in to accommodate people who really wanted the higher volume at the expense of some fidelity.
So is the Stream 2 the be all and end all of portable book players? Of course not. Different people will value different features over others, and no one player can hope to meet the individual needs or preferences of everyone. This is why an abundance of choice can never bee a bad thing. For me personally, though, the Stream 2 has the best and most diverse options of any of the players currently on the market. Its battery life remains unsurpassed. What it lack now may easily be added in the future. As I told one person on Twitter, you don't judge a person's eventual ability to run marathons based on how well he or she can crawl at three months. I think Humanware has done a marvelous job with the new Stream, and I highly recommend that anyone looking for a portable book reader seriously look at the Stream as a viable option.
Is the Stream still relevant in today's era of iDevices, tablets and other units which can also read these books? I submit that it is, for several reasons, two of which I will touch on briefly.
First, the reality is that not everyone has the capability or the dexterity to use a touch screen or to fiddle with small buttons. Of all the players I have seen, the Stream offers the most tactile contrast with its buttons from the surrounding surface. The buttons are large without being clunkily so, with clearly defined space between them. For someone with dexterity issues, this can make the difference between operating such a device and not operating it.
Secondly, some people simply prefer a dedicated book reader. It is into this category that I personally fall. I can certainly use my iPhone, and I appreciate it a lot, but when it comes to reading books, I want a dedicatd machine to do the job. If I travel, I may not be able to charge the phone, and having a dedicated unit serves to double my battery life.
So how has the Stream changed from its first incarnation? Physically, it is considerably smaller: 28% so, according to Humanware. The new design is sleeker, the USB port has been moved from the top to the bottom, and the headphone jack from the side to the top. The speaker now resides just behind the SD card slot at the top of the unit.
The keypad has remained almost unchanged between units. The keys maintain the same size and spacing as on the original. Buttons are slightly easier to press, which can be both a good or a bad thing. There is one additional button, the online button, between the goto and bookmark keys.
The battery has been redesigned as well. Instead of a battery that fits inside the unit with a cover snapping over it, we are now given a battery that clips onto the back of the unit, with the underside of the battery becoming the unit's bottom. The connection and fit are solid and sturdy. Tehre are two rubber feet, one on each end of the Stream, to prevent slipping while on a table. The Stream 2 is also shipped with a silicon skin which can be used to completely cover the back side of the unit.
The unit is capable of playing what the first unit could play. Some things, such as support for Audible.com, are not yet implemented, but will be very shortly. Also, features which, in the first Stream, were part of the soft pack, are now implemented into the unit by default. This means playback of file types such as M4A and others, the ability to record in MP3 and WAV format, etc. Additionally, the mike/line in jack are now stereo, so stereo recording is now possible in a variety of different file formats and attributes.
Those of you tired of the previous voices on the Stream, including the chain-smoking Samantha, the bored Tom and the pompous-sounding Daniel (all personal opinions, of course) might well find the Acapela voices the Stream now uses more to your liking. I personally find the listening experience much more natural and pleasant. I can see myself reading books with these voices, I really couldn't previously.
The clock is also a very welcome feature for the new Stream. I was frankly shocked when the first Stream didn't have one, and very glad that the current one does. Unfortunately, its usefulness is somewhat limited by the fact that the Stream can be turned completely off. This means that an alarm feature is unlikely, unless Humanware is able to have the clock turn the unit on sometime in the future. However this is a tradeoff I'm willing to live with, because it means the battery life of the Stream is much, much greater than its book-reader competitors.
The Stream 2 also allows for recharging via the USB port. In fact, this is the only option, the AC port having been completely removed from the unit. Humanware does provide a USB wall adaptor, so charging from AC power is quick and easy. Battery life is now given in percentages instead of the somewhat ambiguous high, medium, low and very low.
Updating the unit's firmware can now be accomplished in one of two ways. It can be done conventionally, by putting the firmware file onto your SD card, or it can be done via the Stream's built-in WiFi capability. When you connect to WiFi, the Stream very quickly checks to see if an update is available. It asks you if you want to install it. If you say no, you go merrily on your way, but if you say yes, it download the update and lets you install it. It might be useful to have the check for updates being configurable. Like the battery level, the update status is now also given in percentages during the update process. Americans who have NLS access may be intrigued to know that the installation of the NLS key is now automatically done as well via WiFi, if the user wishes. More WiFi features are promised soon. The Stream has faced some criticism for its lack of WiFi features at initial release, but it should be remembered that many other players had no WiFi functionality at all until months after their release.
As mentioned earlier, the recording process is much improved over the Stream 1. The microphone jack, now stereo, can also be configured as a line-in jack. Various file types can be recorded in either mono or stereo, and which type you use is easily adjusted in the menus. Some reviewers have stated there is an audible whine in the Stream 2's recording. Testing on several different Streams, I personally have not found any such whine. The ability to set recording levels, as can be done with a Plextalk Pocket or Book Port Plus, would be a huge benefit that is not currently provided. Though not an issue to me, many have also suggested that they would appreciate the ability to record in DAISY. I imagine that both of these two features could be added in a future release if enough people wanted them.
The new Stream speaker is much better than the first one, allowing for a clearer, louder, richer sound. At its highest volume, there does tend to be a little distortion. This volume setting was left in to accommodate people who really wanted the higher volume at the expense of some fidelity.
So is the Stream 2 the be all and end all of portable book players? Of course not. Different people will value different features over others, and no one player can hope to meet the individual needs or preferences of everyone. This is why an abundance of choice can never bee a bad thing. For me personally, though, the Stream 2 has the best and most diverse options of any of the players currently on the market. Its battery life remains unsurpassed. What it lack now may easily be added in the future. As I told one person on Twitter, you don't judge a person's eventual ability to run marathons based on how well he or she can crawl at three months. I think Humanware has done a marvelous job with the new Stream, and I highly recommend that anyone looking for a portable book reader seriously look at the Stream as a viable option.
