A Week With the Book Port Plus: An In-Depth Review
The Book Port Plus, by APH, is the latest digital talking book player to enter into the ever growing DTB market.
Book Port Plus is a portable, Digital Talking Book player/recorder. It represents the latest generation of special media playback and recorder devices. Its small size, quality recordings, and unique capabilities make it an ideal replacement for older technology like cassette players, bulky Digital Talking Book players, or inaccessible, commercial digital recorders. At the same time, its specialized hardware and software makes it easier to use, more reliable, and more flexible than programs running on cell phones or PCs that might perform some of its functions.
I was very excited to spend the week with the Book Port Plus. Through out the week there were ups and downs and just like any player out there, no one device is perfect. Join me as I take you through an in-depth review of the Book Port Plus.
Overview
The Book Port Plus is a portable digital talking book player that supports a wide range of file types. It supports audio books from NLS, RFB&D, and Audible. It also supports txt, doc, html, and books from BookShare. The Book Port Plus also has a high quality microphone allowing you to create very good recordings. It supports SDHC cards for memory expansion.
Physical Description
Dimensions
- Length 112 mm
- Width 55 mm
-
Height 16 mm
Weight Approx. 110g
Front Face
To insure you are holding the Book Port Plus correctly, make sure the keys are facing you and the rough section is farthest away from you. This rough section is the speaker grill.
Below the speaker grill are two keys on the left and right of the device. The key on the left is the record key, while the key on the right is the power/sleep key. You can feel two dots on the power key for quick identification. Below the record key, on the left side of the front face, are two vertically placed keys. The top one is the go to key and right below that is the bookmark key. Below the power key, on the right front face, are also two vertically positioned keys. The top key is the menu key and right below that is the title key. Between these vertically positioned keys, you will find a concaved round key. This is the play/pause/stop key. Surrounding this key is your up, down, right, and left arrows. A traditional phone style keypad takes up the bottom two thirds of the device.
I was quite impressed with the Book Port Plus’s keys. They were very easy to distinguish and gave good feedback while pressing them. A pronounced dot on the five key made it quite easy to find my way around the phone style keypad.
Left Edge
The left edge of the device contains the SD card slot.
Right Edge
The right edge has one rocker switch and one traditional switch. At the top of the device is the volume rocker. Push up to turn up the volume and press down to turn down the volume. Below this rocker and towards the bottom of the device is the lock switch. Slide the switch up to lock the keys and back down to unlock the keys. The Book Port Plus will announce the status of the key lock as you slide the switch.
Top Edge
The top edge has two jacks. The left most jack is the line in jack and to the right of this jack is the headphone jack.
Bottom Edge
On the left side of the bottom edge, is the AC power jack and on the right side of the bottom edge, is the USB port. This port can be used to connect your Book Port Plus to your computer, connect USB media, or charge your device via your computer.
Design Thoughts
The Book Port Plus feels good in the hand although it is a little boxy. The keys are very easy to feel and it is quite possible to control the device with one hand.
Using the Book Port Plus
Now that we know where all the keys are located, let’s take this player for a test drive. to power up the Book Port Plus, hold down the power key for a few seconds and the player should power up. One nice thing about the Book Port Plus is that it is very similar to a cell phone. Rather than powering down the unit each time you are done with it, you just let it go to sleep. A simple press of any key wakes the Book Port Plus up and it announces the time. APH claims the device can keep a charge for 20 days while in sleep mode.
The unit is now powered up and we are ready to listen to some content. There are a few ways to access the content stored on your SD card. First, pressing the title key repeatedly cycles between titles on your SD card, titles on a connected USB drive, and any recorded voice memos.
The Book Port Plus organizes your media as titles. So, if you have three books from NLS, they are organized as three titles under the Daisy section of the SD card. Each Daisy book must be in its own folder. When you press the title key and the Book Port Plus responds with SD, you are placed in a horizontal menu. Pressing your right and left arrows will navigate through your titles. There are four categories the Book Port Plus uses to organize your media. They are Daisy, Audio, Text, and Audio Books. Daisy will display your entire Daisy content, audio displays all of your music and other audio files, text displays all of your text files like html, doc, or txt files, and audio books displays any books you have from Audible.
You can also up arrow to choose between navigating by title, folder, or category. So, if you know you want a text file and you are in the Daisy section, just up arrow twice until you hear select category. You can then right and left arrow to jump between the categories. Once you hear text, down arrow twice until you hear select title, and then use your right and left arrows to cycle through your available text files. This makes browsing through your files a bit easier.
The one draw back to this method of organizing your media into titles is that the Book Port Plus considers all audio files such as mp3 music, audio books ripped from CD, and other non text or Daisy content as one title. So, let’s say you have a folder called music on the SD card and you add five folders of different albums under the music folder. In order to browse to a specific album, you have two methods. First, hit your title key and use the arrows until you hear audio. Press the play key and your audio content will start playing. Press the play key again to pause the playback. Now, hit the 8 key to cycle between navigating by album or track. Once you hear album, you can then use the 7 and 9 key to jump between the five different albums you added. The TTS will speak the name of the folder as you cycle through them. Pressing play on the folder you want will begin playback of that album. To switch tracks, hit the 8 key until it says track and then use the 7 and 9 key to move backwards or forwards by track.
The other method of jumping to a specific album is a little less cumbersome but requires you to know the number of the folder you want. You can hit the title key, right or left arrow until you hear audio, and then hit the number of the album using the keypad. The Book Port Plus responds by announcing the folder name and the title of the first track. Hit the play key and playback begins. If you hit a number that does not exist, the Book Port Plus will respond with the folder number does not exist.
Although organizing all your media into different titles makes sense and works for everything but audio content, grouping all audio files as one title makes navigating through the files and folders very cumbersome and time consuming.
Recent Titles List
The Book Port Plus also offers a recent titles list which can be quite useful when reading a few titles at the same time. Make sure you do not have a file open and press the go to key. The Book Port Plus will respond with recent titles list. Simply use your right and left arrows to cycle through your most recent titles. You can also press the go to key again to open the all titles list.
Navigating within Audio Content
The navigation interface used by the Book Port Plus is one of the best I have seen. The Book Port Plus utilizes the number pad for navigation which makes jumping through content easy with few key presses.
Arrows
While any audio content is playing, the up and down arrows speed or slow down playback rate. The left arrow moves back 5 seconds and the right arrow moves forward 5 seconds. This was nice for those times when I needed to repeat the last few words because I was not paying attention.
Keypad
The Book Port Plus also utilizes the phone style keypad for navigation through audio content. The number 1 key moves back 30 seconds while the 3 key moves forward 30 seconds. The number 4 key moves back 10 minutes while the 6 key moves forward by 10 minutes. The 7, 8, and 9 key are used a bit differently depending on if it is a basic audio file or Daisy content. If the file is a basic audio file, the 8 key cycles between album and track and the 7 and 9 key then move by that chosen option. If it is Daisy content, the 8 key cycles through the different heading levels available, bookmarks, and phrase. The 7 and 9 key then move either backward or forward by the selected option.
This makes navigating through your content quick and easy. I really enjoyed the number of navigation options available and finding a specific place in the content was a breeze.
Navigating within Text
Although the Book Port Plus uses the same keys to navigate through a text file, the keys obviously need to move by different options than in audio content.
Arrows
While reading a text file, the up and down arrows increase the TTS rate. While the text file is paused, the up and down arrows move by line. The left and right arrows move by sentence and while the text is paused they move by character.
Keypad
While a text file is playing, the 1 and 3 key moves by paragraphs and while paused they move by word. The 4 and 6 key move by pages while the text file is playing. These keys have no function while a text file is paused. If the text file has any bookmarks created, the 7 and 9 key will move through the bookmarks announcing the bookmark number.
Go to Key
You can also use the go to key while listening to any title. In a Daisy title, pressing the go to key cycles through the following options.
- go to Page
- go to Heading
- go to by Percent
Simply press the go to key until you hear the option you like and then type in the number of the page or heading you want to jump to. If moving to a specific percent, simply type in the percent to jump to and press enter. If the Daisy title does not have either page or heading markup, the Book Port Plus will respond letting you know that number does not exist.
Bookmarks
The Book Port Plus allows you to create bookmarks within any title you are playing. You can create either a basic bookmark or a voice bookmark. The voice bookmark feature is nice for the times where you want to leave a little more info about why you are creating a bookmark.
Creating Bookmarks
The book Port Plus allows you to create bookmarks both wile you are listening to a title or when your title is paused. Simply press the bookmark key twice and the Book Port Plus responds with set bookmark. It also tells you to press enter to set a bookmark or press the record key to set a voice bookmark. If you simply press the enter key, the Book Port Plus will create a bookmark with the next available number. You can also choose to set a voice bookmark. Press the record key and the Book Port Plus will respond by telling you to hold down the record key while recording your voice bookmark. Simply let go of the record key when you are finished and the Book Port Plus will set your voice bookmark.
Go to Bookmark
While in any title, you can press the bookmark key once and the Book Port Plus will respond with go to bookmark. Simply use the keypad to type in the number of the bookmark you want to jump to and press enter. Playback will then resume from that bookmark.
Deleting a Bookmark
To delete a bookmark, press the bookmark key three times and the Book Port Plus will respond with delete a bookmark. Using the keypad, type in the number of the bookmark you want to delete and press enter.
Deleting all Bookmarks
You can also delete all bookmarks in a title. Press the menu key, right arrow to bookmark and press enter, right arrow to clear all bookmarks in current title and press enter. All bookmarks within that title will be deleted.
Recording with the Book Port Plus
The Book Port Plus gives you two types of voice recordings. You can either record quick voice memos or longer voice recordings.
Voice Memos
Voice Memos are for those times when you want to create a quick recording like someone’s phone number or an appointment. Voice memos are stored on the internal memory so they are always with the device. They also can not exceed 1 minute in length. You can also have no more than 200 voice memos or no more than 30 minutes of total recording. The voice memos are also set to 32 KBPS mono and you can not control the gain. The auto gain control is on by default.
To make a voice memo, simply press and hold the record key. You will hear a beep; continue to hold down the record key as you speak your memo. When finished, let go of the record key. To listen to recorded memos, press the title key until you hear voice memos, and then use the right and left arrows to cycle through your recordings.
Regular Recordings
Regular recordings are for the times you want to record longer periods of time. The Book Port Plus gives you a lot of options when creating a recording. The Book Port Plus records all titles in Daisy format.
Press the record key and the Book Port Plus places you in a horizontal list of all your recordings. Either choose an existing title or choose new title. At this point, you have a number of options you can change.
Recording Modes
The Book Port Plus offers you a number of recording modes. Most of the time the default setting is just fine but for those other times you can also choose from
- Conference
- Audio
- Analog Cassette
- Radio
- Custom
Once you choose your recording mode, you can then choose your recording quality. The Book Port Plus records in both PCM and MP3. MP3 qualities range from 32 KBPS to 256 KBPS.
If you choose the custom mode, you can also control a few other options. You can choose when a heading is automatically added, when recording automatically stops, when recording automatically resumes, or the background noise level. Remember, these extra options are only available when you choose the custom mode.
Guidance Mode While Recording
The second option in the recording menu is the ability to turn on/off the guidance voice while recording. This feature is nice so you do not pick up the guidance voice while you are recording.
External Input Jack
The third option in the recording menu is select external audio input jack. Here you can change between microphone mode or line-in mode.
Auto Gain control
The last option in the recording menu is the auto gain control. You can either turn this on or off. If turned on, the Book Port Plus will automatically adjust levels to create the best recording. If turned off, you can adjust the levels manually to fit your needs. When turned off, the Book Port Plus will respond with either high, good, or low. Before you begin a recording, test out your levels. Either speak into the book Port Plus or have people around you speak. If the Book Port Plus responds with high, turn down the levels using the down arrow. If it responds with low, use the up arrow to turn up the level. When the Book Port Plus responds good, you are ready to begin your recording. You can also hit the title key to turn on/off the level monitor.
Start Recording
When you are all set to begin recording, simply press the record button and begin speaking. To pause a recording, simply press the record button again. To stop the recording, press the play/stop key.
Adding Headings
The Book Port Plus allows you to set headings either while you are recording a file or after the file has been recorded.
While Recording
While you are recording, simply press the go to key to set headings. If you have guidance voice off while recording, you will not hear anything. If you have guidance voice on while recording, it will respond with the heading number.
Adding Headings Post Recording
You can also add headings, delete headings, and delete sections of the recording after the recording has been finished.
All your recordings are stored under the Daisy section of the title menu. Press your title key and right and left arrow through your recordings. Press the play key to begin playback. At any time, press the menu key and choose the edit option. You are given three options.
Set heading
Choose this option when you would like to add a heading. After you press enter, the Book Port Plus responds you are about to add heading are you sure? Use the right and left arrow to choose position. Playback resumes and you can then use the right and left arrow to find the place in the recording where you would like to add the heading. Simply press the enter key when the given position is found.
Cancel Heading
The second option in the edit menu is cancel heading. If you press enter on this choice, it will ask you to confirm the deletion of the last set heading. Pressing enter will delete that heading.
Remove Section
The last option in the edit menu is remove section. When you choose this option, Book Port Plus will ask you to choose a heading where the deletion will start. Use your right and left arrows to cycle through your headings and press enter when you find the start point. It will then ask you to choose the finish heading. Use the right and left arrow to find the end point and press enter. The Book Port Plus will then ask you to confirm your choice. Simply press the enter key and the section will be deleted.
Recording Samples
PCM 4.1 KHZ
MP3 256 KBPS
MP3 64 KBPS
Guide Voice and TTS Sample
Stream the sample
download the sample
Adding Titles to the Book Port Plus
You have a number of options on getting titles added to the Book Port Plus. When you connect the Book Port to your computer, via the included USB cable, the Book Port Plus shows up as a mass storage device under Windows Explorer. You can simply drag and drop files onto the player. You can also pop out the SD card and place it in a card reader in your computer and drag and drop files that way. you can also connect a USB flash drive, USB hard drive, or USB CD ROM and add files to the player. After you connect either a USB flash drive or USB hard drive, press the title key until you get to the USB media section. Here you can browse your titles and play them directly from the USB media. You can also use the backup utility, under the menu, to move files to and from your USB media. If you connect a USB CD ROM drive, you can directly rip audio content to the Book Port Plus.
Book Transfer Software
APH also includes a book transfer software to help you transfer titles to your player. Anytime you connect your Book Port Plus to the computer, the book transfer software launches. It places you in a familiar open file dialogue where you can browse your computer for media. When you find what you want to transfer, simply hit the send file or send folder button to send the title to your Book Port Plus. The book transfer software automatically unpacks NLS and BookShare titles as it transfers them over. It also translates PDF documents to text before sending it over to your Book Port Plus. The software was very easy to use and was a definite bonus.
Pros
The small size and great key design makes this a strong contender in the DTB market. The Book Port Plus plays nearly every file type you can imagine or need. The terrific navigation UI makes browsing through titles a snap. It was very easy to jump around within a NLS or Audible book. Using the keypad for navigation cut down on the number of key presses and made it very easy navigating through a title.
The Book Port Plus has one of the best recording capabilities on the market. The internal microphone created outstanding recordings. The wide range of options and control over the recordings was great. I loved that I could add headings both during the recording and also post recording.
Cons
The method for organizing titles works great for everything but non-Daisy audio content. It was very difficult to browse through multiple albums stored on the SD card. This player really seems to be designed for a reader rather than someone who may listen to a lot of music. It took a lot of key presses to move between albums stored on the SD card.
Although I love the key design, I think the keys could have been placed a little closer together bringing down the overall size of the device. It is still a nice size and can easily fit in pants or shirt pocket but I would like to see it closer to the size of the BookSense.
I also felt like the unit made a lot of noise. You do have the ability to turn off key confirmation sounds and also the waiting sound. Even with these turned off, the device seemed to be yelling at me. For example, if you go into the menu, it plays a tone reminding you that an action needs to be taken. It continues to repeat the sound until you make a menu selection or close out of the menu.
Final Thoughts
The week with the Book Port Plus was a lot of fun. This is a great addition to the digital talking book market. Its strong recording options and ability to play a wide range of file types makes it a valuable tool to have in your pocket. The small size and great key design insures the portability of the unit and also anyone from beginners to advanced users can easily pick up the device and start using it. The included book transfer software makes moving titles over to the Book Port Plus a breeze. The ability to have the software translate PDF documents to text files was also a great feature. For a student or avid reader, I would feel very comfortable recommending the Book Port Plus.
Tags: A Week With, APH, Assistive Technology, Book Port Plus, Digital Talking Book Players, Reviews
Hi, great review, I really appreciated your comments. However, I had a couple of questions: first, how much memory does the bookport plus include? (internally and on the sd) Are the menus more similar to windows or another operating system? Finally, which dtb has the best audio functionally (in terms of music)? Thanks so much.
Hi Dan,
Glad to hear you enjoyed the review. Let me answer your questions.
1. The Book Port Plus ships with a 2 GB Sd card. I was unable to find the internal memorey although you technically do not have access to it. Any voice memos you record are stored on the internal memorey.
2. The menu system is not really similar to any OS. All menus are presented in a horizontal fashion, which means you use your right and left arrows to browse through both your titles on the player and all menu options. If you are looking for a player that is similar to Windows, the BookSense is probably the closest thing.
3. All the players I have tested have very good audio output. If you are a person who listens to a lot of music, the Book Port might not be the best option. Like I said in my review, the Book Port Plus arranges all your audio as one title forcing you to use the 7, 8, and 9 keys to jump around through albums and tracks. I found it a little cumbersome using this method to browse my music.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to leave another comment.
Hello. Leave it to me to find the one error you made among all the rest of your review, which was very good. I want to mention this though because it highlights a strength of the Book Port. You said:
“The third option in the recording menu is select external audio input jack. This is used when you are using an external microphone for recording rather than the internal mic.”
This isn’t quite accurate; instead, it switches the function of the input jack from external mic to line-in. this device has a very good line-in jack, and something you can do with it is to monitor the line-in recording through the speaker. From what I understand, the line in is of better quality than that of the Book Sense.
It is probably also worth noting that one records in DAISY format on the Book Port, which has its pros and cons.
I appreciated your comments about the structure of the music/audio playback. I think this may be one of the few remaining advantages of the Stream.
Hi Dean,
Thanks for pointing my mistake out. I knew there had to be at least one in there. I updated my review to reflect the correct info. I also added that the Book Port Plus records titles in Daisy format. thanks again.
This has to be a PTP1 with custom firmware from APH! Sounds like a upgrade of navigation functions but voice, menus, tones, and unit description match the PTP1.
Hello,
I’m happy to see access to books from Audible.com available on the Book Port Plus. This innovation was promised with regard to the PTP1 but was never forthcoming. Now if BRF and BRL files could be supported, I would truly consider the Book Port Plus to be a serious contender among today’s digital talking book units. I do not favor the TTS engine which has been selected, feeling strongly that the Book Sense excels greatly in this area. A Book Port Plus with an outstanding TTS engine and the ability to read Braille files would be a killer unit. Imagine!
is it possible to obtain a copy of the manual by download or email?
thanks
Mark
Here is a link to the manual.
http://tech.aph.org/bt_info.htm
Hello again,
Wouldn’t you know! On the very day I commented on the PTP1’s inability to play books from Audible.com, a beta version of Firmware Release 4.03 does actually incorporate this capability, as well as some of the navigational features found in the Book Port Plus. I find this most interesting.
By the way, when upgrading the firmware of all the new digital talking book players, remember that you can’t go back to a previous version. This may be important in the case of those who might wish to switch to a language whose available firmware is only available in an older version. You can change languages across the board by installing an equivalent or later release, but restoring an earlier version simply can’t happen. This holds true with all available digital talking book players.
Anyhow, if you own a PTP1 but haven’t yet acquired the Book Port Plus, the 4.03 firmware upgrade renders them very nearly the same. It will be interesting to see whether either unit can eventually support digital Braille files. Certainly the original Book Port did, and it seems fitting that its successor should maintain this capability.
I have a couple of questions:
Does the Book Port plus have highlight bookmarks?
Does the Book Port Plus remember where you are in each album?
Hello. I wanted to say that I enjoyed this review a lot. I’m going to get a Book Port Plus tomorrow and I have a few questions. First how does the speaker on the Book Port compare to the BookSense and Victor Reader Stream? Second question is how do users make feature suggestions to make the unit a better device.
Thanks for the review, as I’ve been comparing the VictorStream to the Bookport Plus & Booksense players.
Does it play WMA files, like those found at my public library’s Overdrive and NetLibrary audiobook service’s? And does it only rewind at 5 seconds at a time? As a non-fiction reader, I am continually rewinding. The Victor Stream is great at this & it’s big plus.