BrailleNote to include Microsoft E-Book

Pulse Data International and Microsoft have signed an agreement to provide people who are blind with access to thousands of electronic books.

Microsoft have enlisted the expertise of Pulse Data and will apply the design principles of Book Reader to the BrailleNote family of note takers.

"Clearly we are very excited about the opportunity" says Pulse Data's Business Development Manager, Michael Petterson. "The potential benefits of electronic books are numerous and Microsoft and Pulse Data have created a deal to ensure people that are blind share the same benefits".

So how does someone who is blind read electronic books and what does all this mean for them? Jim Halliday, President of Humanware Inc, the BrailleNote's North American distributor answers this question. "It's so simple and that's what makes it so great! All you have to do is download an electronic book from a website to your BrailleNote. Simply open the file and you can read the book. You can listen to the speech or read the electronic Braille display."

"The implications are enormous for the education and leisure of people who are blind. A paper Braille copy of a textbook or novel would take up a whole bookcase and is therefore costly and impractical. Now with the BrailleNote and E-Book blind school children will be able to read the same textbooks as their sighted class mates and someone who is blind can read their favorite novel in the part or on the way home on the bus."