Audio-Reader Tech Council
In Spring 2022, Audio-Reader founded our Listener Tech Council. The purpose is the group is to review the different technologies available to Audio-Reader listeners, provide feedback on the quality of service, and make recommendations for improvements.
In addition, the Tech Council has decided to offer opportunities for listeners to learn about some of the tools available to those who use Audio-Reader's services.
Ways to Listen to Audio-Reader
In order to use Amazon Alexa, you will need to do two things. First, you will need to download the Amazon Alexa app on your IOS or Android device. Next, establish an Amazon.com account. You can use this account to listen to thousands of radio stations, connect to an Amazon Fire TV, or shop online. Next, you’ll need to set up the Alexa speaker. First, go to the “set up new device” in the Alexa app. This process is completely screen reader accessible. Select the type of device you have from the menu. Popular devices include Amazon Echo Show and Amazon Echo Dot, among others. Plug in your Alexa device. The app will confirm your Amazon username and password. It will also confirm your w—fi connection. Now swipe on your IOS or Android device to “connect”. The Alexa device should presently say “device connected”. This should take approximately thirty seconds.
Once you have connected your device tell Alexa to launch the Audio Reader skill. Audio Reader should now be enabled. Now say, “Open Audio Reader”. This is what you will do from here onward. Audio-Reader will tell you the various options you can use. Select one of these. Audio-Reader will then ask you if you are blind or visually impaired, making you eligible for the service. Say “yes”, and you will be connected to the Audio-Reader service you requested—On Demand or Live Stream.
Hear Audio-Reader Tech Council member Duyahn Walker walk you through the setup in this audio clip:
You can listen to radio reading services and other blindnessrelated content with the Sero app for IOS.
The Sero app is available as a free download from the Apple app store. Once you have installed the app, Sero will allow you to listen to everything from every internet-connected radio reading service for the blind around the world to a large selection of described television programs and movies.
To download the Sero app:
If you have Seri enabled, tell Seri to serch for Sero in the App store. Alternatively, you can open the Apple App Store and do a manual search for Sero, then hit the search button in the lower right-hand corner of your IOS device.
Once the app is downloaded, you will need to set up an account. Sero prefers that your username be your phone number. You will then need a password containing a combination of upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and special characters such as hyphen, dollar sign, or at sign.
Once your account information has been established, Sero will send you back to the Apple app store to establish your subscription. You will be prompted to enter your credit card information, which will include your credit card number, expiration date, and 3-digit code listed on the back of your card. Once you have set up your subscription with Apple, you’re all set.
If you own Humanware’s Victor Reader Stream, you have become increasingly familiar with the tremendous capabilities Victor has to offer. One of them is being able to listen to Audio-Reader, and any other radio reading service worldwide, with a device the size of the palm of your hand.
In order to listen to Audio-Reader, you must first establish WiFi connectivity on your Victor Reader. If this is already done, you can skip this portion of the instructions and move on to the next paragraph. To connect Victor to WiFi: Power on the Victor. Once you hear “Welcome to Victor Reader”, followed by a single musical note, you are ready to begin the connection process. Hit the number 7 on your Victor and listen for the “wireless” menu. Now begin tapping the number 8 on the Victor’s keypad. The first thing you’ll hear is “airplane mode”. Make sure this is set to off. Next item when you tap number 8 is import a network connection. Hit number 8 again and you’ll have the option to scan for available connections. Now press the pound key which is directly under the number 9. You will be shown several SSID options. Tap number 8 to scroll through the options. Once you’ve selected the option you want, press the pound key located directly under #9 and then enter your username and password using the Victor keyboard. In order to text on the Victor, number 2 = abc, #3 = def, Etc. Number 7 contains letters p, q, r, and s. Number 9 contains letters w, x, y, and z. The at key is located on the #0. The period key is located on the #1. You will need to enter your username and the password for your router.
Once you have established a WiFi connection, hit #1 on the Victor keyboard to locate Internet Radio. Initially, you will only have one playlist—the Humanware playlist. Hit #6 on the Victor keyboard to search in Ootunes. When you hear “Search on Ootunes”, hit the pound key located directly below the #9 to begin your search. Use the keypad on the Victor to text the words Audio Reader and then hit pound key and Ootunes will begin searching for a match. When you locate Audio Reader, add it to your Favorites list by tapping the small square button farthest top right on the Victor keyboard. When you hear “add to favorites”, hit the pound key and AudioReader will now be added. Now a second playlist has been established on your Victor—Favorites. Use #6 to navigate to this playlist whenever you want to listen to Audio Reader, and hit the play/pause button to begin listening. Hit the play/pause button again to stoop the stream. The play/pause button is located at the bottom of your Victor, in between the two triangular-shaped buttons, pointing left and right respectively.
HAPPY LISTENING!