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At the beginning of 2009 Sandbach & District Talking Newspaper will be "Going Digital". For our listeners
this means that instead of receiving their weekly recordings on audio tape, they will instead receive them on a "memory stick"
which they can listen to on a new, simple-to-use playback device which we will provide.
We have decided to make this change partly in order to make our service more efficient by using more modern
technology and partly because it is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain and maintain the equipment needed to make the
audio tape recordings. Even the tapes themselves are becoming harder to purchase.
In September 2008 we commenced a detailed planning process which we hope will ensure a quick and efficient
transfer to the new system in early 2009. We are doing extensive trials with the new equipment and are training our volunteers,
both to make future recordings on computer rather than tape as well as to deliver and explain the new equipment
to our listeners.
Our most important aim is to ensure that our listeners are in no way worried or inconvenienced by this change.
We are confident that most of our listeners will find the new equipment easy to use but we will provide a personal backup
service to anyone who may have any initial difficulties.
Between now and the New Year we will add information to this page about the move to digital. If you know
someone who is a listener to our service, why not talk to them about what you have read on this page and reassure them that
they have nothing to be concerned about in this change.
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| Memory stick, approximately full size image |
The "Boombox"
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| Laplock Technology's Boombox |
The new device that we have chosen for listeners to playback
their recordings from the memory stick is called a "Boombox". This is a very simple and small piece of equipment. We
will deliver and demonstrate the Boombox to each listener in January 2009.
Alternatively you can here the demo by clicking on the link below:
Boombox demo (audio version)
February 2009 - here we go!
Well, there's no going back now! The Boomboxes have all
been delivered and demonstrated to our listeners. The reaction has been excellent with little or no problems. The last audio
cassette recording has been made - a sad event for some of our volunteers who have been with us for over 20 years. The first
digital recording of Newsweek has been made and is being sent out right now. By next week we'll know how well it's
all gone. Update 13th February
- so far it's all gone swimmingly! Just a few small panics (unjustified as it turned out!) and an unfortunate problem
with our new memory stick copier (not our fault!), but otherwise all seems OK. The second digital recording went out yesterday,
so fingers crossed! May 2009 - we're still here! We have been producing our weekly recordings digitally for about 4 months now. In general things have gone fairly
well with (apparently!) few problems for our listeners. However it has been a steeper learning curve technically than we expected,
partly due to lack of expertise and partly due to the unreliability of the equipment we purchased. These are some of the key
issues: 1. We have had a very large amount of trouble
copying our recordings onto memory sticks. We have used both copying hubs attached to our PC and a standalone unit, but both
methods have led to many problems. After a very large amount of time wasted and general consternation we believe (!) that
the problem lies with the "quality" of the memory sticks we purchased. These seem to vary considerably in capacity
as well as general reliability of components. We now have a new standalone copier which seems to be working more reliably
and we will gradually replace our stock of memory sticks with higher grade ones from a better source. 2. We have a continuing problem with some freshly made recordings not playing back from the beginning. This can be
overcome by "rewinding" the recording on the playback unit but it is a nuisance for the listener. The supplier of
our copying software, memory sticks and playback devices is aware of this problem and has sent us a software "fix"
but this is not reliable. We still need to resolve this problem. 3. Some of our less computer-literate technicians have been struggling a bit with our recording software, Audacity.
In fact the problem is not so much the actual recording process itself but rather the management of the recorded files and
the generation of a master stick for copying. We are looking at a proprietary piece of software designed with TNs in mind
which may simplify the process for those that are less confident. 4. There are a number of suppliers offering equipment and consumables to the Talking Newspaper market. In our experience
not everything that is on offer is entirely suitable. We are not prepared to name any suppliers on this website but if any
TN wishes to learn more about our experiences so far, we would be happy to discuss these by phone.
Sept
2009 - I think we've cracked it!
We've now been running for about 8 months and everything
has settled down into a nice quiet routine. The equipment has finally settled down and with just the occasional exception
we don't have any major mishaps. It's clear that the more computer-oriented the technicians are, the better they take
to the digital method but even some of the technophobes have done OK. Listeners seem to have very few problems as far as we
can tell (and we do keep asking them!).
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