TPB Reader is a free self-voiced DAISY player for Windows that will allow you to read digital talking books which follow the 2.0 and 2.02 DAISY specifications. It supports three main types of DAISY books – text-only, audio-only, and full-text with full-audio. Its simple display will allow you to browse through the NCC of the book (its table of contents) or to follow the text while listening to the audio recording.
Developed by the TPB (Swedish Library of Braille and Talking Books, the pioneer institution which gave birth to the DAISY standard), this reader was the first DAISY reading program available to blind and visually impaired users back in 2002. Despite its age and its simple interface, it still covers efficiently all the functionality that DAISY books can offer up to the version 2.02 of the standard – navigability, text and audio synchronization, textual search, page location, and so on.
Its convenient book search function will automatically build your own “DAISY bookshelf” in just a few seconds, showing you the titles of all the DAISY books found on your hard drive, regardless of the language of the book. Once a title has been selected, TPB Reader allows you to move through the book at different levels – chapter, page, heading, and phrase. For books which include page numbers, its “Go to page” function will allow you to jump with just one click to the desired section of the DAISY book. Another way of moving quickly through your DAISY book is by using the NCC viewer – select one of the headings, click on it, and TPB Reader will start playing the book from there. The program includes a bookmark functionality that allows you to add as many links as you need to non-indexed parts of the book for quick reference.
TPB Reader is a completely accessible and neat piece of software. Its self-voiced interface allows totally blind users to move freely through its different menus and options. Besides, it is fully compatible with most popular screen readers, such as Jaws. Users with residual sight can enjoy reading the text available in the book with the style sheet that better fits their color contrast preferences.
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