Bookshare Users Downloading Long-Awaited Apple e-Book App

Benetech got a call recently from an excited Bookshare member who had been waiting to download our new Read2Go accessible e-book application for Apple devices. Graduate student Maria Georgakarakou, who is blind, gave us a rave review for the Read2Go app which allows those with print disabilities to listen to books in the DAISY audio format.

Maria was especially excited about Read2Go’s navigation features that allow her to search and download accessible e-books from our Bookshare library directly to her iPad and iPhone. In addition to being a Bookshare member, Maria is a book scanner and volunteer proofreader. She predicted that the usability of Read2Go will encourage Bookshare members to read more books in the DAISY audio format.

Maria also noted that students like herself are finding more scholarly books on Bookshare which expands her ability to research. Maria is a historical musicologist who is pursuing her PhD at Boston University. She studies secular songs and theater music from the English Baroque period of the 1600’s. According to Maria, books in the DAISY format have the same page numbering as the text which is a big benefit to scholars who need precise citations.

The Read2Go application was developed by Bookshare’s parent nonprofit Benetech in partnership with Shinano Kenshi Co., Ltd which is known for its PLEXTALK® brand of digital talking book players. Read2Go offers word-by-word highlighting with simultaneous text to speech that supports multi-modal reading. Our Bookshare members will also get access to additional features such as study tools, images and multiple languages as the application develops.

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