This News is Music to My Ears…

Posted by Darren Burton on 9/18/2008 2:02:16 PM

Guest Blogger, Darren Burton, National Program Associate, AFB TECH

For all the music lovers out there with vision loss (and I know there are a lot of us), we have really big news. Apple has just announced major accessibility changes to iTunes and iPods!

Apple's iPod and iTunes have been perhaps the most popular and revolutionary products in the music and technology fields over the past decade, but up until now significant accessibility barriers have kept many people with vision loss from enjoying them. But all of that is about to change with Apple's announcement of some exciting new accessibility advancements for their iTunes and iPod Nano products, and their newly launched accessibility page at www.apple.com/accessibility that contains info on Apple's products and how they work with screen readers and screen magnifiers.

Screen reader users will now be able to access many more iTunes features, such as creating and managing an account and shopping for albums and songs in the iTunes store. Screen readers can also access iTunes U, which is an interface for college-based educational content. iTunes version 8 now supports Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA) and works out of the box with the latest Window-Eyes beta, version 7.3. Freedom Scientific reports that it will also work with JAWS 10 when that version is released later this year. In addition, Serotek reports that version 3 of System Access, to be released in October, will be compatible with iTunes 8, as will System Access To Go.

In what is possibly even more exciting news than greater iTunes accessibility, Apple announced that the new iPod Nano 4th generation will have talking menus, so people with vision loss can independently find and listen to music and other content on their iPods. This will be a major accessibility advancement for the Nano, Apple's most popular iPod product, because we will now be able to find and listen to all of our songs and albums without using the "click, press and guess" technique that some of us have used with less accessible iPod products. And we will be able to easily find and play the thousands of songs that can be stored on an iPod Nano.

Here at AFB TECH, we spend a lot of time working with companies advocating for more accessible products for people who are blind or visually impaired. Nothing excites me more than when our hard work pays off, our advice is taken, and we see accessible products on the market, which is why I was so thrilled to hear that Apple has stepped up their commitment to the accessibility of all of their products. I commend Apple for allowing all of its customers to enjoy all of the tremendous iTunes and iPod features.

We're in the process of testing the new Nano and iTunes 8, so stay tuned to AccessWorld for an article detailing these exciting new developments. If any of you have tried it, be sure to let us know what you think in the comments section below.

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