Amazon

The Kindle is an electronic book reading device produced by Amazon that provides access to hundreds of thousands of in-copyright books and well over a million
more that are either out of print or in the public domain. In other words, it’s pretty safe to say that if it’s not available on the Kindle it’s not available
in e-book format.

The question we must ask is, “how effectively does the new Kindle 3 make the books in this vast library accessible to blind readers”?

According to recent legislation, companies that sell textbooks in California must make digital versions of the books available by 2020. Senator Elaine Alquist, the author of the law claims that it will significantly reduce costs for students.

I'm mostly scratching my head: what's the point here? And don't get me wrong, I appreciate the effort, but there's really nothing more to it.

Three US universities have agreed not to use Amazon’s e-book reader the Kindle until it is easily usable by blind people. A fourth settled a complaint from
blind people’s advocacy groups by saying that it will strive to use accessible devices in future.

Though the Kindle DX reader can read out text, making it potentially useful to blind people or those with low vision, it offers no way to navigate its controls
and menus that is accessible to blind users.

PHOENIX, Jan. 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), the American Council of the Blind (ACB), and Arizona State University
(ASU), today announced a settlement agreement resolving litigation filed by NFB and ACB against the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) and ASU. The lawsuit
arose from the university's participation in a pilot program using the Kindle DX, a dedicated device for reading electronic books, or e-books, developed
by Amazon.com, Inc. The NFB and ACB alleged that the Kindle DX was inaccessible to blind students and thus violated federal law. ABOR and ASU denied and
continue to deny any violations of the law.

The settlement agreement among the parties was reached in light of several factors, including: (1) ASU's commitment to providing access to all programs
and facilities for students with disabilities, including students who are blind or have low vision; (2) the fact that the pilot program will end in the
Spring of 2010; (3) Amazon and others are making improvements to and progress in the accessibility of e-book readers; and (4) the university's agreement
that should ASU deploy e-book readers in future classes over the next two years, it will strive to use devices that are accessible to the blind.

Last month, Syracuse University and the University of Wisconsin expressed concern
that Amazon's Kindles weren't accessible for blind students. Amazon responded this week.

Amazon announced plans to create a blind-accessible Kindle, the Daily Orange reports. The new gadget will have an audible menu and an extra large font for visually impaired users. The product should be ready by summer, Amazon says.