Reading speed can be set anywhere from 50% to 300%. Reading must be stopped, or adjustments made before reading begins. It’s important to note that the reading rate can’t be changed, on the fly, while reading. Before settling in with a book, check and adjust the reading speed, if needed. It opened eventually, using one of these three commands. Sometimes it opened with “Alexa, launch the Bookshare Reader,” other times it required changing the verbal prompt-instead of the word “launch,” “open,” or “enable,” got the Bookshare Reader to open. One of the idiosyncrasies noted during the review is there is some inconsistency with opening the Bookshare Reader skill. At this time, it’s not possible to do a search for titles using the Bookshare Reader, without first adding it from within the Bookshare website, or choosing It from recent downloads. If you have recent downloads, these can also be added to the list by using the command, “Get my history.” Your most recent Bookshare downloads are listed and you can choose which of these books to add to your reading list. With a list of books added to the Bookshare Reader, when it opens, there is a prompt asking if you want to continue reading the last book you read, if you’d like to select another title, or get a list of available books. Select the link, My Reading Lists, from the Bookshare home page, and then select the link, Amazon Alexa, which will open the list where you can add books to the Bookshare Reader skill. Alternatively, from the Bookshare website you can add books to the Amazon Alexa Reading List for your account. Go to the Bookshare website and add books to your Amazon Alexa Reading List or say, ‘Get My History’ from your recent downloads." There are two ways to add books to the Bookshare Reader, by responding with the phrase, “Get my history,” which will add your most recent downloads to other devices as a list of available books. The first time the Bookshare reader opens, you’ll hear, “Welcome to Bookshare Reader, it looks like you don't have any audio books available to read. You’re good to go now! To open the skill, just say, “Alexa, open the Bookshare Reader skill and follow the prompts. Select the Link Account link and put in your Bookshare username and password. Select the skill, then open the Settings. At the time of this review, the search results return Bookshare Reader. Once in the Alexa app, either on the computer, tablet, or smartphone, just select Skills from the menu and do a search for Bookshare Reader. As part of the process of setting up the Amazon Echo the first time, you’ll download the Alexa app, or go to, to put in your Amazon username and password. Next, you will need an Amazon Echo, and these come in a wide variety of styles, the least expensive being the Echo Dot. To get started, you will first need a subscription to Bookshare, by completing the application online or over the phone at 65. The Bookshare Skill adds a whole new level of convenience and ease to reading Bookshare books. These electronic text files can also be converted to audio files and downloaded from the website or sent to the Bookshare Reader. Some books on Bookshare are in audio format, but most are electronic text, which is read by the screen reader on your phone, computer, or a device like the Victor Reader Stream. Otherwise, the annual subscription fee is $50, which allows you to download up to 100 accessible ebooks a month, at no additional cost (here’s a quick tip: with a free registration at, you also qualify at the student rate at Bookshare). If you are a student, there is no charge for the service. If you’re not familiar, Bookshare is a subscription service specifically for individuals with a print disability, verified by a doctor or other professional like a vision rehab therapist. Remember when we talked about “Killer Apps?” In my humble opinion, the ability to read over a million books on the Amazon Echo, a device that costs as little as $30, with the new Bookshare Skill, may well qualify. The world’s largest online library of accessible ebooks, Bookshare, has a new Echo skill in beta, Bookshare Reader and it puts your books in Alexa’s hands to read out loud. Have you heard? The Amazon Echo smart speaker, just got smarter-over a million books smarter.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |